Death for a cause. This is a huge topic, but in a nutshell here's my thoughts and questions. Why would someone be willing to die say by suicide? There's no cause there, they just want to die, most have had traumatic life events happen that make them not want to deal with the pain. Most suicide bombers and kamikazes generally fall into that spectrum, or the second is to take as many enemies lives as they can that are fighting against their cause.
The disciples didn't go down in a blaze of glory taking others with them, they didn't get murdered in a day, this was a lead up to. Beatings, stoned, locked up in prison, starved, and they kept preaching and spreading the word, the only way they could be stopped spreading that word was by killing them.
I ask this simple question, that we likely can't answer, but it's a thought provoking question regardless. If I took a suicide bomber or a kamikaze and told them they had to go from town to town and spread the message of what they're going to do publicly for a few years, be beaten, stoned, and imprisoned for a few years before they could follow through, would they? History says, no. They hide in the darkness, secretly plotting, and do a surprise attack.
To me, it's a huge difference.
