ONE of the Watch Tower Society's most sinister beliefs is an insistence on its members to refuse blood transfusions.
Based, erroneously, upon prohibitions in the Old Testament, i.e. Leviticus 17:14, countless thousands of Witnesses have been forced to give up their lives rather than dare upset the organisation.
The Watchtower tells Witnesses that it would be better to die than to consent to a transfusion, where on page 55 of it's book Blood, Medicine and the Law of God it says;
"It may result in the immediate and very temporary prolongation of life, but that at the cost of eternal life for a dedicated Christian."
In view of the number of people with medical needs who through accident, disease, or surgery require blood transfusions, the potential for turning casualty into fatality is frightening.
But the teaching becomes even more horrifying when the doctrine touches upon the children of Watchtower adherents.
The Society reminds parents that;
Blood, Medicine, and the Law of God, p. 55
While the hope of eternal life can rest upon one's receiving a transfusion, in the Watchtower, such an idea has no basis in the Bible.
In the Bible salvation is by grace, through faith, apart from works. (Ephesians 2:8-9). Secondly, it is a mistake to think that eating blood is the same as receiving a transfusion. Even the most orthodox Jew, today, does not refuse blood transfusions on the basis of the Old Testament prohibition.
As mentioned above, the risk to Jehovah's Witnesses lives by this Watchtower rule is horrific.
2 Replies to “Blood Transfusions”
Dont they believe that if they take the blood of another person the sin within that blood contaminates their own?
Hi Deborah, I believe that is something they did believe in at one time, especially when they had a ban on organ transplants. They reported that the person having the transplant would take on the traits of the organ doner. However, I don’t think they say the same about blood.