David Brainerd Quotes
Oh, how precious is time! And how guilty it makes me feel when I think I have trifled away and misimproved it, or neglected to fill up each part of it with duty to the utmost of my ability and capacity
Brainerd, David. The Life of David Brainerd. Edited by Jonathan Edwards, Yale University Press, 1985.
This text, generally considered the most important of all the Hindu works is believed to be the guidance given by Lord Krishna, the most important of the God figures, to has friend and devotee Arjuna. It originally was an episode of the enormous Mahabharata, the history of the ancient world written originally in Sanskrit. The date is approximate and different scholars have dated it from 500 BC to 50 BC. The Bhagavad Gita is generally regarded as the most concise description of Hindu philosophy. For some religions, fighting and war is not only permissible but can be a religious duty. Islam has the same notion. Christianity in contrast has had more of a theological struggle with war as a duty and even had to develop the concept of a “just war” to make fighting morally permissible. But this compunction, also shared with Buddhists and Bhai for example, is by no means universal. When religious Muslims fought religious Hindus as they have for over 1000 years, it is particularly difficult even today to make peace as so many on both sides see the battle as a religious duty.
Other war criminals had committed suicide in conformity with the Japanese custom. But Tojo stayed alive so that he could take the responsibility from the Emperor Herohito who many Americans wanted tried for his actions and inactions during the war. But Tojo made an error. At the beginning of his trial he testified that he always obeyed the Emperor even though he was the Prime Minister and the head of government. Therefore, the Emperor was guilty of those crimes he had discussed with Tojo and the cabinet. Later, he was persuaded to change his testimony and said that he led the country to war and the Emperor wanted peace, a statement that few believed. See {587278}. While the Emperor had committed war crimes General MacArthur believed that the Emperor left in place and unpunished would make it easier to govern Japan, than if he were tried and punished. However, he and his staff fabricated a report to exonerate the Emperor rather than make his recommendation to his superiors and the President so they could either accept his view or not. He was a unilateralist in the administrative sense of the word. See {587279} for additional material on the Emperor’s guilt.
David Brainerd was an American missionary to the Native Americans who had a particularly fruitful ministry among the Delaware Indians of New Jersey. During his short life he was beset by many difficulties. As a result, his biography has become a source of inspiration and encouragement to many Christians. Missionaries such as William Carey and Jim Elliot, and Brainerd's cousin, the Second Great Awakening evangelist James Brainerd Taylor (1801–1829) have been motivated by the ministry of David Brainerd.
