Blood question

civicsi00

I just had a thought about something... Does anyone remember the text where Jesus cured someone on the day of the Sabbath and the Pharisees got mad at him for doing that, on the day that NO ONE is supposed to do ANYTHING? Because, if I remember correctly, Jesus then corrected them and stated that it was better to help save a life than to obey every letter of the Law. Where I'm going with this is, can't this scripture apply to the Watchtower when denying someone a blood transfusion? If knowing that a blood transfusion can save a life, then wouldn't it be better to save someone's life than to stick to an "interpretation" of the bible? Does this make sense? I'd appreciate everyone's thoughts on this point of view...

nelly136

http://bibleexplained.com/Gospels/Luke/Lu13.htm#lu1314%20heal%20sabb

http://bibleexplained.com/Gospels/Matt/mt12.htm

these any good to you?, has the passages on sabbath/healing

sir82

Bingo!

And guess what - performing work on the sabbath was a capital offense, just as eating blood was.

Things that make you go "hmm".

BluesBrother

I quite agree with you reasoning on this , the slavish following of laws, just because "The text says so " is the Jewish Talmudic attitude and was totally opposed by Jesus. However, a skilled dub might refer to the scripture which says

(Exodus 31:15) . ." .Anyone doing work on the sabbath day will positively be put to death. "

They would say that Jesus was not doing "Work" on the sabbath, he was performing a kindness in healing a man and just eating when they rolled ears of corn . He kept the law as it was intended but not the Pharisaic interpretation of it.

I found this QFR interesting and posted a short while back

* w94 4/15 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***

Questions From Readers

When Saul’s soldiers ate meat along with the blood, why were they not executed, since that was the punishment set out in God’s Law?

(extract)

That was in violation of God’s law concerning blood, as some of Saul’s people told him, saying: "Look! The people are sinning against Jehovah by eating along with the blood." (1 Samuel 14:33) Yes, the Law said that when animals were slaughtered, the blood had to be drained before the meat was eaten. God did not demand taking fanatical measures to drain the blood

So if it suits their purpose they can say that we should not be "fanatical", but still demand that lifegiving blood products are refused..

Exterminator

Congratulations!

Your reasonning faculties just outdid Fred Franz'

Gordy

Civics

I'm sure this point about Jesus healing on Sabbath and connecting it with blood, has been mentioned before. I've been trying to find where.

Gordy

I found this on www.jwfacts.com.

A blood transfusion is not the same as eating blood. For one, blood transfusions do not involve digesting blood. Secondly, the command given to Noah at Genesis 9:4 was that the blood was to be poured out of a slaughtered animal. Blood transfusions do not result in the death of the donor.

It is pertinent to note that Jew’s are allowed to have blood transfusions. (Likewise, Muslims are forbidden to drink blood but allowed transfusions as a life saving procedure.) Strict Orthodox Jews go as far as to soak meat in water, then salt it, then drain it, in order to draw out all the blood. Yet no Jewish groups forbid blood transfusions. There are several reasons for this. Most importantly is that Jewish kosher probation’s are waived in regards to life saving medical use. Christians should follow this same line of reasoning. Jesus used David as an example to show that that acts of mercy, such as saving a life, are more important than the strict adherence of regulation.

Watchtower 1952 September 15 p.575 “Matthew 12:1-4, NW: “At that season Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath. His disciples got hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. At seeing this the Pharisees said to him: ‘Look! your disciples are doing what it is not lawful to do on the sabbath.’ He said to them: ‘Have you not read what David did when he and the men with him got hungry? How he entered into the house of God and they ate the loaves of presentation, food it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests only?’” In these verses and in the ones following Jesus was calling attention to acts of mercy on the sabbath day, that it was perfectly legitimate to render a show of mercy to one who is in need even though it was the sabbath, and that there is, in effect, no violation of the sabbath by such course of action. He had no rebuke for David’s course.”

A similar situation at is described at Luke 6:7-10

“The scribes and the Pharisees were now watching him closely to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, in order to find some way to accuse him. 8 He, however, knew their reasonings, yet he said to the man with the withered hand: “Get up and stand in the center.” And he rose and took his stand. 9 Then Jesus said to them: “I ask YOU men, Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do injury, to save or to destroy a soul?” 10 And after looking around at them all, he said to the man: “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored.”

It both these situations Jesus invoked the rabbinic principle of pikuach nefesh; that the obligation to save life supersedes Jewish law.

“According to pikuach nefesh a person must do everything in their power to save the life of another, even donate bodily organs. Ovaday Yosef, the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, ruled that one may donate an organ to a person in critical need, so long as it does not put the donor’s life at risk. It is also permissible to travel on Shabbat to save a person’s life. Maimonides declared that a Jew should take the individual, even if a gentile is present, in order to encourage “compassion, loving-kindness and peace in the world” (Mishneh Torah, 2:3). The laws of the Sabbath may be suspended to provide any necessary medical care to a critically ill individual or to an individual in the likelihood of danger to life.” Pikuach Nefesh, Ariel Scheib (April 22 2007) (<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/pikuach_nefesh.html>)

Forbidding blood transfusions is an example of legalistic Western minds formulating doctrine without an understanding of the native spirit behind these ancient Eastern texts.

Deputy Dog

Do these help.

Luke 13:14

But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, "There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day." 15 But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? 16"And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?" 17 As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

Luke 14:1

It happened that when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely. 2 And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. 3 And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" 4 But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. 5 And He said to them, "Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?" 6 And they could make no reply to this.

civicsi00

Awesome, thank you everyone! It's in my strict opinion (and most importantly, my conscience) that if a blood transfusion saves a life, then I'm all for it.

Bluesbrother- Thanks for that awesome QFR.

Gordy- Thank you for pointing out that Jews are allowed to have blood transfusions. I had no idea, and will research this further.

Deputy Dog- Thanks for referencing those texts as well.

I was here at work when I thought of that text in Matthew chapter 12 and linked it to blood transfusions. I'll never understand the WT reasoning (you can accept fractions, but not WHOLE blood)... It still ticks me off whenever I think about how the WT condemned organ transplants for 13 years...

Does anyone know if the WT still considers it wrong to store your own blood if you're going to have a major surgery and you may need it?

Check_Your_Premises

In this thread I address the blood question on 3 points:

1. Is it scriptural.

2. If #1 is questionable, can we rely on the WT to provide the correct interpretation of the verses in question.

3. Even if it is wrong, should we obey the WT anyway since they are God's ORganization?

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/16/149428/1.ashx

I addressed the verse you mentioned in section 1.

Blood question

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