

I think you are vastly oversimplifying things. We know that early Christians
suffered totures because of their witness to Christ.  For example:

ACT 5:40    His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had
            them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of
            Jesus, and let them go.

ACT 5:41    The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been
            counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

It appears that the Jewish rulers of that time had a particular aversion
to even hearing Jesus's name.
ACT 5:28    "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said.
            "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are
            determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."

Finally, the first apostle's death, James of Zebedee was certainly
not by Rome's hand any more than the first martyr Stephen. 



The problem was that if one believed in the Resurrection, then one
must believe in Jesus as truly being the Son of God and what He
stood for and preached during His ministry on Earth.  That would
have been extremely difficult for some people, especially those
that had plotted to kill Him. 

