by Lee Elder 10 Replies latest jw friends
Simon:
Love the news feature you've addedd.
Did everyone read the story about the 9 year old Irish JW child who had
open heart surgery at Johns Hopkins without blood?
I noted that the article made reference to a "manufactured drug alternative"
that was used in lieu of blood.
I wonder if this is going to be the WTS new buzz word for the purified cow
blood they are now permitting JWs to use?
Perhaps someone could write the author.
Lee
Yes, I just read that while I was doing the news thing. No doubt it will appear in a WatchTower in the very near future.
Somehow, taking cows blood is not going against the command to 'abstain from blood' but human blood is...
Glad you like the news thing.
Are you saying that the JWs now think it is alright to consume cow blood???
Consuming cow's blood or any other kind of blood, "purified" or not, is expressly forbidden in the Scriptures!
Ranford, try to keep up, lol.
Hemopure is hemoglobin, gleaned from cow blood. Since it is taken from a "fraction" it is OK for "true Christians".
Another product, hemosol I think, is actually taken from human blood fractions, also purified, and made available for "injection".
How is that for doublespeak, and Orwellian thinking? Blood is not blood, and transfusion is Injection.
For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."
Well Ransford, since the above was the reason for the abstaining, as you pointed out, and since it is no longer true at all, and since it is no longer a "taste great/less filling" type issue, but rather a life/death question of whether or not God would want someone's blood sacrifice (ie: death instead of life saving blood transfusion), isn't it pretty safe to assume that God now wants humans to use blood for it's precious life saving qualities?
Also, doesn't this understanding form a much more loving understanding of God (ie: not a god who wants death sacrifices)?
Six, never even been in a synagogue class
Hi Lee,
Thanks for pointing out that the way the WTS twists words to avoid issues.
"Manufactured drug alternative"
Leaves out the fact this is made out of stored cow blood processed to use hemoglobin. I take great joy is pointing out verbally and in print that this and other products are made out of stored blood and the the HLC said that it is a conscience matter for JWs. I invite them to call the HLC so they see it is not just my words.
It gets real quiet. On the JW DBs, no one wants to post after me, but no one wants to deny what I've posted.
This point has changed how my husband and I made our health care choices.
Blondie
Could the URL to that article be posted? Thanks
Ransid,
Consuming cow's blood or any other kind of blood, "purified" or not, is expressly forbidden in the Scriptures!Can you say the word .....brainwashed?
You don't know the scriptures or you would never had made that ridiculous comment!
The scripture you used also says to abstain from...."things sacraficed to idols"....didn't it? What did Paul mean by that if you know?
Paul later said that if a person wanted to eat meat that had been sacraficed to an idol......go ahead....just don't stumble your (weak) brother. In other words....don't get caught by him. The point is....it was the over zealous Jews who were stumbled by the ways of the new gentile converts and so Paul was mearly saying.......you don't have to get circumsized because the jews will accept that....but.......they are still having problems with the blood thing and the fornicating thing...they can't be doing that!
Jesus plucked grain on the sabbath with his diciples......which was unlawful and deserving of death. Jesus gave the illustration of david eating the showbread in the temple that only the high priest was to do. Then he quoted his father by saying...."I want mercy-not sacrafice"
The point being made by Jesus is...... dealing with hunger was MORE important than keeping the sabbath from gods viewpoint.
Let me ask you.......is saving a life more important than abstaining from blood?
Gumby
If cow's blood , or fractions thereof, can be used for a transfusion, then wouldn't it follow that cow's blood, or fractions thereof, could be used in puddings and in sausages? I wonder if the WTS might soon publish a Fractional Bood Cookbook?
"Simply DIVINE Recipes from the Faithful and Discreet galley slave, delightfully presented by the Faithful and Discreet Waiter."
Lee Elder wrote:
Did everyone read the story about the 9 year old Irish JW child who had
open heart surgery at Johns Hopkins without blood?
