They didn't have to misrepresent anything!

by Lady Lee 30 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Lady Lee

  I am just sitting here and shaking my head at the utter stupidity of the WTS writers.

  While I was at university I took a Medical Ethics course. There was a whole chapter on JWs and the issue of blood. We were required to write a paper on one of the chapters. (This was still in the days were I was out but still a believer)

  Well I'm sure you know I chose the JW chapter to write my paper. I wish I could put my hands on it right now but I'm not sure where it is (still have some boxes to unpack).

  Well I wrote this paper. I went to the medical library at McGill University. McGill is connected with a teaching hospital and sends its interns to the hospital for their internships. So their medical library is huge - really huge.

  I was able to finda lot of articles on blood and the dangers of using blood. I documented the paper (as required).

  I certainly found more than enough research papers to support the no-blood issue in favor of the JWs and their choice to abstain from blood. And I handed it in.

  My prof was stunned. He had been adamantly opposed to the WTS stand on blood. But after reading my paper he said he changed his mind. He scribbled all over the paper for me to get it published including a prestigious Medical Ethics journal to send it to.

  Well I never sent in the article.Now I am glad I didn't. I will never publish on the internet or privately.

  But what I find amazing is that there is no reason why the WTS should have taken things out of context. There are enough document, research studies and paper to support thie belief. I'm not a docor. I'm not even a medical student and I was able to find the articles I needed to suppport their belief that blood is dangerous. (Believe me, I don't think this way anymore)

  But they twisted what people said, they used quotes out of context, and they outright deceived people.

  I have to wonder just how much research any WT researcher really does. I wonder whether they actually do go to the library or do they just wind up going through their old litterature and picking bits and pieces out that support their beliefs.
• 

  blindersoff

  I wonder whether they actually do go to the library

  Only the UN library.
• 

  Lady Lee

  ya got me. How could I have fallen for that one

  Great answer BTW
• 

  rebel8

  Having been personally harmed by the misrepresentation, that is the same conclusion I came to.

  My retort to all their nonsense has been very simple: If your basis for making a rule against blood is religious, then why bother commenting on the medical benefits of the rule? Medical facts should have absolutely NO bearing on a JW's decision to follow the rule or not to follow it. And religious organizations have NO right to provide medical advice to people.
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  Lady Lee

  rebel I could not have said that better myself
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  Zana

  A religious basis for the blood rule is probabably sufficient for active JWs. But I could imagine, that it's good for discussions with people who are about to join the cult, if a JW doing field service has some medical arguments in stock, if the blood-topic arises and the possible new sheep is not (yet) willing to accept a few words written in a 2000year old book on such a complex medical topic like transfusions.
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  AlmostAtheist

  My retort to all their nonsense has been very simple: If your basis for making a rule against blood is religious, then why bother commenting on the medical benefits of the rule? Medical facts should have absolutely NO bearing on a JW's decision to follow the rule or not to follow it.

  Absolutely! When I was a JW, I never brought up the medical aspects of transfusions. It seemed to me that if transfusions were really a bad idea medically, they just wouldn't do it. Some JW's said that blood was a money-maker for hospitals, but you're charging $50,000 for a heart transplant. Does it make ANY sense to use $2,000 worth of blood just for the commission?

  In my eyes, it was a Biblical injunction. It had nothing to do with health, nor should it be played up as if it did.

  Dave
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  garybuss

  Is there one example where medical science has used religious myth to encourage or discourage a patient from receiving a prescribed medical treatment? Anyone?
  
  Why would a religion use medical science to influence a believer to practice a religious action? Unless . . . it's not really a religious action.
  
  
  
  
• 

  LittleToe

  Ironic, isn't it?

  They are likely either:

  • too lazy
  • bored, and want to see who will fall for stuff
  • so busy demonising things that they can't tell the truth even when they want to
• 

  LDH

  Does it make ANY sense to use $2,000 worth of blood just for the commission?

  I know I have commented on this before. I work in the health insurance arena, and unless something has changed, one unit of blood (for the administration and everything) runs about $390 before PPO or HMO type discounts.

  No one is getting rich on blood.

  Contrast that to aggressive treatments for terminal illnesses. My company had a case earlier this year that was the largest claim in our 25 year history. A man in his 40s was hospitalized for 6 months, his intestines basically ruptured, and it cost us $1.5 MILLION dollars. He didn't get any blood.

  Lisa