I may have found a clue to Watchtower's sudden reversal on organ transplants

by ILoveTTATT2 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  TD

  I think it was also in 1961 that taking a blood transfusion became a disfellowshipping offense (???)

  Yes. That was the year

  On paper, they flip-flopped back and forth several times in the early 60's.

  I'm honestly not sure if these were real changes in policy or if one or more of the writers was just stupid. Post-exposure vaccines almost all contained IgG. What happened when little Johnny stepped on a nail?

  Childhood immunizations for measles, diphtheria and polio (IPV) all contained albumin and these had become mandatory to attend school.

  JW parents would write the WTB&TS with these questions and they would get back a form letter telling them it was a, "matter of conscience."
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  OrphanCrow

  TD: Childhood immunizations for measles, diphtheria and polio (IPV) all contained albumin and these had become mandatory to attend school.

  Not in Canada.

  I was born a few years before the 1961 hammer came down and my parents faithfully followed the Blood Law book - I wasn't vaccinated.
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  TD

  O.C.

  I was born a few years before the 1961 hammer came down and my parents faithfully followed the Blood Law book - I wasn't vaccinated.

  I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope it hasn't caused you any health problems.

  I contracted a full-blown case of measles from the vaccination, (bad enough to be hospitalized) which I'm sure the JW's would have taken as proof that they were right -

  The draconian wording in the booklet, Blood, Medicine and The Law of God generated a flood of letters, which resulted in a clarification in the November 1, 1961 Watchtower. This was presented in a "Questions from Readers" format and the reply said in part:

  "However, vaccination is a virtually unavoidable practice in many segments of modern society, and the Christian may find some comfort under the circumstances in the fact that this use is not in actuality a feeding or nourishing process, which was specifically forbidden when God said that man was not to eat blood.....So as was stated in The Watchtower of September 15, 1958, page 575, "It would therefore be a matter of individual judgement whether one accepted such types of medication or not."" (The Watchtower, November 1, 1961 p.670)

  In February of 1963, the JW's were again told that anything and everything derived from blood was forbidden (The Watchtower, February 15, 1963 p. 124) and this again generated an outcry from confused parents.

  In November of 1964, the position regarding vaccination was clarified for a third straight time:

  "Inoculation is however, a virtually unavoidable circumstance in some segments of society, and so we leave it up to the conscience of the individual to determine whether to submit to inoculation with a serum containing blood fractions for the purpose of building up antibodies to fight against disease." (The Watchtower, November 15, 1965 p. 682)

  This stance was reiterated in the 1965 Awake! (Awake! August 22, 1965 p. 18) and things seemed to have settled down after that. The situation I mentioned where a JW child needed transfusions of IgG happened in 1967.
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  OrphanCrow

  Thanks, TD. Good background info.

  I just hate, hate, this wording that the WT uses:

  "...and so we leave it up to the conscience of the individual ..."

  What that really means is that the ordinary JW, who is striving so hard to be a "true believer". and desperately wants the paradise promise instead of the horrible Armageddon curse, will follow "the divine law" to the letter.

  That is what my memories are like growing up in the dreaded bloody 60s - no blood of any kind, even if it was just a suspicion of a tiny drop. Mom was so careful making eggs - she would painstakingly remove any hint of blood from the raw eggs and would discard any that had obvious blood spots. Wieners and bologna was strictly forbidden - unless it was a specific Kosher brand (expensive, so we didn't buy them often) - because of the threat of blood that might have been included in the processing. I hated school picnics because all the other kids had a wiener roast. I had to take cheese sandwiches.

  Oh, I could go on and on about how that awful blood brochure that was put out in 1961 affected my life. In so so many ways.
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  Vidiot

  @ OrphanCrow...

  Par for the course for kids raised in a religion where the religion's leadership never had to experience any personal discomfort from the rules they imposed on their followers...

  Remember what Rutherford (I think) was rumored to have once said? "They'll feel like they're suffering for righteousness' sake..." (paraphrasing, but that's the gist).
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  humbled

  I am RH-. All of my seven children are RH+

  My last two children were born after l was baptized in 1988. I remember that l had a sinking feeling about the WT’s views on blood and fractions as l received my Rhogam injections post delivery of my babies. Deep down l knew l did not want to know if l was blood guilty for accepting treatment. I didn’t ask and l didn’t tell “the friends”about my blood problem.

  I cultivated a conscious ignorance of fractions because l reasoned that there was a slight transfer of blood between the mother and child in utero already. I figured God could deal with my dilemma in secret since he saw fit to let blood get so mixed up inside me to begin with.

  Silly and sad. Life depends on these stupid rules the WT cult makes.