Martyrdom and the Perversion of Sacrifice

When I think of martyrdom, I think of someone who died defending their beliefs or sacrificed themselves for the cause of their faith and in the interests of protecting innocent lives. There is nothing inherently wrong about this. In fact, martyrdom can be quite noble and even honorable. It is a very successful form of spreading an idea or faith.

      Dying in the interests of spreading an idea or belief has a profound psychological impact on the observors of the act or even those people who simply hear about it. The sacrifice affects the human mind in ways I don't quite understand. 

       All I know is that laying down your life for a cause is strongly correlated with the concepts of heroism, bravery, and nobility. These things are the goals and aspirations of many men and women who desire to serve bigger and better things and be a part of something greater than themselves. This can indeed be a beautiful thing.

         Unfortunately, like every good and noble thing, there is a perversion of martyrdom and sacrifice. A corruption of it if you will. This perversion happens when someone considers martyrdom to be the laying down of one's life to kill innocent people. An example would be a suicide bomber or someone who commits any act of violence for political and/or religious reasons and kills themselves in the process. 

        If the noble and good form of martyrdom is the laying down of one's life to protect the innocent, your friends, or your family, then the perversion of martyrdom would be to die while killing innocent life or destroying property in the process. 

         I have learned in my life that all good things have a corrupted or perverted form that is tainted by darkness and evil. Sacrifice and martyrdom is no exception. If you die to kill innocent life, then the terms "sacrifice" or "martyrdom" should never be used to describe your actions. 

            There is nothing sacred about murder/suicide, and dying while killing innocent life in the name of God is an abomination in the truest sense of the word, and no one who does such a thing should ever be called a "martyr."