I was alerted to the presence of JWs in my street, so I grabbed my voice recorder and placed it by the front door. Several minutes later there was a knock, I pressed "record" and opened the door to two JW women. The recording below runs for 25 minutes. If I'd had more time I'd have probably steered the conversation a different way, but it was interesting anyway to draw them out. They turned out to be evasive and quite untruthful on a couple of things. Why?
We got on to blood transfusions, which was a bit unfortunate really because although the subject is "controversial" it doesn't in fact touch the lives of many JWs. But since my conversation with them yesterday (which they terminated, deciding I was being "argumentative"), a couple of thoughts have occurred to me:
* One of the JWs mentioned the Trinity, which we agreed isn't in the Bible. They insist, however, that the Bible does prohibit blood transfusions. I reckon if you gave the BIble to 100 people with no previous knowledge of religion and got them to read it, NONE would think God was a trinity, but also NONE would think the three scriptural mentions of blood that JWs lean on relate to anything other than diet. Both doctrines were decided on by religious leaders despite the lack of logic and only because they had a preexisting dogma. Scriptures are simply twisted and interpreted to support those preconceptions. I read a couple of biblical commentaries today on Acts 15 and both make it clear that Paul's injunction to "abstain from blood" was about diet, and a temporary injunction in order to avoid offending Christians of a Jewish background. The JW line that God meant all Christians in perpetuity should never use blood for any purpose, including lifesaving medicine, is just baseless and grasping at straws.
*The two JWs admitted some past doctrines had changed because the leaders had realised they were in error. That being the case, today's ban on blood transfusions could tomorrow also be adjudged to be an error, and revoked. The problem is that JWs are denied the opportunity to exercise their conscience and are compelled to obey the Governing Body. The penalty for disobedience is expulsion and shunning. How Christian is that? And are they really willing to hand over decisions on life and death medical procedures to men who might just change their mind based on "new light"?
The two JWs did abruptly end our conversation, but their unwillingness to face challenges to their beliefs indicates a very fragile and shallow faith. Listen to the interview if you get time. Hopefully the link works!