Jehovah’s Witnesses do not accept blood.Yet new issues arise because blood can now be processed into four primary components and fractions of those components. In deciding whether to accept such when a doctor tell him he will die if he doesn't receive a transfusion or at least components or fractions. A Christian Witness should look beyond possible medical benefits and risks. His concern should be what the Bible says and the potential effect on his relationship with God. Lets go back in time to after the flood which destroyed not the earth but wicked people,after this event God told the survivors they could now eat meat which means they must have been vegetarians.Why could they now eat animals could be because of how the earth changed since a world wide destruction ,trees must have been damaged not producing fruit and it would take time to farm crops months to harvest;
In Genesis 9.1-5 we read:
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful
and increase in number and fill the earth.The fear and dread of you will
fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air,
upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish
of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and
moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now
give you everything. “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood
still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I
will demand an accounting from every animal.” (NIV)
Thats the basis of not eating blood as to what God told Noah[ you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood
still in it.] Each person can raise their hand in the KH to the question would you take blood alternatives and answer no under no circumstances but when actually faced with death may compromise and even take a blood transfusion.
Jehovah’s Witnesses certainly want to keep living, we are committed to obey Jehovah’s law on blood. What does this mean in the light of current medical practice not known before? . Medicine has changed over time. Today, most transfusions are not of whole blood but of one of its primary components, red cells,white cells , platelets,plasma serum fluid. Physicians might prescribe red cells, white cells, platelets, or plasma. Transfusing these major components allows a single unit of blood to be divided among more patients. Jehovah’s Witnesses hold that accepting whole blood or any of those four primary components violates God’s law.
However, since modern technology 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 JW consider when deciding on them is the central question.Blood is complex. Even the plasma which is 90 percent water carries 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.
The WTS says the Bible does not give details on these since these procedures didnt exist thousands of years ago so a JW must make his own conscientious decision before God. Some JWs 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.Other JWs 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 JW 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 JWs to conclude that they could accept blood fractions?
Some JWs may conclude that since blood fractions can pass to another person during birth when the mother passes immunoglobulins to her child ,plasma proteins fractions move from a pregnant woman’s blood to the separate blood system of her fetus
they could accept a blood fraction derived from blood plasma or cells.
The Bible directs 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 JWs after careful and prayerful meditation, must conscientiously decide for himself.
