Blood Transfusion Brain Check

Marvin Shilmer

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Blood Transfusion – Brain Check

I’ve written extensively on the subject of the Watchtower organization’s communally enforced religious position against blood transfusion. But I often neglect to put the brains behind this religious position on display in full flaming glory.

In short order we have a gloriously brilliant display of these brains by aligning three of its epiphanies in nearly perfect 12-year intervals of 1932, 1944 and 1956.

Take a look for yourself:

- 1932: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/06/watchtower-on-demon-materialization.html

- 1944: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/02/blood-what-happened-at-watchtower-in.html

- 1956: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/06/watchtower-ectoplasm.html

The same brains who concocted and began enforcing a prohibition against blood transfusion had before and after this swallowed something that was nothing less than staged theatrics. Reading aspects of these theatrics that so convinced the authors and publisher (Watchtower) of its worthiness provides a quite extensive examination of the brains behind the blood ban.

Another thing I often forget to mention is the harm we do to ourselves when we let a fool convince us of something foolish. I tend to concentrate on the act of the fool and how harmful the fool is and neglect to remind myself and others of the self-harm of letting fools have some sway. One of the best things we can do for ourselves and others is to call a spade a spade. Hence, when presented by a fool spouting nonsense we should respond by expressing that it’s foolery and nothing more. We should avoid the self-harm of listening to fools. This will protect our own brains and allow them to grow rather than standing captive to a fool.

Short instructional interactive:

JW to you: The bible tells us blood transfusion is wrong.

You: Have you ever heard of ectoplasm?

JW to you: No.

You: It was a simple theatrical trick of self-professed spirit mediums used to convince audiences that deceased souls were in the room and communicating.

JW to you: Oh. What does that have to do with blood transfusion?

You: The same folks who told you the bible condemns transfusion of donor blood to save a life also told you that ectoplasm was a manifestation of demon spirits when in fact they were fooled by a grammar school trick. Did I mention that long after teaching that blood transfusion is wrong that these teachers continued to believe in and promote the idea that ectoplasm was a real manifestation of spirits?

JW to you: What… but… but…

You: Would you let a medical doctor who promoted ectoplasm give your child or you advice? Why, or why not?

Marvin Shilmer

iCeltic

Can you give us more info on the wt teaching of ectoplasm?

designs

Boy that brought back memories of the spooky stories JWs would tell back in the 1960s....demonz were everywhere and in everything.

Ding

The blood doctrine never really made sense to me.

You let someone die out of "reverence for life."

As someone commented, "That's like divorcing your spouse and fighting for ownership of the wedding rings because they symbolize the sanctity of your marriage."

I have had JWs tell me about all the supposed medical risks of blood transfusions.

In reply, I say, "Why are you telling me this? You would tell me not to have one if you knew that there was no risk at all and that it was essential to save my life. So stick to the real reason, not the phony one."

I read what the WTS now says about various blood fractions being a conscience matter. I wonder how I would feel if I had let my child die without them and found out that if the crisis had occurred a year later that "Jehovah" (meaning the GB) had later okayed the treatment that would have saved them.

The only way to live with yourself in such a situation is probably to say that they were better off dying because they died out of obedience to the slave, which virtually guarantees them a resurrection any day now.

Ironically, that type of rationalization only serves to cement the hold the GB has on them...

Giordano

The ignorance of the WTBTS is easily seen in it's inability to distance it's self from purely medical decisions.

The ignorance of it's followers is demonstrated by the fact that they are followers.

adamah

Ding said- I have had JWs tell me about all the supposed medical risks of blood transfusions.

In reply, I say, "Why are you telling me this? You would tell me not to have one if you knew that there was no risk at all and that it was essential to save my life. So stick to the real reason, not the phony one."

That's a great point, since it's NOT why JWs refuse: it's a post-hoc rationalization they tell themselves, to make it seem reasonable to others.

The REAL reason is simply because they mistakenly believe that God tells them not to, based on the deliberate mistranslation of the very-first command in the Bible where God speaks on the issue of blood, and prohibits the eating of it, found in Genesis 9:5-6.

JWs also show their ignorance of ancient Hebrew concepts of justice found in Deuteronomic law, such as the fact that for most of the period in which the OT was written, Hebrew culture didn't have a secular agency like the Police and Court system to investigate and prosecute bloodshed, etc, but instead relied on a member of the victim's family to chase down the killer, for both accidental deaths and murderers alike: the practice was called 'blood vengence' and required a family member to redeem the death of their relative ('redemption' is a familiar word to anyone who's read the Bible, but it remains sorely misunderstood).

I've written on the subject of justice in Hebraic culture in many articles on my blog (eg Cain and Abel, the Flood, etc), but here's the article on scripture-twisting of Genesis:

http://awgue.weebly.com/does-jehovahs-witnesses-blood-policy-reflect-they-understand-noahs-flood.html

More on the ancient practice of a blood avenger, which is exactly what the Genesis account of Noah is foreshadowing, found within the account as a 'blessing' from God in His the promise that He'd demand an accounting for the spilled blood of the victim (often at the hand of a male family member, who'd chase after the killer to the nearest 'city of refuge' where he was safe):

http://awgue.weebly.com/why-did-god-seemingly-allow-cain-to-get-away-with-murder.html

It behooves each individual to "make sure of all things", and don't die simply because you really don't understand the Bible account of Noah, but are simply relying on the misunderstanding of the WT teachings. Throwing away a life of a loved one for not understanding the Flood account is a COMPLETE waste, and if you DO, you've got no one to blame but the person looking back at you in the mirror.

Ding said- The only way to live with yourself in such a situation is probably to say that they were better off dying because they died out of obedience to the slave, which virtually guarantees them a resurrection any day now.

More rationalizations, attempts to find a silver-lining in a needless death.

What we need is to locate some brave individual who lost a child due to following the WT's blood ban, and now is willing to stand up and go on camera to say, "It was the wrong decision, and here's what I NOW know that I didn't know then", and explain from the Bible (eg comparing translations, explaining the REAL solution found in the Flood account, etc).

Adam

Marvin Shilmer

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“Can you give us more info on the wt teaching of ectoplasm?”

In a nutshell:

Watchtower’s Top-Brains-In-Charge swallowed the then notion of ectoplasm hook, line and sinker.

These men who purported themselves as “the voice of God” (see: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/02/voice-of-god.html) were hoodwinked by a parlor trick performance using lighting, cheesecloth and luminous liquid/paint. The manifestation always came from a closed container or bodily cavity. Oh, and Watchtower’s Top-Brains-In-Charge thought the idea of before-and-after weight differential proved something more than that the “manifestation” was something other than a piece of matter the trickster had concealed on/in their body. Guess they never thought of that simple feat of “magic”.

James Randi can tell you more about this trick: http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/ectoplasm.html

Marvin Shilmer