JW Blood Doctrine Constitutes Idolatry

TTATTelder

If you sacrifice your life for something - that is devotion to the highest degree and can in certain context constitute worship.

As has been discussed many times on this forum, the blood doctrine of being willing to sacrifice life to honor a symbol of life (blood) is ludicrous (see this excellent thread by Cofty http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/273265/my-explanation-why-they-got-wrong-about-blood-using-only-nwt?page=1).

It is also idolatry...

Consider this illustration:

A special picture of my wife on our wedding day is certainly a representation of her. It is a symbol that embodies the person, the day, and the relationship. This picture is very valuable to me and I would sacrifice many things to preserve it or not have it disrespected or desecrated. The question is - would i sacrifice my wife to preserve the symbol of my wife? Would I shove my wife out of the way in a house-fire to save this picture?.......

If I did, wouldn't I essentially be worshiping this symbol - not to mention a lunatic?

-TE

cappytan

Damn. Never looked at it that way.

Giordano

Cofty's PO is one of the gold standards for refuting the blood issue complete with scriptures and reference's to the Societies statements.

Interesting point T E.

cofty

That is a very good illustration. Thanks for the link too.

Finkelstein

Perhaps, but I think its more a matter of stupid ignorant bible interpretation .

An interpretation that not even the most Orthodox Jewish sects do not recognize or the many thousands of Christian denominations as well.

At the time when this doctrine was created (1940's), the WTS leaders Knorr and Franz also came up with the proclamation that injecting blood from another person would in effect inject the sinful nature of the person who gave the blood. true look it up.

I would agree with Giordano, that Cofty's synopsis of the why the blood doctrine is wrong from a theological viewpoint is about as accurate is as it gets.

TTATTelder

matter of stupid ignorant bible interpretation - fink

Cant argue with that. LOL

I don't think it's a huge stretch to say it's idolatry, though. Sacrificing lives on an alter to Blood.

Wacko crap however you slice it.

-TE

Finkelstein

So in reflection what we have is tens of thousands of people, including children dead, who believed in the propagations of a couple of ignorant men consumed in their own delusions of themselves in interpreting certain writings in the bible .

When in reality they were quite a bit off from a theological viewpoint and what resulted from their endeavors created nothing more than an enormous human tragedy.

A regrettable tragedy that still exists today.

Heisenberg

If you sacrifice your life for something - that is devotion to the highest degree and can in certain context constitute worship.

So if you sacrifice your life for your child, does that mean you are worshiping your child? No reasonable person would say you were worshiping your child. People would think you did it for love.

Many people sacrifice their life for a belief or a cause that they feel strongly about. Does their determination to die for such a belief mean they are worshiping it?

If you are answering yes to the above questions, you seem to have the wrong definition for worship.

campaign of hate

Heisenberg. There are many things in this life to die for. But God is not one of them. God would not want us to sacrifice our self for a belief. Life is too precious. Your illustration of a child is flawed, as this is human nature and you would be a lunatic if you didn't try and save the child or anyone else for that matter.

Which is what doctors try to do right? save our life by any means possible?

Marvin Shilmer

A person who sacrifices their wife (or child, or anyone else) to preserve a photo of their wife (or child, or anyone else) is assigning a higher priority to the photo than the real thing. Aside from such a person being a lunatic, whether that prioritization is worship is debatable depending on how a person understands the term worship.

Regarding blood and symbolism the Watchtower organization holds two competing doctrines:

- On one hand it says blood is a symbol for life and we should be willing to sacrifice life out of regard for that symbol.

- On the other hand it says a symbol is not as important as the thing it symbolizes.

These two doctrinal positions collide the moment a decision must be made about whether a person's life should or shouldn't have priority over how they treat the supposed symbol of life.

See: Blood as important as life?

JW Blood Doctrine Constitutes Idolatry

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