The Greek word translated 'abstain' in Acts 15:29 is 'apecho', which Vine's Expository Dictionary defines as:
"to hold oneself from (apo, from, echomai, the Middle Voice of echo, to have, i.e., to keep oneself from), in the N.T., invariably refers to evil practices, moral and ceremonial, Acts 15:20, 29; 1 Thess. 4:3; 5:22; 1 Tim. 4:3, 1 Peter 2:11; so in the Sept. in Job 1:1; 2:3."
Therefore, along with fornication, things sacrificed to idols, things strangled (i.e. unbled meat), "from blood" seems to me to reference something that a person could practise.
Abstain from Blood? Verb Missing Here!
by Englishman 13 Replies latest watchtower medical
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NewWay
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chocky
Therefore, along with fornication, things sacrificed to idols, things strangled (i.e. unbled meat), ...
Then how come unbled meat could be eaten under certain circumstances (see my post above) even when under law? -
NewWay
Chocky, yes let me qualify:
The fact that an animal had been strangled seems to indicate that a human being had taken the life of the animal and therefore had not bled it according to God's law on blood as given to Noah. It was of course the pouring out of the blood onto the ground when a human being had killed an animal that according to the Bible showed respect for the fact that life had been taken by permission from God. The emphasis was on respect for life, not for the fluid called blood. Blood is simply a symbol of life, but not greater than life itself. -
freeman
Dont forget that milk is loaded with white blood cells, a major and forbidden component of blood. Therefore we must also abstain from milk, it is our Godly duty!
Freeman (demonstrating the absurdity of the JW blood doctrine)