Jehovah's Witnesses, do you understand what The Watchtower says about blood transfusions?

Question

Organ and tissue transplants are acceptible:
"The Witnesses do not feel that the Bible comments direction on organ transplants; hence, decisions regarding cornea, kidney, or other tissue transplants must be made by the individual Witness." —How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1999, p. 28

Blood is an organ of the body and a blood transfusion is nothing less than an organ transplant:
"When doctors transplant a heart, a liver, or another organ, the recipient's immune system may sense the foreign tissue and reject it. Yet, a transfusion is a tissue transplant. Even blood that has been 'properly' cross matched can suppress the immune system." —How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1999, p. 8

If blood is an “organ” of the body and “nothing less” than a “tissue transplant”, which Jehovah’s Witnesses accept, why do you still reject blood transfusions?

“Witnesses refuse transfusions of whole blood or of any of its four primary components.” —The Watchtower, June 15, 2004, p. 22

BUT...DID YOU KNOW:
"Today, most transfusions are not of whole blood but of one of its primary components: (1) red cells; (2) white cells; (3) platelets; (4) plasma (serum), the fluid part....Jehovah's Witnesses hold that accepting whole blood or any of those four primary components violates God's law."—The Watchtower, June 15, 2000, p. 29

Why then are Jehovah's Witnesses told that all of the components that make up blood plasma are acceptable to take —even though whole plasma transfusions are not?

"The Main Components of Blood - Plasma: about 55 percent of the blood. It is 92 percent water; the rest is made up of complex proteins, such as globulins, fibrinogens, and albumin."—Awake!, October 22, 1990, p. 1

"Witnesses' religious understanding does not absolutely prohibit the use of components such as albumin, immune globulins, and hemophiliac preparations."—How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1999, p. 27

(Note: "Hemophiliac preparations" are made from "fibrinogens." See Academic American Encyclopedia, vol. 17, p. 210)

Shane --- Do Jehovah's Witnesses accept injections of a blood fraction, such as immune globulin or albumin? Some do....some substances from the plasma cross into the fetus' circulation. Do plasma proteins, such as immune globulin and albumin? Yes, some do."—The Watchtower, June 1, 1990, p. 30-31?

If factors of blood components are acceptable to Jehovah's Witnesses on the basis that plasma factors cross from mother to baby in the womb, why does the Watchtower claim that transfusions of white blood cells are unacceptable—given the research that white blood cells pass from mother to baby in the mother's milk?

If the penalty for violating God's Law on blood requires the death of the person, why did Jehovah let the Israelite people who violated His Blood Law live at 1 Samuel 14:31-34? If God intended His command to "abstain...from blood" in Acts 15:28-29 to apply to human blood transfusions (rather than just prohibiting the eating of blood from sacrificial animals), why is there no mention of blood transfusions anywhere in the Bible? When we consider the fact that evidence exists for the practice of blood being transferred from a healthy person to an old or sick person as early as two thousand years before Christ, why is Scripture silent about this practice and only mentions the physical eating of blood?

"Blood transfusion makes its entre'e - The idea of using blood from a health person to transfer youth and vitality to an old or sick one is very ancient. It existed in Egyptian medicine as early as two thousand years before Christ."-- Illustrated History of Surgery, by Knut Haeger, pg 135

UPDATE: SHANE

That's not what I said. Read it again. For the record, I've been quoting Watchtower literature.

UPDATE: SHANE 2

You're making me waste my space. You're not understanding what I'm writing. Notice the word "PLASMA".

Do hemophiliacs who are Jehovah’s Witnesses take hemophiliac preparations of Factor VIII made from blood plasma? And what about other fractions of blood—such as immune globulin, albumin, and fibrinogen? Do Jehovah’s Witnesses take these? Yes they do.

The reason I asked that question was because of this: "Witnesses' religious understanding does not absolutely prohibit the use of components such as albumin, immune globulins, and hemophiliac preparations."—How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1999, p. 27

Hemophiliac preparations are made from fibrinogens.....

It is a component of blood: "The Main Components of Blood - Plasma: about 55 percent of the blood. It is 92 percent water; the rest is made up of complex proteins, such as globulins, fibrinogens, and albumin."—Awake!, October 22, 1990, p. 1.

