To me, the argument is even more simple. The ancient text, written for an ancient, illiterate people, contemplates that the soul is in the blood. And from that one assertion comes all the other mental gymnastics found in the JWs absurd teachings.
The soul is in the blood.
Causes a lot of trouble, doesn't it? Even the Aztec priests believed this insane idea. And they sacrificed live humans to volcanoes. And why would a group of people who had not been engaged in human sacrifice previously and for generations, automatically take to animal sacrifice so readily? They wouldn't. The Hebrews obviously engaged in human sacrifice until Moses put a stop to it. What do you think the Hebrews were doing with that golden calf when Moses came down from the mountain? Just lying around screwing? It was a setback for Moses' efforts to end human sacrifice among the Hebrews.
The soul is in the blood.
Just sit quietly and meditate upon that statement and its implications for awhile and see where it takes you.
It requires putting yourself into the savage, illiterate mind and to think as they must have in order to understand the full implication of both the belief that the "soul is in the blood" and their concept of God. And that God is the same sumbitch the JWs worship today, unchanged after all these centuries - while other religions have evolved their concept of God, the JWs continue to linger at the base of Horeb. What a detestable bunch.
Ain't pretty is it?
-francois