I went through my 10 year stay in the truth not knowing a whole lot about any of the teachings i realize. i knew of them, knew the rules cause i read them all the time in the KM,WT,awake....but i couldn't explain most of my beliefs with the bible. i entered the faith at 13 years old, on my own and guess what at 13 years old with no parents pressuring me i really didn't like studying. it didn't mean i didn't care. i did care. to the point that i trusted the brothers 100%.
When i was 18 i decided to go to thailand to volunteer. i had been baptized for a year and still hadn't filled out all the paperwork for the NO BLOOD position. when the elders found a few days before i left they called me into an emergency meeting to figure out the whole affair before i leave.
i sat with 2 of them for how long exactly i don't know but not long enough to take the type of decision i took in the end.
I knew beforehand we weren't allowed to take blood.don't have a transfusion, don't eat blood sausages, etc etc. jehovah said so in the bible.i could find more or less the verse that said that. And I believed it totally.
the topic of blood makes me very sick and i almost faint each time i have to give blood for analysis.so i was very uncomfortable during the convo and wanted to get it over with.
They went through the papers with me and talked about the other forms of treatment available like replacing the volume with a solution and that most witnesses agree with this type of treatment and i said yes i would agree to have that. then they talked about giving my own blood and taking it back later so it was a transfusion of my own blood but that a lot of witnesses didn't like it because sometimes the blood was mishandled, it could be spilled on the floor etc. and a lot of witnesses don't like it---so i don't like it either. Then they talked about that machine where your blood passes through it so it's like an extension of your body,...then the blood fractions.....HAAAAAAAAAAAA!
i needed to go to thailand a few days for the next 3 months by myself, i was 18, i hated blood. i never knew about ALL the different possibilities for treatment....and i knew nothing about these blood fractions AND TOLD THEM THAT, they had to explain it to me during that meeting. I didn't think i would ever need a blood transfusion and in such big matters my reasoning was: to use conscience is to bend the rules and ultimately DISOBEY. That thought process must have taken 1.5 seconds since I was so brainwashed so i just said i don't want any fragments of blood my conscience doesn't allow me.
And they said ok we understand and that was that. i took those papers in my suitcase and god knows what would have happened to me if i had gotten hurt in a foreign country by myself, with a non witness mom accross the globe, and paper saying i entrusted 2 NO BLOOD advocates to speak for my health if i couldn't do so for myself.....that made me think i'll have to ask her if she knew i carried that around. and that she may have had to put up a fight to save me.
anyways long story.
my point is:
1) those elders had no right asking me to take such a decision with such a weak knowledge of the subject and on such short notice.
2)18 years old makes you an adult in the real world but i was very much the 'spiritual orphan child' of the congregation.even though i was 18 when i officially signed those papers, i knew from when i was much younger that i wouldn' t take blood not because i had reasoned but because i had BLIND FAITH.
3) more should be done by the authorities to protect children from these cults especially when life-threatening issues are involved.(i was only 13 when i took the 'truth')and to make parents aware of the dangers . my mom thought it was a great thing...but not for long. After i got disfellowshipped she told me she could see i was brainwashed but thought it wiser to just stand by and wait because she knew she could lose me if she opposed me. scary isn't it?
blood card
by 4digitcode 13 Replies latest watchtower medical
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4digitcode
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Metamorphosis
I'm still fading but i threw my blood card out of my wallet a year and a half ago.
Glad you didn't have to face the consequences of those decisions. It really is a convoluted mess as far as their reasonings on the subject go - what is and isn't allowed.
Morph
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Ex Nihilo
I don't think they should have allowed you to feel pressured over such an issue. I can see if you had asked agbout it, but not randomly like that.
Personally I won't take blood, not because of a witness family, but because my family has several nurses that are non witnesses, and have had surgery insisting on no blood.
I honestly can't say what I would do if I was dying... I think getting blood from an unknown source is kind of gross, and although I don't mind samples being drawn, I ahve severe phobias of things going into me through needles.
I have my card still to hide behind if I am temporarily out so they can ask me, but when admitted into hospital, I don't say anything until it comes up. -
Witness 007
"Exnihilo" your in a bad position! A friend of mine was at a party when a drunk stabbed him in the stomach. His bowel was exposed and he lost a tonne of blood in the 15 minutes it took to get to hospital. He was very weak and turning white, It took 11 BAGS OF BLOOD TO KEEP HIM ALIVE! He was flown by helicopter to a specialist hospital, was in intensive care for a while but is now happy to be alive to attend another party. SURGERY IS ONE THING...EMERGENCY IS ANOTHER. YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE AN EMERGENCY LIKE THIS IF YOU HAVE A BLOOD CARD! Car accident, violence, fall off a cliff you never know, don't give up your life for nothing.
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Ex Nihilo
You know...that is a good point. I think I will take that out of my wallet right now. Surgery I can decide....in an emergency I would prefer an alternative, but I wouldn't know how to express that.
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sweetstuff
I can relate to this subject. When I was delivering my second child, I was still a witness, barely, but my mother who was a JW was there for the delivery and boy, she brought that up as soon as we landed at the hospital, NO BLOOD, make you you write that in! So, I did, never thinking it would be an issue, my first childbirth was long, but no issues with it. Well, my second childbirth was pretty different, I lost alot of blood, I could have died on the table, easily, luckily I didn't. I think back to what a moronic decision I made, to let anyone pressure me into signing something I thought was bogus anyway. The blood card should be the go directly to death, do not pass go, card. In any emergency it's vital to accept blood if you have lost pints of it! At least you were very young and had little knowledge of what you were doing, I was in my mid twenties and fully aware it was bogus.
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Gopher
I was raised a JW, and their blood teaching has been the hardest one to shake. It's taken awhile to feel even a little bit comfortable with the idea that it's okay to allow the doctors to use their best judgment, and if necessary, transfuse blood.
I realize that blood can be viewed as an organ, and other organ transplants pose no problem at all for me. And the main teaching about blood being sacred in the Bible has to do with religious and not medical issues. If there is a God who imparts life and expects us to maintain it well, that would definitely include accepting the very best treatment that current medicine has to offer. Sometimes there is NO SUBSTITUTE for a transfusion due to the sheer volume lost.
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R.F.
The blood issue most certainly is a touchy subject. It scared me to death when my mom had a very high risk surgery where bleeding was of their biggest concern. The surgeon said he really wished she wasn't a JW.
When it comes to the blood card, I actually NEVER carried one on me. I guess I never really believed it as much as I thought I did.
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carla
Do jw's today carry the card themselves or do the elders keep a copy? In the case with a ubm? Obviously I would object to the no blood rule.
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Gopher
Carla,
JW's are always supposed to carry this card on their person, just in case of "emergency" where they cannot speak for themselves.