By Staff
To the editor:
According to the World Book encyclopedia, a group of New England colonists attacked a Pequot Indian Village near West Mystic, Conn. at sunrise on June 5, 1637. They burned alive between 600 and 700 Indians. The colonists thought this "a sweet sacrifice, and … gave the praise therefore to God."
Samuel Coleridge wrote, "If men could learn from history - white lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes and the light which experience gives is a lantern on the stern which shines only on the waves behind us!"
The crusaders though they were enlisting directly in the service of God himself when they fought against the Muslims. They also believed that "all who died would win the crown of martyrs in heaven." Perhaps the crusaders were unaware that the Muslims believed something similar. In truth, those crusaders had fallen prey to deception according to the tradition of men. And it is little wonder that ordinary people were deceived when their religious leaders encouraged them to bear arms.
Early Christians were able to keep clear of the bloody wars and politics of their time by following the commands of Jesus. One example is the command of Jesus to the apostle Peter when he used a sword to defend Jesus. Jesus said, "Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."
Now, as individuals, we cannot change what the leaders of the nations do as they repeat the tragedies of the past. We do not have to be swept up into their conflicts and become part of them. To avoid becoming a part of this world's conflicts, we must let God's Word - The Bible - and not the shifting sands of human philosophy, guide our lives.
Sincerely,
Dwight Evans
Brewton