Did Columbus sail for Gold or God?

The answer seems to be both.

Reflecting on the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, we read in his journal that he believed that whoever he encountered during his voyages would be people who had never heard of Jesus, and therefore would be easy to convert because the Gospel was so compelling.

Columbus was a devout Christian who regularly prayed and attended religious services. He kept the Sabbath and the celebrated church Holy Days. On his ships he had the crews participate in prayer and hymn singing. He also took the Bible literally and believed that by completing the mission of taking the Gospel to all the world, he could hasten the return of Christ and His 1,000-year reign on earth.

When he started out, Columbus did not know he was heading to the Americas. His goal was to find an alternative route to the riches of the Far East. When he encountered the natives in the Caribbean islands, he found them gentle and wanted the King and Queen in Spain to send religious men who could learn the language of the natives and convert them. He wrote that he wanted to engage with the natives in a peaceable manner, and not have to use force to get them to cooperate with his plan to secure gold and spices that he could take back to Spain to pay the investors in his undertaking. He also wanted to fund his next trip (he took four in all) and, importantly, to provide a fund for raising another crusading army to return to the Holy Land and reclaim the Holy Sepulcher from the Muslims.

Unfortunately, Columbus’ quest for gold turned him from a pious Christian to an evil monster, who oversaw the oppression of native populations using some of the worst forms of torture to ensure that the natives he enslaved would do the work that Columbus required.

Columbus failed in winning over the natives to the Christ he proclaimed. If anything, the actions of his men and the many Spanish explorers who followed Columbus to the New World brought death and resentment. Along with brutal tactics of enslavement and forced labor, the Europeans brought diseases against which the native populations had no immunity.

While many will be celebrating the great journey of discovery of Christopher Columbus next Monday, Christians everywhere should pause and ask themselves, should we want to emulate Columbus? Are we prepared to acknowledge that we can have an outward appearance of being Christ followers, but in our hearts and minds we may not be in tune with God’s desires?

If you’re unsure whether you are truly a disciple of Christ, if your behavior does not reflect the life Jesus, our Savior, modeled for us to emulate, then take a few minutes to repent — turn your life around. If you don’t know what true Christianity looks like, we encourage you to check out our post: How does one become a Christian?