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 .:BLOOD TRANSFUSION SECRETS JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ARE NOT TOLD: 12 Questions for Jehovah's Witnesses on The Use of Blood
1. Does the Watchtower teach
that "organ transplants" and "tissue
transplants" can be acceptable to Jehovah's Witnesses
without violating Biblical principles?
"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?, 1990, p. 28 (View PDF of this Page)
2. Does the Watchtower admit
that "Blood is an organ of the body,
and a blood transfusion is nothing less that an organ
transplant."—Awake! August 22, 1999, p. 31? (View PDF of this Page)
"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?, 1990, p. 8 (View PDF of this Page) .
3. If blood is an “organ” of the body and “nothing less” than a “tissue transplant” which Jehovah’s Witnesses accept, why do they still reject blood transfusions?
4. Are Jehovah's Witnesses told
by the Watchtower that accepting whole blood
or a transfusion of any of the four primary components
of blood (i.e., red cells; white cells; platelets;
plasma) constitutes a violation of God's Law on blood?
“Witnesses refuse transfusions of whole blood or of any of its four primary components.” —The Watchtower, June 15, 2004, p. 22 (View PDF of this Page)
"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 (View PDF of this Page)
5. 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 (View PDF of this Page)
"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?, 1990, p. 27 (View PDF of this Page)
(Note:
"Hemophiliac preparations" are made from
"fibrinogens." See Academic American Encyclopedia, vol. 17, p. 210 - View PDF of this page)
6. Does the Watchtower reason
that fractions derived from primary blood components
can be acceptable to Jehovah's Witnesses on the basis
that "plasma proteins (fractions) move
from a pregnant woman's blood to the separate blood
system of her fetus."—The
Watchtower, June 15, 2004, p. 30? (View PDF of this Page)
"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? (View PDF of these Pages)
7. 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?
"The most important members of the white
cell family are the granulocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes."—Encyclopedia
Americana International Edition, vol. 4, 1999ed.
(View PDF of this page)
"Both T- and B-lymphocytes are present in the human milk and
colostrum and are part of the immunologic system
in human milk."—Breastfeeding
- A Guide for the Medical Profession, 4th edition, by Ruth A. Lawrence (Mosby - Year Book, Inc 1994),
p. 154 (View PDF of this page)
8. Does the Watchtower claim
that Jehovah's Witnesses disallow the use
of autotransfusion (having their own blood
stored for later use) because they believe
that once blood is out of the body it should be disposed
of?
"Do Jehovah's Witnesses allow the use of autologous
blood (autotransfusion), such as by having their
own blood stored and later put back into them?...Jehovah's
Witnesses, though, DO NOT accept this procedure.
We have long appreciated that such stored blood certainly
is no longer part of the person. It has
been completely removed from him, so it should be
disposed of in line with God's Law: 'You should
pour it out upon the ground as water.'-Deuteronomy
12:24" —The Watchtower, March 1, 1989, p. 30 (View PDF of this Page)
9. Why then are hemophiliac Jehovah's
Witnesses told that it is not a violation of God's
blood Law to take transfusions of Factor VIII pooled from stored blood?
"...some 70 million units
of concentrated Factor VIII are imported
from the United States and are used to treat British
haemophiliacs. Each batch of Factor VIII is made from plasma that is pooled from as many as 2,500 blood donors." —The
Watchtower , June 15, 1985, p. 30 (View PDF of this Page)
"Witnesses' religious understanding does not
absolutely prohibit the use of components such as... hemophiliac
preparations...." —How
Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 27 (View PDF of this Page)
"What, however, about accepting serum
injections to fight against disease, such
as are employed for diphtheria, tetanus, viral hepatitis,
rabies, hemophilia, and RH incompatibility?
This seems to fall into a 'gray area.'... their
conscience would permit such." —The
Watchtower, June 15, 1978, p. 30-31 (View PDF of these Pages)
10. Since the Jehovah's Witnesses
permit the use of Factor VIII derived from stored
blood, why does the Watchtower claim that donating
one's blood violates God's Law?
"...since God's Word indicates
that it is wrong to take a blood transfusion, it
is also wrong to give one's blood for transfusion." —The Watchtower, September
15, 1961, p. 561 (View PDF of this Page)
11. 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. Similar
speculations are found in classical antiquity, as
with Ovid: Draw only the swords and quick, the changed
blood drains from his body - I fill
his veins with the younger..." —The
Illustrated History of Surgery, by Knut Haeger,
1988, 1990ed., p. 135 (View PDF of this Document)
12. According to a 1999 Consumer Report, what is the “risk” of infection from a two-unit blood transfusion?
“As the chart shows, the likelihood of infection from a two-unit blood transfusion is substantially less than the chance of being murdered or of being killed in an auto accident during the year… That change reflects an impressive improvement in the blood supply. In 1983 the AIDS virus was present in as many as 1 out of 100 units of blood. Today the odds are an estimated 1 in 676,000. Hepatitis C contamination has fallen from a similarly high prevalence to about 1 in 103,000 units… Transfusions save nearly 10,000 lives a day…” —Consumer Reports, September 1999, pp. 61-63 (View PDF of this Page)
For
Additional Information See:
 WHY DO JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES REFUSE BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS? —Did they also prohibit vaccinations and organ transplants?
WHY JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DIE RATHER THAN ACCEPT A BLOOD TRANSFUSION
NANCY’S STORY - How The Watchtower Policy On No Blood Transfusions Impacted My Family
DOES
GOD'S LAW ON BLOOD REQUIRE NO BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS?—Part
1 / Part 2
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