Excerpted from the American heritage Dictionary:
mar·tyr n.
1. One who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce religious principles.
2. One who makes great sacrifices or suffers much in order to further a belief, cause, or principle.
3.
a. One who endures great suffering: a martyr to arthritis.
b. One who makes a great show of suffering in order to arouse sympathy.
Notice that the classical definition does not include dying while killing others or committing a crime...
The terrorists are _NOT_ Martyrs...
They're suicidal psychopaths who are using religion to mask their insanity.
But, I am forced to agree that our tendency to rationalize will cause many to foget:
Mark 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
And, that denying Christ, even at Sword Point, is a form of being ashamed...
Might as well...
1 Samuel 4:9 Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
They'll probably kill you anyway...
And, you really don't want to die having just denied Christ, do you?
Mike Sr.