So yes, you do take plasma components.

UPDATE:

The Bible talks about "abstaining from blood" in only one book (Acts) and it's only in three verses. Was Jesus speaking? No. Was this taught to all Christians? No. James wrote a letter to the GENTILES and sent a group of men to tell them as a confirmation of their letter.

They also said to abstain from things that are strangled. Are you faithfully following that command from the same verse? Or did you just choose to follow a part of that verse? Besides, abstaining from blood doesn't mean blood transfusions only. What if someone has a nose bleed, do you abstain from them until it stops? It just said "blood"; not medical procedures or "transfusions".

The same guy who said this also said:

"Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved."

Are you gonna faithfully follow that too? Or is this another "pick-and-choose parts of a verse"? CONTEXT! If you're gonna follow a part of the verse, follow it all.

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses are primarily interested in what God's Word says about respect for blood. The bible teaches respect for blood which is more elevated than that required for any other bodily tissue.


It is sad when those who have theological differences with the Witnesses actively work to spread misinformation about their beliefs. The fact is that Jehovah's Witnesses have hundreds of hospital liaison committees around the globe to help advance nonblood medical management technologies and awareness in the medical community.

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.


Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/hb/

Short Videos
http://watchtower.org/e/vcnb/
http://jw-media.org/edu_videos/vcnb_e.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/vcnr/
http://jw-media.org/edu_videos/vcnr_e.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/vcae/
http://jw-media.org/edu_videos/vcae_e.htm
http://jw-media.org/vnr/2253636331/734353.htm

Answer 2

First, I am not a Jehovah's Witness, but perhaps can shed some light on this subject from an unbiased position.

1) "blood is an organ"
This may be true from a medical viewpoint or definition, but the average English-speaking person does not view blood as an organ. Blood is commonly perceived as a substance or a liquid, not as an organ. Normally when someone speaks of an "organ", the common perception is one of connected cells, which blood is not.

2) "Why then are Jehovah's Witnesses told that all of the components that make up blood plasma are acceptable to take —even though whole plasma transfusions are not?"
Because these "components" are not *cellular* in nature. They do not contain DNA, but rather are simpler components. (all those you mentioned are proteins)

I would like to add that the belief in this matter by Jehovah's Witnesses is essentially *faith* based, not *medically* based. In other words, someone or some persons in charge of their organization have to "make a call" as to what is acceptable and what is not. The Jehovah's Witnesses *have* been known to change their doctrine when *definitive* evidence contradicting their doctrine has been provided, although it may take several decades. I'm still waiting for them to recognize the true year of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem. Currently, they accept only a date used historically that was discovered to be inaccurate decades ago. The point is, apparently they have made the call that proteins, because they are non-cellular in nature, can no more be considered "blood" than any other protein.

3) "If the penalty for violating God's Law on blood requires the death of the person, why did Jehovah let the Israelite people who violated His Blood Law live at 1 Samuel 14:31-34?"
Death was not the penalty for eating of blood, even for eating the blood of animals sacrificed in the temple
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=3&chapter=7&verse=26&end_verse=28&version=31&context=context

4) "If God intended His command to "abstain...from blood" in Acts 15:28-29 to apply to human blood transfusions (rather than just prohibiting the eating of blood from sacrificial animals), why is there no mention of blood transfusions anywhere in the Bible?"
Because blood *transfusions* (by needle, or from blood vessel to blood vessel) were unknown at that time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_transfusion#Early_attempts
"Blood transferred", judging by the wording, does not involve such a process. I *strongly* suspect the process to which you refer was achieved by *ingestion*. Thus, this could be considered an argument *in favor* of the position held by Jehovah's Witnesses.

Conclusion: given the established Jehovah's Witness position of no blood transfusion, it *does* seem *logical* that the "components" you mention cannot be considered blood by any stretch of the imagination. In any case, they have made this call, and (given the prohibition against blood, specifically) it seems a reasonable one.

Jim, http://www.jimpettis.com/wheel/

Answer 3

You , in an edit, said we take components, but not whole blood. That is not true.

We do not accept whole blood OR any component of blood.

