If a Jehovas witness doesn't eat blood products, are they vegetarian?

Question

What does this mean?

Answer 1

No they eat meat.

Adara - just because your cult and only your cult believes people should die instead of having a life saving blood transfusion. You should realize that when you die and have a life review you will be answerable for encouraging people to die. The blood in the bible JWs refer to was about animals not people. That's why no other Christians tell people they can't have a blood transfusion. They understand what has been said.

Answer 2

No, they still eat meat, but can't eat blood or blood based foods (like black pudding).

So long as the meat is properly drained of blood and cooked, they can eat it and most don't even think twice about it.

*Edit* That's not the same as kosher as they still eat pork and other animals which would be considered "unclean" to an orthodox Jew.

One Gammy Leg; witnessing via Y!A, eh? Things have sure changed since I was a member.

Answer 3

it's down to the individual.
if the meat has been properly drained of blood, they'll eat the meat.
but products made using blood they won't.
The Watchtower do provide an up-dated list of products to avoid.
for example it's a fact that many tinned soups, contain animal blood, so they don't buy them.
i know some JWs & they're vegetarian by choice,
as it's kinder to animals & a lack of trust in how the factory-farmers/manufactures/abattoirs treat, slaughter & prepare the meat.

Answer 4

The Bible is clear about this point.

When an animal is slaughtered for its meat the life blood must be poured out.
This means that while the blood is being being pumped by the heart that blood must be let out of the animals body.

This might sound unusual to talk like this , but they very meat that YOU buy from the shop is bled this way at the slaughter house -- it is not ODD.

So with proper bleeding an animals meat can be eaten by Jehovah's Witnesses., so unless we choose to be , we are not vegetarian.

For more bible based info please feel free to email me.

Answer 5

This is the way I understand it. They wont accept blood transfusions in medical situations, or eat food that has not been fully cooked (ex: rare steak that is still pink). Nope, they are not vegetarians.

Answer 6

Perhaps the questioner intends to remind readers that trace quantities of blood are quite common in meat, even when it has been conscientiously processed according to modern methods. As the questioner alludes, it is understandable when the conscience of a sincere Christian moves him to choose a vegetarian diet.

Of course, the bible plainly authorizes meat-eating. Thus, another Christian might reason that such trace amounts are tolerated by Jehovah God.

(Genesis 9:3-4) Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for you. ...I do give it all to you [Noah and your descendants]. Only flesh with its soul—its blood—you must not eat.

(James 4:17) If one knows how to do what is right and yet does not do it, it is a sin for him.

(Acts 15:20,28,29) Write them [the various Christian congregations] to abstain from things polluted by idols [the meat of which is likely to contain blood] and from fornication and from what is strangled [the meat of which is likely to contain blood] and from blood. ...For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you, except these necessary things, to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols [the meat of which is likely to contain blood] and from blood and from things strangled [the meat of which is likely to contain blood] and from fornication. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/hb/index.htm?article=article_07.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/vcnb/article_01.htm

Answer 7

they eat meat, ok? But they don't want to be given anyone elses blood at a hospital, so they deny themselves blood in case of fatal accident or to recieve an organ donation. They think it's better to die than getting help.

Answer 8

We eat meat, but it must be processed properly. It is the meat we buy just like you, or anyone who eats meat, from a grocery store. Many Jehovah's Witnesses like meat and therefore are NOT vegetarians.

Witnesses do not take in blood transfusions either for blood, the life force belongs to God for he gave life, so the life force goes back to him. If people adhere to God's laws rather than man's, is it guaranteed that if a doctor did give a blood transfusion during surgery that HE, THAT DOCTOR, can guarantee that you will live after the surgery? NO, he cannot. But who can raise those from the dead after Armageddon? A doctor? No. Only Jehovah God can. I am adhereing to God's laws, not what man cannot guarantee----it's a dead end. Even if I survived a blood transfusion surgery, will I hold favor in God's eyes? Who will judge all at Armageddon? The doctor or God? You see??
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Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of Blood
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BLOOD is vital to life. Though this has been recognized from ancient times, modern research is providing a greater understanding of its life-sustaining functions.

The practice of transfusing human blood holds a prominent position in modern medical care. Those in the medical field and many others regard the transfer of blood from one human to another as an accepted therapeutic method.1 But there are people who do not accept blood transfusions. They are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jehovah’s Witnesses cherish and deeply respect life. This is one of the reasons why they do not smoke, use addictive drugs or seek abortions. They have learned from the Bible to view life as sacred, something to be protected and preserved both for themselves and for their children.

Why, then, do Jehovah’s Witnesses object to blood transfusions? Is there some rational basis for this conviction that they hold to even in the face of death? And is their position on the matter totally incompatible with modern medical knowledge and principles?

This topic should be of interest to everyone in the medical profession, for at any time a doctor may be confronted with the blood transfusion issue. This is quite possible, as there are more than two million of Jehovah’s Witnesses earth wide. Probably some of them are living in your community. The following is written to aid doctors to understand Jehovah’s Witnesses as patients and to consider how their view can be reasonably accommodated. First we will examine the religious basis for their position. Then consider the ethics involved and some recent findings and observations by qualified doctors that may be of practical value in resolving problems regarding the use of blood.

Even persons who are not in the medical field are invited to look into this important matter. The position that Jehovah’s Witnesses take on blood actually involves rights and principles that can affect each one of us. And a knowledge of what they believe, and why, will aid a person to understand better this issue that has often been of concern to doctors, jurists, and students of the Bible.
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What does the Bible say about humans taking blood into their bodies?

Even individuals who do not personally view the Bible to be the inspired word of God must acknowledge that it has much to say about blood. From the first book of the Bible through to the last, “blood” is mentioned more than four hundred times. Certain Bible verses are especially pertinent to the question of sustaining life with blood. Let me briefly examine them:

The Bible record shows that early in mankind’s history the Creator and Life-Giver expressed himself on the issue of blood. Right after the global flood, when God first granted humans the right to eat animal flesh, he commanded Noah and his family: “Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for you. As in the case of green vegetation, I do give it all to you. Only flesh with its soul—its blood—you must not eat.” (Genesis 9:3, 4)
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Leviticus 19:26
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YOU must eat nothing along with blood. “YOU must not look for omens, and YOU must not practice magic".

Hope this has helped.

Answer 9

C'mon, ease up! You're asking someone to reason! Too hard, too hard! Forgive us, for we know not what we do!
No, please...give up my cheeseburgers? Or those juicy, wonderful smelling steaks? No, please...not my bacon and eggs! I actually WANT cancer...heart disease...strokes and ulcers...please dont help me...pleeeeeaase! THATS IT! I just GOTTA have some ribs, right now....slurp, gulp, chomp, chomp, smack, burp....AAHHHH!!!

Answer 10

So does that mean that they are kosher?