I'd like to start with a few clarifications to Super. First, if you are British, why the poor grammar and spelling? I know we have a few words peculiar to our own countries, but a person's education and their expectations of being taken seriously DO rely on their communication skills. Yours put your statements in some doubt. I no doubt will be flamed for this, but I'm entitled to my viewpoints just like you are. Secondly, I know people (and family) with far higher medical knowledge than you do. Thirdly, I have a degree in Psychology and have been around JW's for 35 years, many of those years serving in reasonably high positions, so I know the WT. I've read every WT and Awake back to 1940, the entire AID book, the green Insight books, every yearbook back to 1940, and I own the Studies in the Scriptures. So I would assume I have done, or can do, more research than you can about the WT's past and their changing policies, which you do not realize is more the issue here than you are aware.
You start off attacking Terry about his "anger". I know Terry, having read many of his works and analyzed his music. I was student conductor in the high school orchestra, play 30 instruments, teach piano, studied to be a concert pianist, and began writing a symphony at the age of 16. I know again I'll get flamed, but I'm trying to show you that others here have the qualifications to make the statements they make and that you are not correct just because you say you are. You sound to me to be more of a JW than you'd like to admit. "Methinks thou doest protest too much." Capice?? (It's Italian, look it up since you like to make everyone else do their own research, right?) Terry didn't show anger in his post. He has a witty and sarcastic sense of humor, but that doesn't always prove anger. And even if he did, so what? We are analyzing his argument, not his emotions. You could stand a little therapy yourself. Your sarcasm is unnecessary and makes it easier to analyze both you and your statements.
What Jehovah makes clear is up for debate, seeing that the Bible, to me, is a book of fiction. But even if I believed, I wouldn't use the NWT, which is globally viewed as biased and a poor work. I don't think Jehovah thinks anyone is dumb. I think many think YOU are dumb.
Blood might carry diseases, but if a person will die without a transfusion, then so what? You give it and then treat the disease. A few people dying of diseases in blood don't prove that the Bible forbids it. Shooting yourself in the head with a pistol is also bad for your health, but I don't see any verses forbidding it. I wouldn't make a Jew eat pork, but if the world is no longer under the Law, then he is wrong in his believing that he can't eat pork. If the Jews are right, then YOU are wrong for eating pork. See how it works?
Don't rest your case, you haven't got one. If even one child dies because he needed blood and nothing but blood, and he doesn't get it, then that's murder. If an adult wants to commit suicide for following the everchanging teachings of the WT CULT (yes, I said CULT, YOU look up the definition and you'll see that the WT is led by MEN, which makes it a CULT, whether you like it or not) and not taking blood, that is their right. I still object because they leave behind children who now need welfare and other assistance that was the parent's job. But NO ONE has the right to decide that a ten year old child should not have blood even if he dies. What if that child would NOT have wanted to be a JW when he grew up? He doesn't get the chance, now does he? Do you have a crystal ball? Then what right do you have to let that child die? That's when the courts step in, and I fully support them. Again, your defense of everything the WT does indicates to me, and others, that you like them more than you let on.
I suggest YOU look up the facts in an unbiased journal, which of course, eliminates anything the WT prints. Their academic and literary dishonesty is well known. And no, I'm not going to list all the colleges that believe that. YOU LOOK IT UP.
The WT has changed its policy on blood many times over the years, usually, as of late, loosening the rules. If God gave certain laws to mankind, and the Bible hasn't changed, then why does the WT? They either had it right before and are wrong now, or vice versa. This only weakens your case, not helps it. Can't you see that??
There are no truly happy dead people. People are afraid to die. Why do people do all they can to live? Why do they suffer physical symptoms (I'll leave this to the reader's imagination, and you probably should know if you are medically trained as you said) when facing death? Why does the family weep at funerals if the dead person is now happy to die for God? Because, just maybe, he wasn't happy. And he didn't die for God, he died for the WT's CURRENT teaching, which will change again and again. People "seem" to be happy because they think God likes what they did and they're now "safe". That's not a healthy way to view serving God.
If you denied blood to your child, and I was a judge, I'd have her taken away from you and put in custody of the court. The WT's brainwashing tactics, as all cults do, have been responsible for enough deaths, whether due to blood, Malawi, or Nazi Germany.
Blood does not always weaken the immune system. If the person will die without it, who cares? If they refuse the blood, they won't HAVE an immune system.
Again, the WT is a CULT. YES, my opinion. We allowe you yours, I demand mine. And no "proven fact" will change that. You are sounding more like a JW with each statement. Do you live at Bethel???
TD made a good point about water. The Bible is not clear on some of its terms, especially in the NWT. If Terry knows Hebrew and/or Greek and quoted the verses correctly, then he made his point.
Why can't a person store his blood before an operation? The WT has allowed just about every part of blood to be taken, but not at one time. So I can't drink a cup of it, or have a transfusion, but I can have the parts separated and take those one by one. Do you realize how stupid that rule is? Who gave the WT the right to change God's rules?? Oh, I know. They speak for God. Well, news flash. THEY DON'T. THEY NEVER DID, THEY DON'T NOW, AND THEY NEVER WILL. If you think God would use a bunch of psychopathic lunatics and liars to represent him on earth, you need YEARS of therapy. I know you will blast me for what I've written, but I think you can see by the responses here that these people are intelligent, well-informed, and don't let JW's put one past them.
You're tired of repeating yourself? Then why come back with empty arguments after all your points were demolished with true logic, not the WT brainwashing? You hint that we are attacking the WT and not the issue. In many cases, the WT IS the issue, and the WT and its teachings are so intertwined that the two must be treated together. You seem mighty defensive, I wish you would explain why?
If a dying person is happy and "feels at ease" why do many people soil themselves and/or vomit when death is imminent? You do know that, don't you, Doctor??
Leolaia made a good point about the verse in Acts. It says to "abstain from things sacrificed to idols". Yet Paul said it was okay to eat meat sacrificed to idols and later sold in the market, but to try not to stumble your brother. Who is to say that ALL of the things in this verse could be allowed as long as no one was stumbled? And if JW's would mind their own business, they wouldn't know if a "brother" or "sister" took a transfusion. Yet many times, the elders try to steal charts and read if blood was given and if the JW patient signed for it. Again, YOU look it up. I know what my family members in the hospital saw.
I see my time is up. I didn't see Super in the last page or two. I appreciate all the good points made by everyone. Super is a troll for sure, and an amateur at that. I'm sure he's a JW, and if so, a hypocrite, because he came to an apostate site. BAD, Super, Bad boy. I'm a little sorry for the sarcasm (not too much) but I've had my fill of the WT and its insanity. I wish I was 20 years old so I could live long enough to see the end of this CULT. But being in my 50's means I may not see it. That's life. Thanks again, Terry, for a wonderful topic and your brilliant arguments. I wish we could write a book some day. My best to all.
