Strange Priorities

It is a miracle that Christianity survived its infancy (assuming it's not still in its infancy). The small group of followers of a vanished leader faced torture and death for proclaiming their beliefs, and yet they didn't hide away and keep to themselves, fearful of discovery and annihilation. They didn't take arms against the forces who sought their destruction. They were more concerned about spreading the Good News to those who hated and wanted to kill them than they were about saving their own skins. Here was a threatened community who could have very easily been wiped off the map, and yet, while not altogether imprudent, they preached publicly for love of God, love of their neighbors, and love of their enemies. They cared more for their enemies' souls than for their own lives, and they knew that enough of their deaths could mean the death of their religion. They had strange priorities, and they were triumphant.