Logic and Reasoning

by dutyfree 6 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  dutyfree

  Hello Everyone!

  I have several questions, the first of which concerns the blood issue.

  I am a bit puzzled as to why JWs insist on refusing to accept blood, even if it means the difference between life and death.

  In the bible it says,'... you should abstain from blood...'

  How are we to interpret that? Well, bearing in mind that it was written several thousand years ago, it would seem logical to assume that the writer's intended meaning was to persuade the people living in that time not to drink blood. I believe the writer meant this.

  The average JW has a different mindset to the person on the street. He thinks differently, almost like he is being directed by someone else, sort of remote-controlled.

  JWs have this idea that there will be this Paradise Earth after Armageddon.

  The fact that Armageddon was first scheduled for 1881 when C T Russell was the President does not seem to weaken this belief.

  The fact that none of the predictions have come to pass does not seem to make any difference. Still they persist. Why?

  Anyway, I'm drifting... back to the point...

  So, the writer's intended meaning then. All those thousands of years ago, the equipment ie IV needles, did not exist to inject blood, so logically he could not have meant this, right?

  Also, is the writer explicit in saying that blood must not be used if it is to save a person's life? No, he isn't. So.... we have to use our grey matter. The brain, in other words.

  Imagine this scenario...

  Your child is dying from an incurable disease. He needs blood to allow him to live. You are a JW and you refuse to let the doctors give him blood, insisting on blood substitutes be used instead. The doctors say that only real blood will work. Otherwise he will die. Simple as that.

  Is one supposed to just sit back and pray that he will somehow survive, or what?

  Or, must one think about the life he will lead on the Paradise Earth?
  But, JWs have been expecting that for over 120 years and still no sign!!

  One more question - WHERE IS THE LOGIC IN THIS RELIGION?! I CANNOT SEE A SINGLE OUNCE OF RHYME OR REASON, JUST MADNESS.

  Conclusion: The majority, but by no means all of JWs are brainwashed, confused and misguided people. I have many friends who are JWs and they are the most trustworthy, decent people you could expect to meet, so it is rather sad.

  Regards,

  Foxy
• 

  praying_mantis

  We do it because they tell us to. Because they imply that those that die have a place in the New Order. Logic doesnt
  enter the decision. Then they print a bunch of articles about people who have survived without blood, excerpts from
  doctors that say that bloodless surgery is so wonderful, and reap heaps of praise on people who stand firm.

  So yeah, basically, we refuse blood because we are told to.
• 

  larc

  All religions and all governments teach you to die for something. It depends what you are willing to die for. Catholics died in the Crusades conquering the infedels in the Middle East. Millions of people have died in war attacking the enemy or defending themselves from the enemy. People have been burned at the stake for unbelief, which is a tad harsher than disfellowshipping. Six hundred thousand died in the U.S. civil war to help 4 million blacks obtain freedom. The death rate in the civil war is larger than the combined number of all other wars fought by the U.S. Yes, people die and create mayhem because of their beliefs. The Witnesses are not alone in this craziness.

  The question is, what are you willing to die for?
• 

  larc

  On other thought.

  As B.F. Skinner, the founder of beviourism in psychlogy said, "There is no logical reason for you to die for your country, but if you are unwilling to die for your country, I feel sorry for your country." Logic and reason has nothing to do with your reasons to give up your life.
• 

  dutyfree

  Hi larc -

  I must congratulate you on your excellent answer to the question I posed on the blood issue.

  Usually, when I ask a question like this one ie one that is quite difficult and sensitive I am usually met with the reply, '...but it's written in the bible... but it's written...' over and over and over, hence my comment about the brainwashing etc.

  Of course, I still believe that the writer's intened meaning was not to drink blood, but that is by the by, you might say. The point is, you are to be praised for a very thoughtful, intelligent response. You are clearly considerably more knowledgable than my JW friend & tenant who repeats over and over, '... but it's written...' to questions which he cannot answer.

  Regards,

  Foxy
• 

  Francois

  Personally, I think the reasoning is vastly more prosaic.

  The primitive people who are described in the Hebrew scriptures believed that the soul was in the blood. No doubt this was because you could drain the blood from a small wound in a person and that person would die. Thus, the soul, the life, was taken by these simple savages to be in the blood.

  Also, remember that Jehovah - the giver of life - was the only being who could demand that life be taken and returned to him. So if you drank blood, you were depriving Jehovah of his due.

  Now I suggest that here in the twenty-first century we should have so enlarged our concepts of God as to have abandonded these childish teachings that a) blood contains the soul, and b) God is interested in exercising any sort of property title to five pints of slick red bodily fluid. It would make more sense to say that the soul existed in the sperm of men and the eggs of women would it not? But then that would surely lead literalist biblioators to other absurd teachings.

  When I was severely injured three years ago, and almost died from internal hemmorage, I was transfused with three units of whole blood. I felt no guilt, no compunction, no bad vibes from God. But if I even seriously THINK about doing something that my internal knower knows is wrong, like lusting after my next door neighbor's wife, I get special delivery messages from the small still inner voice - like right NOW!!!

  That's a good enough indication for me.
• 

  larc

  Francoise,

  Time for a little humor here on this heavy duty subject.

  In keeping with the Witness theory about blood transfusions: The reason you are such a good writer today is that you got that talent from those three units of blood from three gifted donors. :-)