This post is part of a series of posts summarising chapters of the Jehovah Witnesses' booklet, "What does the Bible really Teach?", and seeking to evaluate those chapters against Scripture somewhat briefly. Those posts were introduced at the Introduction, and a contents page will be added to that entry once this run of posts has finished.
Chapter 13: A godly view of life
Life is a gift from God, and he sustains all life.
Showing respect for life: This is where Abel got it wrong. God’s law prohibits murder, and God explicitly says that it is wrong to hurt an unborn child (Exodus 21:22-23). We mustn’t hurt others, and we must take care of our own lives which rules out recreational drug use and reckless sports. We should be safety conscious, and “build parapets” (Deuteronomy 22:8) to make sure our house and car are safe.
Showing respect for blood: The Bible teaches a link between blood and life; we show respect for blood by not eating it. This is a prohibition that the New Testament church reinforced in Acts 15. If we wouldn’t eat blood, we shouldn’t have it intravenously either; if “a doctor were to tell you to abstain from alcoholic beverages, would that simply mean that you could have it injected into your veins.” (130) This may seem to put our life at risk, but we must trust that God knows what is best.
The only proper use of blood: The only way to use blood is as a sacrifice for sin. For us, this means trusting in Jesus’ death.
Evaluation
The material on the sanctity of life is spot on and needs stressing today.
When it comes to considering the question of blood transfusions, there are two issues to consider. First, does the New Testament expect Christians to refrain from eating meat with blood in; second, if it did so would that mean that we couldn’t receive blood as a transfusion.
There is considerable debate in the literature as to what “abstaining… from bloods” (Acts 15:21) refers to. There is a strong case to be made that this is a concession; the Gentiles were told to live in a way that was sensitive to the scruples of local Jews, so as not to provide an unnecessary barrier for those Jews to become followers of Christ. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 8 that eating food that has been offered to idols is a matter of conscience; one would refrain out of courtesy for those with greater scruples. This would suggest that eating blood is in a similar category.
Whatever is meant, the argument from eating an animal that was killed without having its blood drained to refusing to accept a donation of blood from a fellow human being is unwarranted. Taken to its logical conclusion, all organ transplants would need to be refused as well. The reason Scriptures is silent on this issue is, of course, because this is a more recent medical development. However there is no medical warrant for seeing intravenously transfused blood as ethically the same as eating it. “Orally ingested alcohol is absorbed as alcohol and circulates as such in the blood, whereas orally eaten blood is digested and does not enter circulating as blood. Blood introduced directly into the veins circulates and functions as blood, not as nutrition. Hence blood transfusion is a form of cellular organ transplantation.” (Muramoto, O, ‘Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah’s Witnesses: Part 1. Should bioethical deliberation consider dissidents’ views?’ in Journal of Medical Ethics 24(4) (1998), pages 223-230, accessed online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1377670/pdf/jmedeth00315-000...)
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