I agree with Megadude that the Watchtower knows their stand on blood is bogus. But are you aware that they offer another explanation for Acts 15:21 concerning Moses being preached and read?
*** g76 3/8 26-8 'Abstain from Blood'-for How Long? ***
Observe that James did not say that ?the law of Moses is read every sabbath.? He said, ?Moses . . . is read aloud. . . on every sabbath.? (Acts 15:21) What is the difference? Moses was famous for having written the Pentateuch or Torah, the first five books of the Bible. These books certainly do set forth the Law. But they contain much more. Moses? writings also contain a record of God?s dealings and expressed views that predate the Law.?Compare Mark 12:26 and Exodus 3:2, 6.
This was an important point to bear in mind in connection with the Christian congregation. Even though God was no longer requiring observance of the Mosaic Law code, there were earlier indications of his will that he expected to be upheld by any human serving him. So, if some, whether Jews or Jewish Christians, had great regard for Moses? writings, they should be able to see the need for true worshipers to abstain from ?these necessary things? that came before the Law and continued after it ended.
God?s expressed will regarding blood is an example. Many centuries before he gave the law through Moses, God told Noah to abstain from blood. In giving humans permission to eat flesh Jehovah stated plainly: ?Only flesh with its soul?its blood?you must not eat.? That ruled out eating meat from an animal that was strangled to keep its blood in the flesh. It also ruled out eating or drinking blood. (Gen. 9:3, 4) Later, God stated his will about blood in the law given to the Israelites. (Lev. 17:11-14; Deut. 12:23) Yet, when the Law was fulfilled and no longer binding on true worshipers, the prohibition in Genesis 9:3, 4 remained. And it had not been given just to Israel, but through Noah, the progenitor of the human race, to all mankind.
Consequently, the weekly reading of ?Moses,? which would include Genesis 9:3, 4, would do more than present what just the Mosaic law for Jews said about blood. It would also show that abstaining from blood and things strangled was still necessary for all persons wanting God?s approval. That would be plain to Jews in their synagogues. It would be plain to Hebrew Christians who were well acquainted with what was read in the synagogues. And it would be plain to any Gentiles who, by contact with Jews or Christians, came to know of the basic precepts set forth in God?s Word.
*** bq 10-12 Jehovah's Witnesses and the Question of Blood ***
So, does the divine prohibition against blood apply to Christians?
During the discussion Jesus? half brother James brought to the council?s attention certain other essential things that he deemed important to include in their decision, namely, ?to abstain from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.? (Acts 15:19-21) He referred back to the writings of Moses, which reveal that even before the Law was given, God had disapproved of immoral sex relations, idolatry and the eating of blood, which would include eating the flesh of strangled animals containing blood.?Genesis 9:3, 4; 19:1-25; 34:31; 35:2-4.
Concerning that Christian decree, Professor Walther Zimmerli, of the University of Göttingen, Germany, commented:
?The first Judeo-Christian congregation in the decision reported on in Acts 15 made a distinction between the Law given to Israel through Moses and the command given [through] Noah to all the world.??Zürcher Bibelkommentare.
6
6. Zürcher Bibelkommentare 1. Mose 1-11 (1967), p. 330
But as Meg said:
Paul makes clear in other parts of the Bible he didn't have a problem with meat sacrificed to idols. Idols meant nothing to him. However, he said he wouldn't even eat meat if it stumbled a brother
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FYI,
eby
