The slaughter was not senseless, but redemptive

Does the highlighted sentence mean "the killing of other people was not meaningless, but it was a necessary act in order to gain salvation"?

Context:

Authorities could equate a soldier’s death in battle and the resulting grief at home with Christ’s agony on the Cross and his mother’s sorrow. Some of them argued, especially from the pulpit, that, just as Christ’s Crucifixion reflected a larger purpose and demonstrated God’s love, so too did the sacrifices of war. Throughout the war, the Cross conveyed the idea that the slaughter was not senseless, but redemptive.