WHAT DOES THE BIBLE Really TEACH? A WT book—Chapter 13 Part 1 "Blood Transfusions"

DISCLAIMER--I will, by no means, exhaustively write about each and every error in each and every chapter of this book—that would require a book several times the size of this WT book. I will pick out a topic or two from each chapter to write about. Some will be a “mole hill” in the landscape of Bible doctrine and others will be a “Mt. Everest.”

Chapter 13 A Godly View of Life. If you have read WDTBRT Chapter 13 you will know that a good portion of that Chapter centered on “Showing Respect for Blood,” and specifically Blood Transfusions which the WT prohibits.

Witnesses say it is because the Bible prohibits this practice. But that is not the case. The reason is because the WTBTS tells them not to accept transfusions. If the WT came out tomorrow and said JW’s can accept transfusions, do you think individual Witnesses would say, “wait—what about the Biblical prohibition? What you are now teaching is contrary to what the Bible teaches. We will not follow you, we will follow the Bible.” Not going to happen—no way. JW’s are taught to “avoid independent thinking,” they are drilled and drilled some more into thinking that they cannot understand the Bible without the WT telling them what it all means. So if on Monday Witnesses cannot have a transfusion and on Tuesday they can—who are they to question Jehovah’s chosen channel of communication. If this were to happen, you would hear nary a negative peep out of the vast majority of JW’s.

It is interesting that at one point in the history of the WT all the scriptures they now use to refuse blood transfusions were used to refuse vaccinations. But now vaccinations are OK. As an aside, throughout the history of the WT, JW’s on organization business traveling overseas, got required vaccinations to visit certain countries. In the past, the Society rejected the theory that diseases were caused by germs and ridiculed Pasteur for advancing this scientific truth. The founder of the Society, Charles Taze Russell, in “The Finished Mystery,” also taught that appendicitis was caused by fighting worms in the colon. Early Watchtower magazines, 3/15/13 and 1/15/12 stated that Russell believed a person's desire to worship God was due to the shape of their brain. He believed that if a dog's head were shaped like a man's, the dog would think like a man! With this track record, is this the organization you would trust to make medical decisions that affect your life or your child’s life?

Originally the WT prohibition on blood transfusions was total and supposedly Biblically based. The Watchtower has gradually permitted each component of blood to be used, first globulin, then the clotting factors, plasma proteins and finally hemoglobin in June of 2000. The Watchtower still insists that JW’s “abstain from blood,” but what is left to abstain from. And, Governing Body, what are the Biblical bases for allowing blood fractions yet denying whole blood? Click here for more detailed information on this issue.

Why do JW’s not accept blood transfusions?  Here is Part 2 which will look at the four verses the JW’s use most often to support their ban on transfusions and what does the Bible really teach on this subject.

What Does the Bible Really Teach--A WT Book Chap. 13 part 2 is here.