Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lost his life for the sake of the Gospel, literally, wrote: "When Christ calls a (person), he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like (Martin) Luther's who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world, but it is the same death every time - death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old (person) at his call... Only the person who is dead to his own will can follow Christ." (from The Cost of Discipleship).

The cross, Bonhoeffer, tells us, stands not as "the terrible end to an other-wise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ." Thus our life with Christ begins and ends. That's pretty radical stuff, but Christianity is pretty radical stuff, counter-cultural even.