I posted a similar thought about this on another thread a couple of weeks ago but I thought I would expand on it and start its on thread...
The Watchtower Society, as leaders of the Jehovah's Witness religion, claim to accept the Bible as the Divine Word of Jehovah God and Jesus Christ as his only begotten Son sent to earth as a ransom sacrifice. Though it can be argued that Jesus is demoted in JW doctrine compared to Jehovah, Jesus teachings are the basis for what they call the "true Christian congregation".
If we compare the Society's ban on blood with Jesus' view of mercy versus sacrifice, it can be shown that the Society's view on blood is actually against the teachings of Christ and against the principles of mercy as he shows in the Scriptures.
There is only one scripture in the New Testament (Greek Scriptures) that the Society can offer as evidence that God prohibits the ingestion of blood (forgetting the sidebar argument of eating vs transfusing)...
Acts 15:29 - ...to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If YOU carefully keep yourselves from these things, YOU will prosper. Good health to YOU !”
Two scriptures in the Old Testament (Hebrew Sciptures) are often quoted whenever the Society wants to put importance on the "principle" of abstaining from blood.
Genesis 9:4 - Only flesh with its soul—its blood— YOU must not eat.
Levitucas 17:10 - As for any man of the house of Israel or some alien resident who is residing as an alien in YOUR midst who eats any sort of blood, I shall certainly set my face against the soul that is eating the blood, and I shall indeed cut him off from among his people.
So the Society's stand on abstaining from blood is based mostly on the old Law Covenant and one sentance uttered after Christ's death.
A dedicatd follower of Jehovah the Watchtower Society would not accept blood, either in food form or transplanted form even in the face of death. Parents have even offered up the sacrifice of their children to show their misplaced dedication to this organization.
How Christian, though, is this viewpoint? What teachings of Christ himself could be used to show that the position of the Society in view to blood is indefensible?
Does the stance of sacrificing oneself or someone else to show loyalty to God goe against what Jesus taught?
Compare the following verses:
Matthew 12:1-13 - 1 At that season Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath. His disciples got hungry and started to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 At seeing this the Pharisees said to him: “Look! Your disciples are doing what it is not lawful to do on the sabbath.” 3 He said to them: “Have YOU not read what David did when he and the men with him got hungry? 4 How he entered into the house of God and they ate the loaves of presentation, something that it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests only? 5 Or, have YOU not read in the Law that on the sabbaths the priests in the temple treat the sabbath as not sacred and continue guiltless? 6 But I tell YOU that something greater than the temple is here. 7 However, if YOU had understood what this means, ‘I want mercy, and not sacrifice,’ YOU would not have condemned the guiltless ones. 8 For Lord of the sabbath is what the Son of man is.”
9 After departing from that place he went into their synagogue; 10 and, look! a man with a withered hand! So they asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?” that they might get an accusation against him. 11 He said to them: “Who will be the man among YOU that has one sheep and, if this falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not get hold of it and lift it out? 12 All considered, of how much more worth is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do a fine thing on the sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man: “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored sound like the other hand.
Mark 2:23-3:5 - 23 Now it happened that he was proceeding through the grainfields on the sabbath, and his disciples started to make their way plucking the heads of grain. 24 So the Pharisees went saying to him: “Look here! Why are they doing on the sabbath what is not lawful?” 25 But he said to them: “Have YOU never once read what David did when he fell in need and got hungry, he and the men with him? 26 How he entered into the house of God, in the account about A·bi´a·thar the chief priest, and ate the loaves of presentation, which it is not lawful for anybody to eat except the priests, and he gave some also to the men who were with him?” 27 So he went on to say to them: “The sabbath came into existence for the sake of man, and not man for the sake of the sabbath; 28 hence the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.” 1 Once again he entered into a synagogue, and a man was there with a dried-up hand. 2 So they were watching him closely to see whether he would cure the man on the sabbath, in order that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand: “Get up [and come] to the center.” 4 Next he said to them: “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do a good deed or to do a bad deed, to save or to kill a soul?” But they kept silent. 5 And after looking around upon them with indignation, being thoroughly grieved at the insensibility of their hearts, he said to the man: “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
Luke 6:1-10 - 1 Now on a sabbath he happened to be passing through grainfields, and his disciples were plucking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing them with their hands. 2 At this some of the Pharisees said: “Why are YOU doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 3 But Jesus said in reply to them: “Have YOU never read the very thing David did when he and the men with him got hungry? 4 How he entered into the house of God and received the loaves of presentation and ate and gave some to the men with him, which it is lawful for no one to eat but for the priests only?” 5 And he went on to say to them: “Lord of the sabbath is what the Son of man is.”
6 In the course of another sabbath he entered into the synagogue and began teaching. And there was a man present whose right hand was withered. 7 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.
Jesus showed through not only his words but through his actions that mercy and the soul was more important than the Law...any law. The actions of the Watchtower Society parallel those of the pharisees of Jesus' time. The sriptures uses the word "insensibility" when referring to the Jewish leaders. And the same word applies to the leaders of the Watchtower Society. In their haste to dictate the rules and standards of how they think a "christian" should act, they forgot to look to the one they claim is their head to see how he would view the matter.
These scriptures are much more explanatory in how a Christian should view the matter of mercy when if comes to the law versus a soul than the one scripture in Acts that prohibits blood.
If one calls himself Christian and believes in the teachings of Christ, then denying blood in the face of death shows a lack of disregard for life...the life that Jesus showed was more than a law.