"Hypothesis contrary to fact is always an unreliable way to procede."
It's getting late and I must confess that I don't understand what your point is. I don't think I disputed that God used martyrs as part of His redemptive program.
I meant that Kolo ( may he forgive me if I'm wrong) got sucked into the kind of argument (hypotheses contrary to fact, as in: if there were no martyrs) that can lead to misunderstanding almost as quickly as a collar stained with lipstick in a shade not used by your wife. I tried to translate what I presumed to think Kolo was saying into an articulation that did not use that tricky form of argument. I never thought you would dispute that martyrs were, evangelically speaking, da bomb.