I Corinthians 3:17

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are (KJV)

Then: Think through the meaning of defiling the temple - of sinning -- and the starkness of this sentence strikes believers with guilt and shame. For all sin and fall short. Paul writes of the extreme black and white contrast between purity and failure. On its surface and standing alone, Paul's statement is very hard, adamant. Thankfully, God provided the way out, but the ultimate implacable result of defiling the temple which holds the Spirit of God is destruction. Followers do have a choice. Continue --or repent and be forgiven. Paul has to focus on the end game which is his call to teach the gospel. Any church deviating from the foundational principles needs to know doctrine, discipline and correction. Paul writes what he has to to effect change.

Now: We need both sides of a coin to understand what following Christ means. To stay only with the soft, gooey presentation that God is love is reassuring and comforting to all who have expienced the misery of living without him and of doing life their own way. They don't normally need reminders of the consequences of sin. In this verse Paul talks about the final extreme, the end where disobedience and self-will overwhelm the Holy Spirit which had been invited into the believer's soul and is so out of control, the Lord's only choice is to exact judgement. The foundation will survive, but nothing else will.