Here's a great place to start:
http://www.ajwrb.org/
http://jwfacts.com/index_files/blooddoctrine.htm
Watchtower 2000 October 15 p.31
“Occasionally, a doctor will urge a patient to deposit his own blood weeks before surgery (preoperative autologous blood donation, or PAD) so that if the need arises, he could transfuse the patient with his own stored blood. However, such collecting, storing, and transfusing of blood directly contradicts what is said in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Blood is not to be stored; it is to be poured out—returned to God, as it were. Granted, the Mosaic Law is not in force now. Nevertheless, Jehovah’s Witnesses respect the principles God included in it, and they are determined to ‘abstain from blood.’ Hence, we do not donate blood, nor do we store for transfusion our blood that should be ‘poured out.’ That practice conflicts with God’s law.”
Paul warned against those that revert to the Mosaic Law;
2 Corinthians 3:14-15
“But their mental powers were dulled. For to this present day the same veil remains unlifted at the reading of the old covenant, because it is done away with by means of Christ. 15 In fact, down till today whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their hearts.”
At Acts chapter 15 and chapter 21 it is recorded that the Apostles and Older Men gave a decree to “abstain from blood”. At first glance this may be taken to imply that the Mosaic Law was to continue applying to Christians in regard to consumption of blood. This is how Jehovah’s Witnesses currently understand this scripture and is their predominate support for refusing blood transfusions. This is not how this scripture is understood by the majority of Christian religions or Pastor Russell. The situation at Acts was very specific. Jewish Christians were having difficulty accepting Gentile Christians. Paul, the Apostle to the Nations, was converting Gentiles and rightfully taught that they were not obligated to follow the Mosaic Law. Judaizers were a group of Jewish Christians claiming to be superior to the Gentile Christians due to following the Mosaic Law. As explained in the New Catholic Encyclopaedia, Judaizers were;
“A party of Jewish Christians in the Early Church, who either held that circumcision and the observance of the Mosaic Law were necessary for salvation and in consequence wished to impose them on the Gentile converts, or who at least considered them as still obligatory on the Jewish Christians.”
The Apostles and older men convened to discuss the application of the Mosaic Law and came to the conclusion that observation of the Mosaic Law was unnecessary. However they recommended that ‘the believers from among the nations’ observe fours things from the Mosaic Law.
This is not an exhaustive list of things to abstain from (murder being obvious omission) so why was this unusual list given. It was to prevent stumbling Jewish brothers. This was explained in the Watch Tower 1909 April 15 pp. 116-117 and is the common Christian understanding. The New Catholic Encyclopaedia states;
“These four prohibitions were imposed for the sake of charity and union. As they forbade practices which were held in special abhorrence by all the Jews, their observance was necessary to avoid shocking the Jewish brethren and to make free intercourse between the two classes of Christians possible….
With the disappearance of the Jewish-Christian community of Jerusalem at the time of the rebellion (A.D. 67-70), the question about circumcision and the observance of the Law ceased to be of any importance in the Church, and soon became a dead issue.” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII Copyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton Company Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight as displayed at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08537a.htm 17/09/2005)
Sorry to overwhelm you, but this was a tough subject for me to learn. I pulled this from a previous thread:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/122446/1.ashx
