Why do Jehovah's Witnesses object to Blood Transfusions?

Question

I've always wondered why this is.

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the scriptures demonstrate a clear pattern indicating the sacredness with which Jehovah God (and thus god-fearing humankind) views all creature blood.


Predates Mosaic Law.
For example, over a thousand years before the birth of Moses, the pre-Israel, pre-Jewish, pre-Hebrew man Noah received what the scriptures record as only the second restrictive command on humans (after Garden of Eden's tree):

"Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it [that is, lifeblood] and of man" (Genesis 9:3-5)


Jewish Law.
Later, God's feeling regarding blood was codified into the Mosaic Law. This part of the Law dealing with blood was unique in that it applied, not just to Israel, but also to non-Jewish foreigners among them. It's also interesting that besides forbidding the consumption of blood, the Law also mandated that it be 'poured out on the ground', not used for any purpose.

"No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. Any man also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust." (Lev 17:12,13)

By comparison, it's significant that the Law also forbid the consumption of ceremonial animal fat, but that didn't apply to non-Jewish foreigners and it DID allow the fat to be used for other purposes.

"The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, You shall eat no fat, of ox, or sheep, or goat. The fat of an animal that dies of itself, and the fat of one that is torn by beasts, may be put to any other use" (Lev 7:22-24)


Early Christian era.
The Christian era ended the validity of the Mosaic Law, but remember that the restriction on eating blood preceded the Mosaic Law by over a thousand years. Still, does the New Testament indicate that Jehovah God changed his view of blood's sacredness?

"[God] freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses" (Eph 1:6,7)

"[God's] beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins... and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood" (Colossians 1:13-20)

"we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols and from unchastity and from what is strangled and from blood." (Acts 15:19,20)

"For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity." Acts 15:28,29


Modern times
Some will claim that the bible's command to "abstain" from blood only applies to eating it, and does not apply to the use of blood for other purpose. If that form of respect for blood were common among Christendom, one might wonder then why so many (who ostensibly follow the book of Acts) so happily eat their blood sausage and blood pudding if they truly respect blood according to some limited understanding of Acts 15:20,29. In fact, respect for blood and for Acts and for the Scriptures themselves is too rare among even supposedly god-fearing persons.

An honest review of the Scriptural pattern over the millenia from Noah to the Apostle Paul teaches humans that blood is to be used for a single purpose: acknowledging the Almighty. Otherwise, for centuries the instruction was to simply dispose of it; 'poor it upon the ground'. When Jehovah's Witnesses pursue non-blood medical management, they are working to honor and obey their Creator.

Answer 2

This question is getting old, only 10% of those refusing blood are witnesses.

As for people claiming that abstaining (Acts 15:20) only refers to eating, does that mean that only oral sex is bad and that all other forms of fornication are okay?

UCLA now performs bloodless transplants. Google “Bloodless Surgery” and you will find 150 hospitals now offer bloodless options to all their patients.

There is so much in the Bible that they could not have understood the science behind why something should or should not be done. In our modern times, we are learning just how the science fits. A good example was when God instructed his people to no longer allow marriages between close relatives. They didn’t understand what genetics was, or why for 2000 years it was okay, and than it wasn’t. Now, we know why.

There is no safe blood transfusion, even if there is no infectious agent present in it. Every transfusion lowers the body's immunal response in the exact same manner as AIDS does. There may or may not be any connection, but the fact is it leaves you open very RARE, not regular diseases, just like AIDS. It still requires coming into contact with the disease for it to become a problem.

That aside, there is the growing problems with contamination of the blood supply.

I'm a taxi cab driver in Kansas City. Ask most any cab driver or taxi passenger in the area who Papa Bear is and they will tell you.

Last Spring, there was a conference here of reps of Blood Services, from all over the world. They were here to learn a new labeling system. Up until this year, there was no uniform labeling system for blood, causing mismatches and other problems.

I had some passengers from London and I asked them about an article I read that England was importing thousands of pinks of blood a year from the U.S. because of contamination of their local supply by Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow). They said they were, but the practice has been discontinued, as the U.S. supply was no longer considered safe within the parameters they set, in other words, what is an allowable percentage of contamination.

They now get it from Australia. Apparently, Canadian is also not considered safe. She said we are fooling ourselves if we think our supply was anywhere near being safe. There are no tests for Mad Cow that can be done on blood. It can only be confirmed after death. There has also been an increasing rate of viral zoonotic (Rabies).

