Blood transfusion: the concept of Jehovah's Witness
The writer had to write on this topic after he was told a story in which a man was sick and needed blood transfusion to survive. The doctor asked his wife to permit a blood transfusion else her husband would die. The woman consulted other Jehovah Witnesses and they refused based on their religious belief. The man died because the transfusion was needed urgently and nothing could be done as the story claimed.
The writer had a chat with some Jehovah Witness brothers and they confirmed that it is against their belief to permit blood transfusion. This is because, as they claim, that God instructed Moses not to eat blood and Paul also spoke against blood in the book of Acts. Therefore they obeyed God’s instruction to Moses even when a member’s life was at stalk.
Other Christians that were present during the chat disagreed with their claim in that eating of blood is not same as blood transfusion but the Jehovah Witness maintained their view and claimed that others do not understand the scripture. They also claim that there are other plasma expands which can be used in place of blood transfusion and they mentioned the efforts they have put in place to avoid blood transfusion like bloodless surgery among others.
The writer is aware that there has always been a disagreement between Christians in various areas and this case is not different. God also instructed Moses that the Israelite should not eat some meats like pork but the Witness do eat pork. The writer asked them why and they claim that the New Testament said “No animal is unclean.” It means that while the Adventist will not eat some meat because of God’s instruction in the Old Testament other Christians like the Witness eat such meat because of a statement made in the New Testament. The writer recalled that an Adventist once said that they obey the instruction because it came directly from the mouth of God. Then who gave a different instruction in the New Testament? It can be argued that the state in the New Testament was only used as an example and not a law or instruction.
It is obvious that blood transfusion may have some complications if not well matched and tested for diseases. However, the writer wants to understand if those, especially Christians, that permit blood transfusion are actually disobeying God like the Jehovah’s Witness claim and what are the ways to address the issue to avoid further disobedience.
