Giving/Receiving blood fractions

by JH 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  JH

  We all know that JW's don't give blood and don't accept it neither, but they will accept blood fractions.
  

  So my question is: Since they can receive blood fractions, can they give blood fractions....and how.. since giving blood is not permitted?
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  TD

  I can't answer the "can they" part of your question, but apheresis donation would be the answer to "how."
• 

  mineralogist

  I asked an elder of the HLC and he did not provide a good answer. Only some analogy of the OT where the isralites sold there dead non-blooded animal to the gentiles and it is up to them what to do with it. That's why JW accept blood cause the non-JW do with there blood what ever they want.

  Obvious reason - isn't it?
• 

  blondie

  Is the blood clotting factor VIII permissible for JWs as well as blood marrow transplants? It seems that JWs can receive but not give these products.

  http://www.ajwrb.org/

  (see chart where clotting factors are acceptable.

  ***

  w84 5/15 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***

  Could

  a Christian accept (could a JW give) a bone-marrow transplant, since blood is made in the marrow?

  Doctors perform most bone-marrow transplants by withdrawing some marrow from a donor (often a near relative) and then injecting or transfusing it into the sick patient. They hope that the marrow graft will reach the patient?s marrow cavities and later function normally. Usually this procedure is considered only in critical cases (such as aplastic anemia or acute leukemia) for there are acknowledged hazards in preparing a person for a marrow graft and in treating him afterward.

  As the question itself notes, red blood cells are formed in the marrow of certain bones such as the ribs, sternum and pelvic bones. Hence, it is understandable why, in the light of the Bible?s prohibition on blood, the question arises whether a Christian could accept a graft of human bone marrow.

  The Bible states clearly that God?s servants must ?abstain from blood.? (Acts 15:28, 29; Deuteronomy 12:15, 16) But, since red cells originate in the red bone marrow, do the Scriptures class marrow with blood? No. In fact, animal marrow is spoken of like any other flesh that could be eaten. Isaiah 25:6 says that God will prepare for his people a banquet that includes "well-oiled dishes filled with marrow." Normal slaughtering and drainage procedures never drain all blood cells from the marrow. Yet once a carcass is drained, then any of the tissue may be eaten, including the marrow.

  Of course, marrow used in human marrow transplants is from live donors, and the withdrawn marrow may have some blood with it. Hence, the Christian would have to resolve for himself whether?to him?the bone-marrow graft would amount to simple flesh or would be unbled tissue. Additionally, since a marrow graft is a form of transplant, the Scriptural aspects of human organ transplants should be considered. See "Questions From Readers" in our issue of March 15, 1980. Finally, writing in Harrison?s Principles of Internal Medicine (Update I, 1981, page 138), Dr. D. E. Thomas observes that "virtually all marrow transplant recipients will require platelet transfusions" and many are given "packed red blood cells." So the Christian should consider what additional issues he would have to face if he submitted to a marrow transplant.?Proverbs 22:3.

  Though a personal decision has to be made on this matter, the Bible?s comments about blood and marrow should help the individual to decide.
• 

  shotgun

  Blood Fractions

  Not OK - AW 09/08/56 p20

  OK - WT 09/15/58 p575

  Not OK - WT 09/15/61 p557

  OK - WT 11/01/61 p670

  Not OK - WT 02/15/63 p123-4

  OK - AW 08/22/65 p18

  That's how many times they changed their minds in just 10 years..now they accept all blood fractions.

  To donate blood simply punch a GB member in the nose.
• 

  Scully

  Blondie

  With bone marrow transplants the best chances for finding an appropriate "match" is found within the recipient patient's relatives - assuming the recipient is a JW, it's highly likely that the donor would also be JW.

  I also seem to remember certain passages in the Bible that refer to "eating marrow" as being a kind of delicacy among those who follow Jehovah of Armies:

  ***

  Rbi8 Isaiah 25:6-8 ***

  And Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples, in this mountain, a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of [wine kept on] the dregs, of well-oiled dishes filled with marrow, of [wine kept on] the dregs, filtered. 7 And in this mountain he will certainly swallow up the face of the envelopment that is enveloping over all the peoples, and the woven work that is interwoven upon all the nations. 8 He will actually swallow up death forever, and the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces. And the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for Jehovah himself has spoken [it].

