Why do Jehovah's Witnesses believe it is wrong to receive blood products if they are dying?

Question

As a side note, the patient we transported to the hospital was a young teenager whoe had elective surgery and chose not to have a transfusion to increase her hematocrit when there was a complication with the surgery. The end result is that shortly after we transferred her to the ER staff, she passed away. If she had taken what she needed when it was offered, she would have lived. Should you have to die because someone else made a mistake?

Answer 1

Becaue it is a good example and how wacked religion can be when men speak for God. This interprets God as not a merciful being. People of the world are mauled by religions and taken further away from God.

Answer 2

Could we get some more people to answer this question, qualified based on a splendid mixture of a tiny bit of knowledge, and a large amount of bias? Thanks.

But in short, the Bible says to "Abstain from blood". It does not specify that you merely avoid drinking blood... to take it in from some other means would be attempting to use semantics...

Please keep in mind, there are very few situations nowadays where someone NEEDS blood or they will die.There are numerous other methods a person can use to avoid a transfusion when their blood count is low, that are less risky. Witnesses don't refuse medical treatment, merely the use of blood in the treatment. In this day and age, rejecting the most risky, out of one of more than a dozen options is hardly a difficult choice.

Worth noting though, is that blood, if it were a drug, would NEVER be approved by the FDA. It's too dangerous. How many people have died because of a transfusion, that could have survived without? It actually happens, that a lot of people are afraid because of the possible side effects of blood transfusions. Many non-Witnesses claim to be Witnesses when they go in for surgery, so they can avoid needing to argue over getting bloodless treatment, when there are so many better alternatives.

Answer 3

If this if true, it sounds like the hospital refused to offer or have refused to learn about alternatives to blood transfusions, so they may be negligent. Do you have a news link to this? These cases never happen without someone calling the newspaper.

It shoudl be noted that 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 4

Because there is a verse in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, that says not to partake in the blood of sacrifices to false gods. So basically, don't eat or drink blood that was used to worship false gods or idols. But JW's say that if you can't eat it that blood it must mean that any type of blood going into your body in any way is bad and you won't be resurrected after Armageddon.
They believe they are guided by Jehovah God and very sincere in this belief whether it makes sense to the majority or not.

Answer 5

Because the bible says to abstain from blood in acts 15:20 Jehovah's witnesses only do what the bible says. Plus when you have a blood free surgery it is actually safer. The doctor works more carefully and you don't have to worry about the risk of your body rejecting the blood or getting the wrong blood. In high blood loss surgerys there are methods to reduce blood loss or salvage the blood you have lost.

Answer 6

They believe that the blood is the life force of any being. They believe that any meat they eat has to be completely drained of any blood in a prescribed way before they can even cook it to eat it. A blood transfusion is taking away a part of someone else's life force and they don't believe in that.

Answer 7

Jehovah's Witnesses love life and want to keep on living. That is why they seek out medical attention. They do not want to die. But neither do they wish to violate God's laws, not even on threat of death.

The Bible has much to say about God's position concerning blood. It is very precious to Him. Scripturally, there is only one acceptable use for it: atonement. Thus we read God's own words at Leviticus 17:11 "For the soul of the flesh is in the blood and I myself have put it on the altar for you to make atonement for your souls because it is the blood that makes atonement by the soul in it." Jehovah's Witnesses have not rewritten the Bible to make it read that way. It reads thusly in every Bible.

Yes, some may say, but that is the Old Testament. Is that in force now?

Notice Acts 15:29 which commands Christians to abstain from blood. This commandment is found in all Bibles. Jehovah's Witnesses did not rewrite the New Testament to make it read thusly.

Well, isn't it true that this scripture is speaking only of animal blood? No such qualification is found in this scripture. Moreover, this scripture also commands us to abstain from fornication. Is it reasonable to believe that this means certain forms of fornication are perfectly fine with God but others are not? We find in this command no ambiguity, no concessions and no qualification. Abstain from fornication. Abstain from blood.

Jehovah's Witnesses take transfusions – the safe kind. The kind that does not violate God's law. Ask yourself, if the doctor guarantees you will die without a blood transfusion, can he guarantee you will live WITH one? Ask yourself this as well: if you are on your death bed, is that the time to be violating God's law?

Jehovah's Witnesses do not take blood transfusions because nowhere in scripture are we given authority to use blood to preserve or sustain life. Jehovah's Witnesses do not take blood transfusions because God commands us to abstain from blood. The only use of blood approved of by God in the Bible is for atonement and/or cleansing. Under the law covenant, atonement was made by sacrifice. Now it is Jesus Christ's ransom sacrifice that makes atonement.

Hannah J Paul

Answer 8

There are blood substitutes we do use, when the hospital stocks them. many do not because so few others use them.
Below is a great link to what we believe.
Remember this, our scientists have met with many doctors and have made great strides in medicine.
We don't just knock on doors, we do something about what hurts.
You could learn a great deal if you would accept the Awake magazine when offered.
But, if your more comfortable with your head in the sand, then, just ignore us when we try to help you.
At least we are doing what Jesus told us to do, despite what your preacher says.....WE too love Jesus.

Answer 9

One of my very very good friends was a witness and one time he was in an accident and I was the only person there. He told me not to let them give him blood because Witnesses believe in Resurection of their bodies and their blood can not be "tainted" It is not pure unless it is your own for you will not come back as "self" if you have "outside" blood in your body.

Answer 10

I had a friend that new a JW and she got to look at the card they carry to inform the medics of this rule. It had a scripture reference, which I no longer remember, but we looked it up at that time. Where the card said "do not take blood" our bible read "do not take blood that has been sacrificed to idols" or something along those lines.

This is just an example of cut and paste to make the bible say what you want it to say. But I have no idea why someone would want to deprive their members of life.