Was it Wrong to Drop the Atom Bomb on Japan?

After the fact surmising - it will go on until the LORD returns (Sorry Tom A, He hasn't yet) .

 

105,000 killed in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings (so roughly 50,000 'daddies').

Here was the alternative:
"A study done for Secretary of War Henry Stimson's staff by William Shockley estimated that conquering Japan would cost 1.7–4 million American casualties, including 400,000–800,000 fatalities, and five to ten million Japanese fatalities."

Fun Fact, the 'Purple Hearts' manufactured and stockpiled in preparation for the invasion of Japan are still being awarded to US soldiers (with new ribbons added to 120,000 in stock in 1985).

Look at the Battle of Okinawa, the last battle before the invasion of Japan, for an example of what to expect. 14,000 US killed, 76,000 Japanese killed, 13,000 Okinawan conscripts killed, and 50% of the civilian population (about 150,000 people) killed.

Dropping the Bomb saved an estimated 0.4 to 0.8 million US lives and 4.9 to 9.9 million Japanese lives.

 

It was bad in how many Japanese died as a result, but the alternative was much worse, as the best estimates were that the Allied Forced would have to go into house to house combat, and millions more would have died!

 

Could have been, but we could not control what Russia was going to do!

 

The Japanese surrendered to The US

Google Image Result for https://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2014/02/douglas-macarthur-and-hsu-yungchang-P.jpeg

 

Actually most of the the daddies were away at war so, sadly most of the deaths were "innocents" (The elderly, women and children).

Secondly, the death rate was much higher after the 1st year as many succumbed to radiation poisoning, burns, etc...

Sadly, It was "hell on earth"

But Hirohito brought it on for his people.

 

I read 50% died immediately and most of the rest over about 4 months. There were close to 200,000 caualties, but only about 105,000 total fatalities. You could be right about the number of Daddies, though. However both cities had major defense industries, so someone had to be making the airplanes and munitions in those factories. I only mention it because my Grandfather was denied enlistment when he tried to sign up for WW2 because his job as a chemist at the Bakelite Plant was vital to making those domes for the radar noses on night fighters ... so Japan might have had people whose war job was to work at the factories.

 

OK, my mother worked at a tank making factory because so many of the daddys were away at war, I believe the Japanese women did likewise.
My father was a chemical warfare officer in the Philippines, He was a pharmacist otherwise.

 

Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'.

 

You missed my points in my post. And you are just repeating the line we have been fed.

 

Oh, please. Did all of the population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki come into our "house and rob and murder"?

I will get to number 2 later.

And, once again, show me a passage justifying what we did.

 

When Adam sinned, the entire world suffered the consequences. When leaders bring their counties into war, those countries will bear the consequences, good or bad.

If we had not dropped "the bomb" and if Japan had won the war, the very people who were killed, would have instead been taking my grandparents home, or working as guards in POW camps. . . You can't have both ways. If they would reap the "reward" of a Japan victory, they should suffer the pain of defeat.

The world is so designed that we do live individualistically. Our sins hurt others. Our lives well-lived help others. Leaders of countries or families make decisions that directly impact those under them.

 

It was the correct political, military and moral thing.

What is more problematic for Christians is if we're happy about killing. We don't get to rejoice in the deaths of image-bearers of God.

If we can mourn the lives lost to abortion, we can mourn the lives lost to war, particularly non-combatants who had nothing to do with the Empire of Japan's decision making.

 

Your wanting #2 not to be true does not make it so. The Japanese, in fact, were at the end of their rope. Consider these quotes from the link that you probably didn't bother reading:

Henry H. ("Hap") Arnold, commanding General of the Army air forces, declared in his 1949 memoirs: "It always appeared to us, atomic bomb or no atomic bomb, the Japanese were already on the verge of collapse." This was confirmed by former Japanese prime minister Fumimaro Konoye, who said: "Fundamentally, the thing that brought about the determination to make peace was the prolonged bombing by the B-29s."

“The use of this barbarous weapon…was of no material assistance in our war against Japan.” —Adm. William Leahy, Truman's Chief of Staff

That bombing by the B-29s culminated in the air raids on Tokyo that, in the words of General Curtis LeMay, were to "bomb them back to the Stone Age". (Later LeMay tried to shift the blame on this quote to his overzealous ghost-writer. But Lemay also said, "(A)ll war is immoral and if you let that bother you, you're not a good soldier."

But we Christians, if we are good soldiers of Jesus Christ, should let it bother us.

Does 2 Timothy 3:16-17 on this topic? I think it does.
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

In other words, the Bible speaks to all spiritual and moral issues. (Whether or not we hear It is another issue). SO, is the bombing a moral issue? Of course. it is. So, once again, does any one have passages to justify what we did?

Edit: Here is the fuller quote from Admiral Lehy:

"Adm. William Leahy, President Truman’s Chief of Staff, wrote in his 1950 memoir I Was There that “the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.… in being the first to use it, we…adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.”

The War Was Won Before Hiroshima—And the Generals Who Dropped the Bomb Knew It

 

How is the killing of helpless civilians moral? Especially since it was no longer necessary to end the war (per the quotes I shared)? Many of these were Christians.Ever since the Meiji Restoration missionaries form all denominations were allowed to proselyte in Japan. When we were there we saw a number of churches that had a long lineage.

But, in order to justify our killing of these people, we need to not think of that but reduce these humans to "cancer cells" as Hank refers to them, or lump them all simplistically as robbers and murderers as Rev does.

 

The real culpability of leaders, Japanese or Americans, does not exculpate individuals of those nations - especially those who say "Amen" to the actions of those leaders.