  Here's what the Insight volumes has to say about MARROW:

  ***

  it-2 pp. 344-345 Marrow ***

  MARROW

  A soft and fatty vascular tissue that fills the interior cavities of most bones. There are two kinds of marrow, yellow and red. In adults, the long, rounder bones are filled with yellow, or inactive, marrow composed mainly of fat, and the flat bones of the skull, the ribs, the sternum, and the pelvis contain red, or active, marrow. Red marrow plays an important role in the formation of blood. It yields the oxygen-carrying red blood corpuscles, the important clotting agents called platelets, and a large percentage of white corpuscles, which primarily serve as fighters of infection. As a blood-forming organ, the marrow has a direct effect upon an individual?s health and vigor. Hence, Job (21:24) appropriately alludes to a well-nourished and healthy person under the figure of one whose bone marrow "is being kept moist."

  Animal bone marrow was apparently used for food by the Israelites. (Compare Mic 3:2, 3.) It has a very high nutritional value, being rich in protein, fats, and iron. Jehovah?s banquet for all the peoples, therefore, fittingly includes symbolic "well-oiled dishes filled with marrow."?Isa 25:6.

  In Hebrews 4:12 "the word of God" is compared to a weapon that is sharper than any two-edged sword and can penetrate the thoughts and motives of an individual, piercing, as it were, clear to the marrow, the innermost part of the bones.

  (Notice how they sneak in that word "symbolic" to circumvent any obvious conflict with the restrictions the WTS has placed on blood?)

  Love, Scully
• 

  RunningMan

  I always thought that scripture referred to pumpkin:

  pumpkin: common name for the genus Cucurbita of the family Cucurbitaceae (gourd family), a group that includes the pumpkins and squashes?the names may be used interchangeably and without botanical distinction. C. pepo, a species that includes varieties of pumpkin, vegetable marrow (a common European vegetable), and summer squash, has been cultivated so long that its wild form no longer exists and its place of origin is uncertain. If it is native to Asia it was introduced to America in prehistoric times; squashes, corn, and lima beans were the chief crops cultivated by pre-Columbian Native Americans. The pumpkin was among the fruits of the first Thanksgiving celebration of the Pilgrims; it has been a favorite pie filling for autumn festivities ever since, and its shell is carved into the Halloween jack-o'-lantern. The summer squashes include the pattypan, acorn, scallop, and summer crookneck squashes. Other squashes are varieties of C. moschata, including the crookneck squashes and the cheese pumpkin, and C. maxima, the winter squashes (e.g., the Hubbard and turban squashes), called pumpkins in Europe. Pumpkins are classified in the division Magnoliophyta , class Magnoliopsida, order Violales, family Cucurbitaceae.
• 

  GermanXJW

  Was there not some information on this in Greg Stafford's second book?
• 

  Scully

  RunningMan:

  I always thought that scripture referred to pumpkin:

  Maybe it really does! But I just thought it was interesting that the WTS believes and teaches that the Israelites - Jehovah's Chosen People? - ate bone marrow and were not considered to be in breach of the Covenant? in Genesis (and later in the Law) that forbade them to eat blood.

  Love, Scully
• 

  Poztate

  Of course, marrow used in human marrow transplants is from live donors, and the withdrawn marrow may have some blood with it. Hence, the Christian would have to resolve for himself whether?to him?the bone-marrow graft would amount to simple flesh or would be unbled tissue. Additionally, since a marrow graft is a form of transplant, the Scriptural aspects of human organ transplants should be considered. See "Questions From Readers" in our issue of March 15, 1980. Finally, writing in Harrison?s Principles of Internal Medicine (Update I, 1981, page 138), Dr. D. E. Thomas observes that "virtually all marrow transplant recipients will require platelet transfusions" and many are given "packed red blood cells." So the Christian should consider what additional issues he would have to face if he submitted to a marrow transplant.?Proverbs 22:3.

  HI Blondie,

  This statement has to be totally false.They imply that a live donation of marrow could have blood in it BUT...the minute you or an animal dropped dead all this blood was suddenly no longer there.This is total BS.There is the same amount of blood after death in the bone marrow as there was before death.It can not and will not suddenly come out of the middle of a bone after death.Therefore all the jews were consuming blood by eating marrow.