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Original poster

OK, so could a Jehovah's Witness please explain this?

89 replies

Housemum · 18/05/2010 11:53

I really don't want to start a religious argument but I read this: story on Yahooand it made me so sad to think of a life wasted. Please could someone who is a JW or who knows a lot about it explain to me just why this is right? As I said, I don't want to argue but I really want to understand. In my personal opinion if God has given people the ability to save lives, they should use that. Why is accepting blood from someone who has willingly donated it so wrong?

Apologies for linking to a DM article but that's the problem with having Yahoo as a homepage!

OP posts:
SmellsLikeTeenSweat · 26/05/2010 21:27

The link says that this is usually accepted as referring to dietary laws. I know that in Judaism they won't eat an egg that has a spot of blood in it.

SongBiird · 26/05/2010 21:53

From what I remember way back when I used to look in to all of this stuff, the passage is about drinking blood. Smellslike (pmsl at your name). There were practices (still are today in some places) where people drank blood as part of voodoo/witch craft for all different sorts of reasons, non great , some to literally take on another spirit, some to make you strong, some to make you immortal etc etc etc.

As people have said though blood transfusions were not bout then so to me it seems like quite a leap to the present day jw interpretation.

3littlefrogs · 26/05/2010 22:02

Blood can only be stored for 30 days...

MaamRuby · 26/05/2010 22:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

3littlefrogs · 26/05/2010 22:06

Autologous transfusion is acceptable for JW having elective (planned surgeery). It requires careful planning, properly trained staff and a special machine. Not really practical in an emergency situation IME.

CoteDAzur · 26/05/2010 22:34

Why can blood be stored only for 30 days? There are companies claiming to store cordon blood itself (not extracted stem cells) for 20, 30 years.

MrsBadger · 26/05/2010 22:49

cord blood can be held in liquid nitrogen for years and the stem cells then revived, but you can'#t do that with whole blood for transfusion as the red cells just lyse.

(NB it's 'cord blood', because it came from the umbilical cord, not 'cordon blood')

CaveMum · 27/05/2010 08:31

A few quick points, my mum is a JW but I am not:

  1. JW's do not believe in Hell. They believe only a select few get to go to heaven (144,000) and that when Armageddon (war between God & the Devil) has been and gone those that obeyed the word of God will be brought back to life to live forever on earth.
  1. JW's do not celebrate Christmas as they do not believe it is the true date of birth of Jesus. A pretty valid point IMO as the Bible refers to shepherds tending their flocks when the birth takes place. The area around Bethlehem gets very cold in December and no shepherd in his right mind would be outside at night
It is much more likely that Jesus was born in September/October. Also 25th December was selected by the early Church as it was also around the date of the Winter Solsitice which was celebrated by Pagans. By co-opting the date many pagan traditions were continued and still exist today.
  1. Birthday's are not celebrated because on the few occassions they are mentioned in the Bible something bad happens - ie John the Baptist being beheaded.

As my mum used to explain it to me, wouldn't you rather get presents as an actual surprise rather than expect them on certain days?

I'd also add that I have never met any 'extremist' JW's. I have never been pressurised into following and on the occassions I have been to Kingdom Halls I have never observed anything that could be called 'brainwashing'.

JW's are very peaceful, law abiding people in my experience which is more than can be said for some other Christians.

The blood issue is always a difficult one, I don't like that fact that my mum could die but it is her, informed decision.

SongBiird · 27/05/2010 09:57

Yes but cavemum, your mum is an adult and thus can make an informed decision. It is very arguable as whether a 15yo can make an informed decision regarding a life or death situation.

CaveMum · 27/05/2010 11:26

From what I remember, JWs have to undergo a series of talks and 'interviews' with the congregation's elders before they are allowed to carry a "No Blood" card to make sure that they fully understand why they are doing it and what the implications are.

I seem to recall it took my mum a few years to get to this stage, so it is not something that is enforced upon everyone and I am 99.9% sure that children of the congregation do not carry them until they are at least 16. After all, the doctors have the right to over-rule the wishes of a minor, or their parents.

As others have said, are we sure that a blood transfusion would have saved this poor boy? It sounds as though his injuries were far too serious.

3littlefrogs · 27/05/2010 18:19

I don't know much about cord blood storage, but it is only a tiny sample and would not be used for a replacement transfusion in the way that donated blood is used in major surgery or life threatening situations.

