There's the crux of it there. In our present day, if I were to leave my family to fend for themselves while I ran off to follow some nutcase*, would I be a good Christian? Moslem? Hindu? Buddhist? Jew? Secular Humanist?
Pauline Christianity later softened this. See 1 Corinthians 7: 12-13

*forget for a moment it's Jesus we are talking about.