Basic Blood Questions For Jehovah's Witnesses
Where does the Bible outlaw Blood Transfusions? (Acts 15:29 Gen.9:4)
(Orthodox Jews aren't bothered by transfusions) (If your Doctor told you to abstain from meat would he think you disobeyed him if you had an organ transplant? Isn't that what a transfusion is?)
Could it be that the dietary laws in Acts 15 were temporary, designed to help unify Jews and Gentiles. If so, your organization has had blood on its hands since 1945 and even before with it's outlawing of vaccinations and later organ transplants.
a. Which components of blood are acceptable and which ones are not? What is the scriptural basis for this distinction? (red cells, white cells, platelets, plasma banned)
b. Why plasma? Why is plasma (55% of blood volume) unacceptable when all of its elements are on the WTS acceptable list? Plasma is made up of 92 % water, albumin and fibrinogen proteins. What's the problem?
c. Why white blood cells? Why are white blood cells banned when 97 percent of the white cells are not found in the blood stream but in organ tissues that are permitted by the WTS to transplant? Of course millions are transferred with every transplant. By the way,12 times more white blood cells are found in a mother's milk than in the blood. Millions are passed from mother to child at every feeding. Seems Jehovah doesn't abide by the same rules JWs do.
d.
Why is it sinful to store whole blood? Where is the biblical
exception that allows JWs to have their blood stored in tubes for
lab technicians to test? By the way, only blood of animals that were
slain by Jews under the law was to be poured out. No one was
slain/killed to acquire the blood stored in blood banks. (Lev.17:13)
e. Why is it alright to use the life-saving fractions (eg. Factors VIII and IX) derived from the donated and stored blood of others when these products were stored immorally? And aren't hemophiliac Witnesses leeches when they take these blood products without contributing to the blood bank themselves?
f. Where is the rule found that it is OK to remove blood from the body to be cleaned..as long as there is no interruption in it's flow back to the body?
g. Why did it take JWs over 70 years to find these rules out when they are so obvious to JWs now. And didn't Jesus appoint the F&DS in 1919 when JWs were still being encouraged to work for the Red Cross as alternative service and give and receive transfusions when necessary?
Now regarding the actual eating of blood:
h. Can anything that goes into the mouth of a Christian defile him? Ro.14:14, Mk 7:15
i. Assuming that there is no one around with a weak conscience, should Christians ask questions of conscience about meat served in the home of a pagan idol worshiper who is known to eat things strangled? I Cor.10:27
j. Why do you think Jews could eat animals found dead in their fields (unbled) with relative impunity. They would merely have to wash their clothes and be unclean until evening.
Leviticus 11:38,39 - "If an animal that you are allowed to eat dies, anyone who touches its carcass will be unclean till evening. Anyone who eats some of its carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up the carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening." Also Leviticus17:14,15