You forgot the second half of the quote "if you don't believe them, you are a kofer"
Correct. i didnt think this sophisticated crowd needed me to finish a well know vort.
So somewhere in between is a good balance.
So when you look in the mirror after this is all over and you didnt go to a minyan and followed psak halacha does that make you a bad Jew? NO. Does that make you someone who wasnt moiser nefesh for a mitzvah? No.
My whole point is that this vision that has been cultivated in these biographies of what mesrius nefesh looks/looked like is now coming home to roost in what is clearly not a situation that requires mesirus nefesh. Everyone wants to look in the mirror and see themselves as having done the right thing. The right thing is not to be doing something that has been banned. Going lifnim meshuras hadin in tying to circumvent the ban is not mesirus nefesh. Someone please post the quote for our resident shabbos goy about fooling our G-d