text: It has always bothered me that Christ would promise His followers that they would be"persecuted for His sake"
  
  He almost seems to exult in the fact that His followers would be burned at the stake, thrown to ravenous deliberately starved beasts, crucified upside down, tortured in the Spanish Inquiition ad infinitum.
  He seems to almost take a sadistic pleasure in His predictions.
  
  Was there not enough violence and evil in the world without Christ demanding more, by requesting people to follow Him, with resulting agonizing atrocities?
  
  Where is the alleged God of love in all this?
  
  Any thoughts?