Hi RAZD,
RAZD writes:
How do we know that she is not right and you are the one that does the twisting?
The reasons given for not accepting a blood transfusion as stated by the Watch Tower Society is the scriptures given in
Message 13 by killinghurts that his wife quotes.
Here are the Scriptures:
Genesis 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Leviticus 17:14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
Leviticus 7:26 Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.
Acts 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
15:29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Acts 21:25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.
If you can find in these scriptures where transfusion could be denied she could be right.
The Watch Tower Society interpets eating blood, digesting blood, the same thing as a blood transfusion. If a blood transfusion and eating blood is the same then they are correct and I am wrong.
In
Message 24 you mentioned self transfusion, good idea. But not allowed under Watch Tower Society Rules.
Here is what I found on the Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site. Under Appendix, Jehovah's Witnesses--The Surgical/Ethical Challenge. Then scroll down to Witnesses position on Therapy.
While these verses are not stated in medical terms, Witnesses view them as ruling out transfusion of whole blood, packed RBCs, and plasma, as well as WBC and platelet administration. However, Witnesses' religious understanding does not absolutely prohibit the use of components such as albumin, immune globulins, and hemophiliac preparations; each Witness must decide individually if he can accept these.
Witnesses believe that blood removed from the body should be disposed of, so they do not accept autotransfusion of predeposited blood. Techniques for intraoperative collection or hemodilution that involve blood storage are objectionable to them. However, many Witnesses permit the use of dialysis and heart-lung equipment (non-blood-prime) as well as intraoperative salvage where the extracorporeal circulation is uninterrupted; the physician should consult with the individual patient as to what his conscience dictates.
The Witnesses do not feel that the Bible comments directly on organ transplants; hence, decisions regarding cornea, kidney, or other tissue transplants must be made by the individual Witness.
Personally I see no difference with an organ transplant and a blood transplant.
RAZD writes:
This could form a basis for an interesting thread.
It probably would if it could be agreed on a final authority for what is right and what is wrong. But that is impossible and the reason we have over 34,000 different religious denominations in the world.
God Bless,
"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
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