Each individual JW must make a decision as to whether or not they will accept a fraction of a component (fractions make up the components).


EDIT:
This is from you...
Why then are Jehovah's Witnesses told that all of the components that make up blood plasma are acceptable to take —even though whole plasma transfusions are not?

You yourself said we feel it's OK, that components are OK to take.

Answer 4

God commands to abstain from blood. That is all I need to know.
What you want to do, it is up to you, but as one of Jehovah's Witnesses myself I shall do what God directs.

Answer 5

Well Ive seen them take blood before.
They change doctrines and beliefs like the Mormons. Whenever someone has a revelation everything changes. They are considered a cult because of the fear tactics they use in controlling there organization. Very sad.

Answer 6

Almighty God gave us our body filled with life. He breathed the breath of life into Adam and Adam came alive. We should sustain life as God gave Adam and Eve life. God did the first operation. God took Adam's rib bone and created Eve to give her LIFE. Do you know in the bone there's marrow. In the marrow there is many red blood cells and many white blood cells. When God took Adam's bone, and made Eve, he took some life out of Adam and gave it to Eve. In that we should COPY as what God did for another human being. By that first operation, God showed that we should "sustain life and not take away life."

UPDATE: Someone on this page is *guilty* of total *BLASPHEME*.

Answer 7

short answer, YES we do understand what is in the magazines.
the BIG question, though, jeremy, is do YOU understand what is in your BIBLE?

you really need to get a study going. i wrote you privately, so feel free to send me the wonderful list and i will respond with the same list for you.

following someone makes you their disciple, and the people whom you are imitating are lost causes. i dont think you want to be lost as well, right?

write me again when you have time. lets have a real, mans discussion.

gramps

Answer 8

Quran Sura 16 An Nahl
115
He has only forbidden you to eat carrion (meat of dead a body), blood, pork, and that over which any name other than Allah has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity, intending neither to break the Divine Law nor to transgress limits, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

116
You shall not falsely declare with your tongues: "This is lawful, and that is forbidden," in order to ascribe false things to Allah, for those who forge lies against Allah will never prosper.

Quran Sura 2. Al Baqara
173
He has forbidden you to eat dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which any name other than Allah has been invoked; but if someone is compelled by absolute necessity, intending neither to sin nor to transgress, he shall incur no sin. Surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

174
Surely those who conceal any part of the Book which Allah has revealed and sell His revelations for petty price (material gain), shall swallow nothing but fire into their bellies. On the Day of Resurrection Allah will neither speak to them nor purify them and they shall have painful punishment.




Blood transfusion for medical purposes is permissible in Islam. It is permissible to take blood from a non-Muslim and it is permissible to give blood to non-Muslims. These matters are related to human life.

It stands to reason that Islam teaches us to feed the hungry, to take care of the sick and to save the life of people. In these matters it does not make any difference between the life of a Muslim and non-Muslim.

Donating blood is an act of charity. It might save the life of a person who is in desperate need of it. Referring to this, Allah, the Almighty says: "…and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind." (Surah al-Maida, Ch.5, Verse.32). That is why there is no reason to be found that stops one from donating blood as a charitable act.



However, the permissibility of blood donation or blood transfusion is determined by the following conditions:

a) The donor should donate his blood willingly. If he is compelled to do so, then it is not permissible;

b) There is no danger to his (the donor's) life or health;

c) It must be clarified by the doctor that blood transfusion is necessary otherwise the life of the patient will be at stake; i.e. the recovery can not be possible without blood transfusion.

d) It is not permissible to sell one's blood or to pay the blood donor. However, if one is desperate for blood (to save his life) and the only means to obtain it is to purchase it, then it is permissible to pay for the blood. [In this case, it is only the one who asks for the money that will incur the sin].


And Allah knows the best.

Answer 9

WHA WHA WHA. STOP YOUR CRYING AND YOUR LYING.

WHAT YOU MUST DO IS REMEMBER THIS

ZEPH.1:14 "THE GREAT DAY OF JEHOVAH IS NEAR

Answer 10

I guess the answer to your question "...do you understand what The Watchtower says about blood transfusions" is "no".

Obviously.