Is blood transfusion-accepted in Jehovah's witness?

Answer 1

AnswerIn most cases, he/she will live. It's what happens after the JW patient recovers is the big question. Will he thank Science or condemn the Doctors?

Addition on 30 Dec 2009

If someone in the congregation hears about it, he/she will report the offence to the elders of the local congregation and the offender will be asked to appear before the elders. Whether he/she appears or not, a committee of elders will determine if the act of accepting blood was a willful act by the offender. It will in that case lead to the offender being disfellowshipped and consequently shunned by all other Jehovah's Witnesses, be they family or friends.

Answer 2

If its on accident it's more of a reaction of "well..... that sucks" lol You would probably feel bad and try to be forgiven from Jehovah. But he can see in your heart that you don't hate him and weren't TRYING to go against a law he clearly set out in The Bible. If you diid it on purpose knowing that biible teaching.... well, your not that smart. After talking to people in the coingregatiion they would have to deciide whether or not you siould still be in the coingregation. Cause why? Because you broke Jehovah's law.

Answer 3

The scriptures are very clear: abstain from blood. (See Acts 15:19,20,28,29) So, of course we would not donate or give blood to be used for the purpose of transfusing, even if a friend's life depended on it.

However, we have full hope in the resurrection promise given by Jesus Christ himself at John 5:28,29, and referred to later by Paul at Acts 24:15, should our friend die to to lack of blood volume.

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Most Jevohahs witnesses will not accept blood even if their life depends on it, not even blood derivatives.

Answer 4

More and more these days, matters such as this are being left up to the conscience of each individual JW. Many will accept only if the blood has been broken down into smaller parts that are called fractions.

Witnesses are obeying Jesus' direct commands as explained in the following quote,

Watchtower 1959 1st May p269

''To hold to the headship of Christ, it is therefore necessary to obey the organization that he is personally directing. Doing what the organization says is to do what he says. Resisting the organization is to resist him.''

Witnesses do not give or donate blood. A Witness could be disfellowshipped and shunned by his fellow Witnesses if it became known that he had willingly taken a transfusion of whole blood, red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets and was unrepentant. If these parts are broken down into smaller parts then that would be a personal conscience matter.

For example, whilst red cells are not allowed to be transfused, hemoglobin which makes up only 97% of the dry weight of a red cell is allowed to be transfused as it a smaller part of a red cell.

Answer 5

Some Jehovah's Witnesses will refuse treatment even if they are in a life-threatening situation. As an example please see the link below. For some medical procedures where a transfusion would normally be required (as opposed to a severe blood-loss situation), a Continuous Autologous Transfusion System machine can be used, which takes a patient's own blood, and "cleans" it, so it can be passed back into the patient at the end of the procedure.

Answer 6

The Word of God is quite explicit about blood. That blood of animals and humans is viewed as something sacred in Gods eyes. That blood can not be eaten or ingested in any form and could only, in the past be used for sacrifices to God to absolve persons from the guilt of sin. Since the time of Christ and his sacrifice as a perfect man, there is no need for animal sacrifices. but ingesting blood is still viewed by the creator as wrong. This is clearly shown in Acts 15:28-29. Its listed along with abstaining from idolatry and fornication. ( Not minor matters.) In recent times others have chosen to abstain from blood transfusions other than the witnesses. The U.S. military have chosen to use non blood management in all there medical situations where possible. For many who do not know or care about the Bible this means nothing. For many others who claim to believe in and follow Gods word this is some thing that they ignore as of no consequences. Jehovah's witnesses chose to not go down this path as the believe it is vital to not only know, but to do the will of God.

Answer 7

THEY DO NOT impact us in that we no longer have to fight with authorities who do not want to treat us. Since about the 1940's we took our stand as stated in the Bible:

(Acts 15:28, 29) "28 For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you except these necessary things: 29 to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. Good health to you!""

Here are some accolades::

*** g96 2/8 p. 29 Watching the World ***

"Blessed Are Jehovah's Witnesses

As in many other countries, a blood scandal has erupted in Italy. It is claimed that thousands of liters of blood were distributed to transfusion centers without adequate screening or without proper safety precautions being taken, thereby exposing thousands of people to the risk of contracting illnesses such as AIDS and hepatitis. Commenting on the shocking situation that put profits above personal health, Luigi Pintor, editor of the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, began his article with these words: "Blessed are Jehovah's Witnesses, who . . . refuse blood transfusions for religious reasons. As they read the newspapers these days, they will be the only ones who will not have to worry about what is going on . . . in the blood industries and clinics that sell and administer blood, plasma, and related derivatives to their fellowmen."

*** g97 2/8 p. 29 Watching the World **

Dr. David Crombie, Jr., chief of surgery at Hartford Hospital, candidly admits: "I was raised in medicine at a time when blood was thought of as a tonic. Now it's thought to be a poison." The Bible consistently forbids taking blood into the body.-Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:14; Acts 15:28, 29; 21:25

Answer 8

NO we do not as the Bible states: (Acts 15:27-29) ". . .. 28 For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you except these necessary things: 29 to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. Good health to you. . ."

- The Dept. of Defense ( military ) has adopted Non-Blood surgery, medicine, & therapy. They admit that they considered Jehovah's Witnesses fanatics for a long period. They now consider Non-Blood procedures as "the gold standard" They have committed themselves to the procedures by granting 4.6 million dollars to the Elmwood Hospital , New Jersey! This for training the militaries hospitals staff with No-Blood operations & using the state of the art medical machinery such as the "cell saver" which uses patience own blood circulating with very little loss of blood. ( Answers does not allow the use of web addresses. If you want to reference the hospital or military you could benefit yourself.)

Answer 9

Based on the scriptural references at Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:14, and Acts 15:20-29, they refrain from partaking of blood in any way.

They feel that God views blood as sacred based on scriptures such as Leviticus 17:11 and Colossians 1:20.

Although these were commandments that centered around the eating of blood, they feel injecting it in your veins is the same principle.

Answer 10

A devout Jehovah's Witness will reject a blood transfusion even if the doctors swear that is the only way it will save their life. Interestingly, some major medical breakthroughs have occurred in bloodless surgery thanks to the Witnesses religious stand on the matter. The US armed forces have even taken a strong interest in the techniques used, and have significantly funded further research on the matter due to a lot of success and lowered recovery times when blood transfusions are not used in major surgeries.