I noted that the article made reference to a "manufactured drug alternative"
that was used in lieu of blood.
********
When I discussed the issue of blood there was no argument. They assigned the best surgeon on the staff to do the operation— a doctor who had the lowest transfusion rate in the hospital.
Surgeons who insist on using blood are often one step removed from butchers. A good surgeon minimizes blood loss. I would not recommend a doctor so incompetent that he/she HAS to have blood ready to back up their slashing.
Anyway, I got the best of it— a top surgeon, who didn't need to use transfusions, and an A+ operation.
My recovery was uneventful.
Ransford
Hemopure and Biopure are made from blood fractions from either human or cow's blood. Hemoglobin is considered an acceptable blood product based the on the following since it is a blood fraction (not a component).
WT 6/15/00
pp. 29-30 Questions From ReadersHowever, since blood can be processed beyond those primary components, questions arise about fractions derived from the primary blood components. How are such fractions used, and what should a Christian consider when deciding on them?
Blood is complex. Even the plasma—which is 90 percent water—carries scores of hormones, inorganic salts, enzymes, and nutrients, including minerals and sugar. Plasma also carries such proteins as albumin, clotting factors, and antibodies to fight diseases. Technicians isolate and use many plasma proteins. For example, clotting factor VIII has been given to hemophiliacs, who bleed easily. Or if someone is exposed to certain diseases, doctors might prescribe injections of gamma globulin, extracted from the blood plasma of people who already had immunity. Other plasma proteins are used medically, but the above mentioned illustrate how a primary blood component (plasma) may be processed to obtain fractions.
Just as blood plasma can be a source of various fractions, the other primary components (red cells, white cells, platelets) can be processed to isolate smaller parts. For example, white blood cells may be a source of interferons and interleukins, used to treat some viral infections and cancers. Platelets can be processed to extract a wound-healing factor. And other medicines are coming along that involve (at least initially) extracts from blood components. Such therapies are not transfusions of those primary components; they usually involve parts or fractions thereof. Should Christians accept these fractions in medical treatment? We cannot say. The Bible does not give details, so a Christian must make his own conscientious decision before God.
Some would refuse anything derived from blood (even fractions intended to provide temporary passive immunity). That is how they understand God’s command to ‘abstain from blood.’ They reason that his law to Israel required that blood removed from a creature be ‘poured out on the ground.’ (Deuteronomy 12:22-24) Why is that relevant? Well, to prepare gamma globulin, blood-based clotting factors, and so on, requires that blood be collected and processed. Hence, some Christians reject such products, just as they reject transfusions of whole blood or of its four primary components. Their sincere, conscientious stand should be respected.
Other Christians decide differently. They too refuse transfusions of whole blood, red cells, white cells, platelets, or plasma. Yet, they might allow a physician to treat them with a fraction extracted from the primary components. Even here there may be differences. One Christian may accept a gamma globulin injection, but he may or may not agree to an injection containing something extracted from red or white cells. Overall, though, what might lead some Christians to conclude that they could accept blood fractions?
Questions From Readers" in The Watchtower of June 1, 1990, noted that plasma proteins (fractions) move from a pregnant woman’s blood to the separate blood system of her fetus. Thus a mother passes immunoglobulins to her child, providing valuable immunity. Separately, as a fetus’ red cells complete their normal life span, their oxygen-carrying portion is processed. Some of it becomes bilirubin, which crosses the placenta to the mother and is eliminated with her body wastes. Some Christians may conclude that since blood fractions can pass to another person in this natural setting, they could accept a blood fraction derived from blood plasma or cells.
Does the fact that opinions and conscientious decisions may differ mean that the issue is inconsequential? No. It is serious. Yet, there is a basic simplicity. The above material shows that Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse transfusions of both whole blood and its primary blood components. The Bible directs Christians to ‘abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from fornication.’ (Acts 15:29) Beyond that, when it comes to fractions of any of the primary components, each Christian, after careful and prayerful meditation, must conscientiously decide for himself.
