Question about the blood brochure and an Awake

Junction-Guy

I have a copy of the blood brochure titled "How can blood save your life?" and I also have a copy of the August 2006 Awake titled "Blood, why so valuable?"

Can someone let me know if there are any major discrepancies or even outright lies in these 2 publications? Any interesting points that might not jump out at you at first glance?

I need to know this by tomorrow morning.

I was supposed to read these, but been busy with other projects.

Junction-Guy

bttt

SirNose586

It's hard to verify any of the quotes because the WT fails to properly cite sources....the brochure comes out looking a little better, but still, it doesn't meet baseline standards in scholastic integrity.

OnTheWayOut

Maybe this will start you-

From http://www.4jehova.org/jehovahs_witness/questionsforjws/blood.php

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?, 1999, 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?, 1999, 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?

You can also read the BLOOD DOCTRINE link at jwfacts.com to research this. It mentions this:

How Blood Can Save Your Life? page 7 says “you owe it to yourself to get the facts in order to make an informed choice about blood.” The majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses have little knowledge of the issues outlined in what follows.
This article looks at;
- what the real issue is
- the historical development of the Watchtower blood doctrine
- recent changes in the rules on blood transfusions
- the Bibles stance
- Acts 15

skeeter1

The blood brochure was the main subject of a scholarly article written by attorney Kerry Louderback-Wood in the peer reviewed Journal of Church & State. Kerry goes through the blood brochure in detail, and shows how 20+ quotes on medical literature are misquotes. Kerry's article also goes into the hypocrisy of blood fractions and hemoglobin. See http://www.reexamine.info/images/bloodessay.pdf for a copy of the article & www.ajwrb.org for more information.

I understand that the last Awake also has misquotes & that at least one doctor (forget which one) was surprised to learn that his writings was in the magazine as he supports blood transfusions when medically necessary. I can get you more on that, but not by tomorrow morning.

Skeeter

skeeter1

Also, I remember the Awake summarized from an international organization showing that the blood supply was dangerous in other countries.

Here on JWD, someone posted the original document from this international organization on a thread about this Awake magainze. The gist of the article was that in most 3rd world countries, the blood supply was getting much safer. The reasons were: 1) better testing, 2) not paying people to donate blood, and 3) not allowing family members to donate blood to the patient (more apt to lie than to admit sickness in front of family). Yes, there were still some problems.....but the blood supply was getting much safer.

Skeeter

Nathan Natas

There's a rumor that the ink used by the WTB&TS has blood added to it to help enhance its adherence to the page.

Pass it on.

That's just a joke

...or IS it???

skeeter1

My search button doesn't work, or I'd find the post. (It may have been one of mine....)

IT Support

Junction Guy / Skeeter,

The reexamine site seems to be down at the moment.

I was recently searching online for a copy of Kerry Louderback-Wood's article, and found it at http://www.libertadeslaicas.org.mx/paginas/infoEspecial/pdfArticulosLaicidad/100101176.pdf.

Hope this helps.

whyizit

Skyman wrote an excellent letter on this. Does anyone know where to find it? I used it to help make many good points with my JW friend.

Pg. 11 of the Awake has a section dedicated to Hemoglobin -Based oxygen carriers. 2nd paragraph- it is processed from human or BOVINE red blood cells. (Bovine = being of a cow or ox.) Notice in paragraph 3 : it is STORED, which stored blood is suppose to be a big no-no. Also, on this same page, left hand column, bottom paragraph, it says that JWs are known to reject red cells (which hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers are made of), and white blood cells, which are in breast milk. Can JWs breast feed their babies? (And the white cells are definitely being eaten in this way.) Then why the ban on white cells?! (*The white blood cells are discussed in the foot note of the blood brochure, pg.14.)

I cannot find my Blood brochure, but here's a discussion I had with my JW friend. BTW, Acts 15 will be brought up, if you discuss this much.

She told me to use JUST the Bible and read Acts 15:20, 29. Then she asked if by reading this that I could tell her beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is talking about animal blood that is ingested and not all blood. My response: I agree that it speaks of EATING blood, of ANY kind, I suppose. While reading the entire context of Acts 15, it appears there is a dispute about Gentile Christians having to comply with Jewish circumcision laws in order to be saved. VS. 28 and 29 give the decision they made. Isn't this about EATING blood? A digestive process, rather than a medical process in which blood is transferred from person to person? Based on vs. 9-11, what does it state clearly that salvation is based on? Through who? Is salvation by any other way, or the loss of it, mentioned anywhere in Acts 15? I can see where eating practices would be more openly noticed than circumcision. Jews would have been horrified by Gentile dietary practices. (Same concept as Rom. 14 and 1 Cor. 8). But where does Acts 15 imply the loss of salvation by how you respond to the blood instruction? How do you get that from these verses?

Check it out, Jehovah had such a high regard for life, He even made exceptions for OT blood rules. In Lev. 17:15, He said a native could eat an animal he personally did not kill and knew had not been bled properly. In Lev. 11:39-40, Isn't this speaking to Israelites who are under Mosaic law? Isn't it speaking as though eating a dead, unbled animal was not unforgiveable? Even though their law forbids it? DEut. 14:21, God clearly tells them not to eat an animal that is already dead. Lev. 17:15, He says what to do if they DID eat something dead. This would be handy to know, if you had to eat something dead or die yourself of starvation. He gave them the right to choose life. Doesn't that show that our lives are more important than a rule on blood?

She replied that she would rather abstain from all blood, and not chance breaking God's law, by using her own rationalizations, blah blah blah. My response: I still don't see how a blood transfusion is the same as eating blood. The Blood Brochure you gave me clearly states that not all JWs abstain from all blood, as you do. They are allowed components of blood. Which are made from stored human blood. Collected from non-JWs, I assume. Can you see why that is confusing to me?

In that blood brochure, pg. 27 says that organ transplants are okay, and pg. 12 says that blood is an organ. (I may have my page numbers off, but you can find it easily.)

Some other great questions to throw out there: They will say, "What if you were told to abstain from alcohol? Would you inject it in your veins?" Ask: If a doctor tells his patient he needs a blood transfusion, and if he didn't have the equipment to inject the blood in his veins, would he pour the blood in a glass and have him drink it? If you needed a liver transplant, and no one was there to perform the operation, would he have you eat it?

Do JWs follow the strict dietary laws of the OT? (No rare meat, everything butchered kosher?)Leviticus 4:17 states no fat. Do youalso refrain from eating any fat?

Since JWs weren't allowed to have organ transplants at one time, but they are allowed to now, how can I be sure the blood rule is not going to change? How wold you feel if your child died from adhereing to this rule, then the rule was changed? Did the Bible change? Or did someone's interpretation of it change?

I wish I could find my blood brochure, because I had questions lined up on every page of it. Especially the numbers game. The percentages of people who died from blood tranfusions or caught diseases: If I had a 1 in 300,000 chance of dying from a cancer treatment, or a 99% chance of dying from the cancer without the treatment, I would go for the treatment! Those are darn good odds.

Hope this helps some.

Best to you!

Question about the blood brochure and an Awake

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