The key point here, from what I see, is whether you are willing to accept the Gospel as Christ taught it, and by that I mean the written accounts of what Christ did and said in the Scriptural accounts.
I mean, when we hear ministers quote Christ's command to '
take up your cross and follow me', we are used to sermons about moral responsibility and personal courage, but think about the fact that Christ said this, then was actually scourged with whips and hung upon a cross until he died. Think about the fact that - except for John - all of Christ's disciples died violent deaths. When we look at the hard reality, it's scary to be a Christian.
We like to live in a world where Christians are
protected from persecution, where being Christian is to have beliefs and practices which are
mainstream and therefore receive no threats or trouble. But to live as a follower of Christ means to take a stand which sometimes has great personal cost, and that's made clear throughout Scripture. The prophets of the Old Testament, for example, were commonly mocked and ignored by the people, some like Jeremiah were literally thrown into wells or even killed, others were ignored unless the people and Kings happened to
like what the prophet said. People who live by faith have commonly been cut out from social castes and mocked as backward and resisting progress. Even here in the United States those who live by strict Christian principles are considered weird and maybe a bit stupid, like the Quakers or the Amish.
I have tried to be a good man, a good husband and father and citizen, but on reflection I worry that too often I do what pleases my sense of right and good, rather than serving God's glory and will. Part of the purpose to the Church is to provide a moral lodestone, faithful to Scripture, so men can check their bearings and find their way.
Mocking anchors leads to shipwreck.
That which does not kill me, will try again and get nastier