The sale of blood and blood products is big money, to where there is a growing problem with over bleeding of those who donate or sell their blood. When you over bleed, the immune system gets activated, causing a production of chemicals to create clots. That can be a problem for those receiving the blood, to suddenly get a blockage in a vein.

It should also be noted that strict Judaism also believes the blood is the soul, which is why when there is terrorist bombing, they clean up every last bit of blood to be buried, even chipping up the roads.

The fact is that what the Jws have done for over 50 years has made the care of patients safer. It is why you must give permission to have your child treated. There is also one benefit of their work for those who do take transfusions. It had driven down the cost of blood as corporations compete to get hospitals to buy from them.

So, if people want to hide their heads and think their safe, go right ahead, but I'll stay with the 90% of non-JWs who are also refusing blood.

Quality Alternatives to Transfusion
http://www.watchtower.org/e/hb/index.htm?article=article_03.htm

Answer 3

As a witness we don't accept Blood Transfusions, because we feel blood is sacred to God. Acts 15:29 says: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell (New International Version).

It is more so to obey Gods commands and to prevent ourselves from diseases that can come about from tainted blood fractions.
Amongst witnesses, this is a conscious decision and each person has to make that decision with the bible in mind and a clean conscious. There are medical procedures that are far more advanced that this has become a irrelevant issue in the medical community.

I encourage everyone-JW or not to look into alternatives that are safer, cleaner and more efficient for the health of yourself and your loved ones. The link below will give you more info on doctors and hospitals across the country that perform this procedure.

We love and care for ourselves and our young ones. Bottom line is that we want to be on the safe side with God and our health.

Answer 4

In both the OLD & NEW testaments...we are specifically told that blood is sacred to Jehovah & not to be abused. We have an article of this on our website below & it will help will ALL of your questions. Acts 5:29 (I think) says "Abstain from blood." How much more simpler can it get? There are MANY other alternatives available besides blood & we have rarely lost any people who refused blood. In fact, we have a video (your local library MAY have it) on Blood & us. Also Feel free to talk with us or attend our meeting. we never ask for a dime. I can assure you & please don't let anybody sway you on who we are. I encourage you to find out for yourself & you will see who we really are. Best Wishes!

Answer 5

Like so many other doctrinal positions adopted by the JWs, the prohibition against blood transfusions arose because they cannot accurately understand and apply Scripture.

Here are the four passages in the Bible which they interpret as prohibiting the consuming of blood:

Genesis 9:4 "But flesh (meat) with...blood...ye shall not eat"
Leviticus 17:12-14 "...No soul of you shall eat blood...whosoever eateth it shall be cut off"
Acts 15:29 "That ye abstain...from blood..."
Acts 21:25 "...Gentiles...keep themselves from things offered to idols and from blood..."

JWs interpret "eating" of blood in its most general form to include accepting "transfusion of whole blood, packed [red blood cells] RBCs, and plasma, as well as [white blood cells] WBC and platelet administration."

L.C. Cotton, associate director of Jehovah's Witnesses hospital information services, said: "We feel that the Bible clearly indicates that blood is sacred and it is not to be used for human consumption. Though it doesn't discuss it in medical terms, Jehovah's Witnesses feel that would preclude the acceptance of it in a blood transfusion." Most other Christian and Jewish faith groups interpret these same passages as referring to dietary laws; i.e. to the actual eating of meat containing blood.

Answer 6

Jehovah's Witnesses
and the Question of Blood



Which of us has not read or heard of Court cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses and their refusal to take blood transfusions? "It is forbidden in the Bible!", they cry in their self-defense. Watchtower publications discussing the blood issue do indeed use scripture, but are these scriptures used correctly, or are they misused?

Jehovah's Witnesses use for their guide, a booklet called "Jehovah's Witnesses and the Question of Blood". They begin by quoting Genesis 9:4,

"Only you shall not eat flesh with it's life, that is, it's blood."

Re-read this scripture carefully. Rather than prohibiting the eating of blood, this scripture clearly forbids the eating of UNBLED MEAT, "flesh with it's life, it's blood."

Animals were to be slaughtered and their blood drained out, insuring their death, and then the bled meat could be eaten, but on no account were God fearing people to "eat flesh with it's life, that is its blood." This scripture in no way deals with the eating of blood alone--the blood was to be poured out, and the flesh was to be eaten. Nothing more is implied.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


WHAT HAS EATING ANIMAL
FLESH TO DO WITH BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS?



