This snippet of a play by George Bernard Shaw called Saint Joan sums it up well. The play is a dramatization of the story of the martyrdom of Joan of Arc. This particular part is near the end, as two of the characters, one the Bishop Cauchon and the other the Chaplain de Stogumber reflect on the execution of St. Joan:

De Stogumber: Well, you see, I did a very cruel thing once because I did not know what cruelty was like. I had not seen it, you know. That is the great thing: you must see it. And then you are redeemed and saved.

Cauchon: Were not the sufferings of our Lord Christ enough for you?

De Stogumber: No. Oh no: not at all. I had seen them in pictures, and read of them in books, and been greatly moved by them as I thought. But it was no use; it was not our Lord that redeemed me, but a young woman whom I saw actually burned to death. It was dreadful: oh, most dreadful. But it saved me. I have been a different man ever since, though a little astray in my wits sometimes.

Cauchon: Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those who have no imagination?

Simon