Donated whole blood is a very precious and expensive resource - hence the whole blood donation system, and the need for highly trained staff and state of the art systems in hospitals. The blood transfusion department in hospital is very big part of the pathology service.

There is a whole service dedicated to the care of Jehovah's witnesses, involving huge amounts of staff training and equipment for saving blood during surgery for re - infusion, and also producing synthetic products. Synthetic products cannot replace blood in every event though.

Animation · 27/05/2010 18:38

I don't understand why JWS take passages in the bible so literally. Do they really believe that God will be very angry if you save a life with blood? My God wouldn't be angry at all - HE just loves everyone, in the kind of way I love my kids - unconditionally.

CoteDAzur · 28/05/2010 09:47

Mrs Badger - Thanks for the correction Languages mix in my head after a while. It's "sang de cordon" in French.

Dizziliz · 05/07/2010 22:23

Jehovah's witnesses have info on their www why they don't have blood.
There's also some videos that you can watch about patient rights & safe alternatives to blood transfusions.
www.jw-media.org/aboutjw/article01.htm#accept

funkydubs · 09/03/2011 20:08

do you know 80% of doctors interviewed would not accept a blood transfusion, they only use blood because it is cheap. blood is used as a volume expander to keep the veins open after surgery, saline soloution does that job, and the patient recovers quicker afterwards, the body actually rejects the blood as it is a foreign body so it has to work twice as hard to 'clear out' the blood to make its own blood, also i find it weird to think when people go and give a pint of blood they get a cup of tea, when people loose a pint of blood they are given blood. check the web site in the above message for true and informed reasons that JW'S refuse blood

lisad123isasnuttyasaboxoffrogs · 09/03/2011 20:25

I was going to comment on this, but feel I may get linched by the mob.
Yes JWs follow the bible, not just the blood part, but the love and kindness parts, the instruction to preach and many more.
This isnt an easy thing for many to understand but tbh unless your a doctor or really looked into this, blood rarely is the only thing that saves lifes, but it is the cheaper option.
Parents can refuse blood for their children but some doctors have taken parents to court to allow this.
We dont believe in hell, so no you wont go to hell for having blood.

lisad123isasnuttyasaboxoffrogs · 09/03/2011 20:27

any im sorry but 15 is reasonable age to make life choices. at 16 they make decisions about their furture career, about having babies, about having sex about pretty much anything.

puredevo · 09/03/2011 20:32

If we assume the boy could have survived had he been given a blood transfusion...

What about the driver of the car...is he guilty of murder/ manslaughter death by dangerous driving??..

when this boy could have been saved

lisad123isasnuttyasaboxoffrogs · 09/03/2011 20:34

if the boy could have been saved!

LostInTransmogrification · 09/03/2011 20:35

I would have interpreted it as 'no black pudding' myself! I think if you want to translate texts literally you would end up doing a lot of strange things (and unless you are reading the original text, not that translated into Latin then English, who knows what nuances might be misinterpreted)

onagar · 09/03/2011 20:35

Would a JW parent who allowed their child to have a transfusion harm their OWN chances of getting into heaven?

lisad123isasnuttyasaboxoffrogs · 09/03/2011 20:38

they dont believe everyone goes to heaven and no its not like, if you do something wrong once you arent forgiven by god. But if you knows its wrong in gods eyes and you do it, its not great is it.

onagar · 09/03/2011 20:47

Okay, I checked with the watchtower site. A select group go to heaven and the rest of the JWs get to have eternal life on earth and the rest apparently just die. If I got any of that wrong let me know, but it does sound to me like there is a personal advantage in following the rules.

lisad123isasnuttyasaboxoffrogs · 09/03/2011 20:53

yes thats right but its not just those that follow the rule that go to heaven its a set group.

ladymystikal · 09/03/2011 22:54

I think people need to know what they're talking about(some of the earlier posts) before they start coming up with what they 'think' JW's believe. I used to be one,had my daughter, left the religion but am starting to go back. Funkydubs and lisa123 are spot on. Many leading experts in the medical field are now playing down the benefits of blood transfusions. Even my ex's mum who is not a witness said herself she would refuse as it's safer and less risk. We have MANY alternatives to having a blood transfusion which can save ours and our childrens lives. This thread and bashing of JWs is SO old and tired. We've moved on with science and the medical profession.