Jehovah's Witnesses are told that "eating blood" is the same as "transfusing blood" since transfused blood bypasses the stomach and goes directly to the veins to nourish the body. The Watchtower quotes for it's support of this theory, Genesis 9:5,6, which reads,

"And surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man". Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God, He made man."

This scripture is clearly discussing murder or manslaughter, for it involves the taking of life, and the person whose blood was shed died. This is hardly the case with blood transfusions. The person donating the blood does not die, and the person receiving the blood very often has his life saved.

Animal blood was to be poured out before the flesh was to be eaten. Humans, with or without their blood were at no time to be eaten! Therefore this scripture can in no way be applied to the eating or transfusing of blood, when read in context.

Answer 7

Acts 15:28,29 states to “abstain from blood”, it doesn’t stay abstain from blood of animals, or abstain from EATING/DRINKING blood. It has become a general instruction "abstain from blood" which is slightly different from the instructions in the Hebrew Scriptures (See Gen 9:4 - 4 Only flesh with its soul—its blood—YOU must not EAT). Animals are allowed to be eaten as long as it is PROPERLY bled. God’s faithful followers did not eat or drink any sort of blood, also human blood (YOUR midst who eats any sort of blood-Lev 17:10). Acts 15:28-29 if you notice, the abstention all pertains to the use of blood, fornication, from things strangled towards the human body. (If YOU carefully keep yourselves from these things, YOU will prosper. Good health to YOU!”) , Notice the word, YOU and Health.

The point there is “eating and drinking blood” and transfusing blood means the blood goes IN to your body. If you are allergic to nuts, the doctor will only say, “abstain from nuts”, that covers everything, that is, nothing to be taken orally and to be transfused.

EDITED :

The question then is, when Acts 15 states “abstain from blood” is it only for eating and drinking blood? At that time, early Christians, understood that “abstaining from blood” means not eating and drinking it because blood transfusion is not being practiced. If it was being practiced at that time, the instruction in Acts 15 did not EXCLUDE "blood transfusion". The early Christians also understood that they won’t use blood for medical reasons, that’s why they didn’t use blood to cure epilepsy.

Notice also that blood transfusion is not practiced until centuries later. According to wikipedia.org that it started "The first historical attempt at blood transfusion was described by the 15th-century chronicler Stefano Infessura".So do you expect the Bible to explicitly speak against medical transfusion of blood during the 1st century when during that time it wasn’t practiced? Or have you ever thought that just quoting a GENERAL instruction, i.e., to “ABSTAIN from Blood” will suffice because the instruction is timeless.

Is there any record of Christians and God’s faithful followers drinking any sort of blood from LIVE/dead animals or humans? Pagans drink blood of living animals, and some human blood during the early Christians time, so how come no one in the Bible was recorded doing so?

If someone also died because of wrong blood type transfused OR got AIDS and died because of blood transfusion, who will be accounted for the cause of death? The one who transfused the blood, the who one gave his blood or the one who accepted it? So in that case also, human life was sacrificed.

Have you ever wondered why in Rev 2:14, , Jesus has something AGAINST Pergamum, i.e., to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication, which reflects the original instructions in Acts 15:29?. Also, Jesus has something AGAINST some in Thyatira because Jezebel misleads Jesus’ slaves to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols (From the original instruction in Acts 15:20, 29)? Many years have passed when the Apostle John wrote Revelation but the instruction from Acts 15:20,29 is still in effect. So you think, the instructions in Acts 15:29 are only temporary?

JWs believe in the Bible as the word of God and it is for everyone's lasting benefit to follow it. We follow the Bible's command to abstain from blood stated in Acts 15:29. Eventhough we do not accept transfusion of blood, we accept others ALTERNATIVES to blood transfusion. We believe that putting any sort of blood in our body is a serious sin that we can loose our chance of the life promised by God and Jesus.
The Israelites, who ate blood, will be cut off from God's people. See Lev 17:10.

Answer 8

Check out this thread from a couple months ago. I could just re-write what was stated, but this person did a good job already. It is very accurate.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApMH1xu5dKk5g9d1FmQJ7GsjzKIX?qid=20060829200935AAtFEWD

Answer 9

Because they are in the dark ages

Answer 10

here are a couple of links so that you can learn more about them


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefs_and_practices_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses:_Controversial_issues

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_and_blood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_and_salvation