Martyr or Mass Murderer?

For the Christian in practice, a martyr is someone who has been killed at the hands of another because of their stand of faith. You're not a martyr unless you fall in to a very narrow category. First you must be actively involved in proclaiming or defending your faith. Secondly the death must come at the hands of others, not yourself, who kill you because of what you have said about your faith. Martyrdom is not suicide. Martyrdom is always murder.




This whole topic comes up because the whole concept has been co- opted by media and Islamic terrorists. I suppose figuring out what martyrdom is depends on what religion is defining a martyr. To the Islamist, at least in practice, it appears that a martyr is a devout individual who goes out with an explosive device strapped around himself, or on an fully fueled airplane i.e, and kills as many innocent people as he can, regardless of who among his own religion happen to be innocently in the crowd. I suppose the goal is to kill mainly people who do not believe in his religion, to terrorize the rest of the populace to convert to his "true religion". There is also the ulterior narcissistic erotic motive of being rewarded with a gaggle of virgin wives. In fact Islamist terrorist do create martyrs, but they are not Islamist martyrs. An Islamist terrorist is simply a mass murderer.

For a contemporary picture of Christian Martyrdom, rent and watch "End of the Spear"