One of the most surprising facts about the Watchtower’s blood doctrine is that it was not part of the beliefs of the early Bible Students who eventually became known as Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Nor was it taught by the earliest presidents of the Watch Tower Society.

For decades after the organization was founded in the late nineteenth century, there was no prohibition against blood transfusions because the subject was never addressed. Jehovah’s Witnesses carried no “No Blood” medical directives, there were no Hospital Liaison Committees, no judicial action for accepting blood, and no published articles instructing members to refuse transfusions.

This often comes as a surprise because today’s blood policy is presented as though it has always been a defining mark of faithful Christians.

History tells a different story.  The reason is understandable.  Modern blood transfusion medicine was still in its infancy during the early decades of the twentieth century. Although physicians had experimented with transfusions for many years, they became far safer only after the discovery of blood groups by Karl Landsteiner in 1900 and continued to develop throughout the following decades.

Because the procedure itself was relatively new, neither Charles Taze Russell nor Joseph F. Rutherford wrote extensively about blood transfusions.  The issue simply was not part of the theological discussions of their day.  That changed dramatically after the Second World War.  As blood transfusions became increasingly common in hospitals, the Watchtower began asking whether the Bible’s commands to “abstain from blood” applied not only to eating blood but also to receiving blood through a medical procedure.

The organization’s answer would permanently reshape the lives of millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In 1945, the Watchtower published the first major article applying Acts 15 and the Mosaic Law’s commands regarding blood to blood transfusions. Although the Bible never discusses transfusion medicine, the organization concluded that receiving blood intravenously violated God’s command to abstain from blood.

This was a significant doctrinal development. Notice what had happened.

For nearly seventy years after the Watch Tower Society was founded, faithful associates had never been instructed to refuse blood transfusions.

Then, within a single generation, the organization concluded that accepting blood was a serious violation of God’s law.   The blood doctrine was not an original teaching of the Watchtower movement.  It was introduced decades after the organization began and several decades after blood transfusions became a practical medical treatment.

That historical fact becomes important because it reminds us that the doctrine has a beginning, and if a doctrine has a beginning, it is reasonable to ask whether its understanding has also changed over time.

A Timeline of the Watchtower’s Changing Blood Policy