Abstaining from Blood-Eating meat etc.

by JWdaughter 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  TD

  I agree that the phrase "To be keeping yourselves free.....from blood" -- apecesqai.....kai aimatoV is somewhat of a cryptic statement.

  Personally, I think if it had been a command against murder (Shedding blood) it would have been worded with the force of a command. Yet the entire passage lacks that flavor and comes across only as friendly counsel.

  What all JW's and many XJW's seem to have trouble grasping is the simple fact that the phrase "Keep abstaining....from blood" is not a grammatically complete statement and can't be treated as if it were.

  We "Abstain" only from finite acts. There is no such thing as abstinence from a physical object, like blood. When the word, "Abstain" is used in connection with a physical object, like blood, there is a finite act implicit in the context.

  To illustrate this basic fact, consider how the meaning of an "Abstain from" phrase is entirely dependent upon the context in which it is spoken.

  1. A man with a skin condition is told by his dermatologist that, "Persons with sensitive skin should abstain from alcohol."

  2. A pregnant women is told by her obstetrician that, "Pregnant women should abstain from alcohol."

  Notice the fluid nature of the "Abstain from" phrasae. The man and woman are obviously being told two entirely different things. The man should not apply alcohol to his skin and the woman should not drink beverages containing alcohol while she is pregnant. Our source for the verbs, "Drink" and "Apply" is the context of the statement.

  The man is still free to drink alcoholic beverages and the woman is still free to apply cosmetics containing alcohol to her skin. Yet they were both told to, "Abstain from alcohol."

  Similarly, with the Apostolic Decree, the act in question is "Eating" and only eating. Most paraphrased and even some DE translations make this clear.

  "Eat no food that has been offered to idols; eat no blood; eat no animal that has been strangled; and keep yourselves from immorality" --Moffat

  "Avoid what has been sacrificed to idols, tasting blood, eating the meat of what has been strangled and sexual immorality" --TEV

  "You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or eating the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality." --Phillip's

  "That you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from [tasting] blood and from [eating the meat of animals] that have been strangled and from sexual impurity." --CEV
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  LovesDubs

  Good info TD. Thank you for that. The society itself has changed its definition of what abstaining means...they even went from blood being FED to people through IVs to saying that blood is an organ, and then dissecting the blood into PARTS and SUB PARTS and and and...until they have painted themselves into a corner about the whole blood thing. But they know the great majority of the JWs dont know the DETAILS or the "allowed" processes during surgery these days. They dont know that so many things that are in breast milk are also not ALLOWED as a sub part of blood.

  It's insane. And it's causing untold deaths worldwide. Some day, God willing, there will be new light on their insane translation of those scriptures. I think they know though that there will inevitably follow THOUSANDS of wrongful death suits if they back off.
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  Jourles

  If there is one single argument to present to jw's, it is regarding the initial mother-child breast feeding period.

  Ask any jw if they would intentionally feed their child(via mouth) a WTS banned blood component. You should get a 100% emphatic, No. Then ask them why. Like the robots they are, they will quote Acts word for word. The more knowledgeable ones might even bring up the WTS reasoning of ingesting blood as a way to nourish the body(remember this particular point!). Now that you have rigged your trap, it is time to trigger it.

  Using any medical resource available to you(or, let the jw pick their own), ask them to read/research what is contained in colostrum - the initial mother's milk after the child is first born. More than likely, they will come across the term, leukocyte. For the online reader, a quick definition of a leukocyte can be found here at the Health On The Net Foundation's website.

  Surprised? Or surprised at the fact that the WTS has never addressed this issue before? The WTS does indeed know about colostrum and that it contains white blood cells. So let's run down this once more, shall we?

  • The WTS bans both the transfusion or ingestion of white blood cells under penalty of spiritual death.
  • A mother gives birth to her child and plans on breast feeding it.
  • During the first few days after birth, the mother willingly and intentionally lets her newborn baby feed upon colostrum.
  • Colostrum contains white blood cells.
  • The baby is intentionally feeding upon and taking in nourishment of these white blood cells.
  • The baby and mother should now be automatically disassociated from the congregation based on their actions.

  So what does the WTS do about this contradiction? Nothing. If they do not print anything about it, the contradiction does not exist in the minds of its followers. Some jw's may point out the fact that this occurs in a natural setting - that Jehovah provided it. But, and this is a huge BUT, why would Jehovah break his own law on the ingestion of a banned blood component? Could it be that Jehovah never intended for white blood cells to be banned in the first place seeing that he was the creator of colostrum? Or could it be that the WTS has got it wrong? Given their past track record, I would put my money on Jehovah, not the WTS.
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  Poztate

  I ask an elder once why it was OK to eat lobster since it was cooked alive and not bled properly. He said there wasn't enough blood in a lobster to worry about.

  
  They made a big deal out of properly bleeding fish at one time in their history. I still have relatives who cut the throat of every fish they catch.

  It doesn't seem to matter as much when they buy salmon in the store or go out for a seafood dinner..

  I remember when I was a kid we couldn't eat at Wendy's because someone said the burgers had blood in them, does anyone else remember this?

  Yep...In Canada it was a big deal for all of the fast food outlets for a while...Wendy's Mcdonalds BurgerKing...you could not trust them.It changed very soon...Too many people ignoring the edict....
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  stillajwexelder

  I know of a number of well respected POs and COs that like their steak very rare indeed with the blood oozing from it - incidentally so do I. All man-made rules anyway