by Haelcer 32 Replies latest watchtower medical
this site helped me to wake up, I would have never looked at any "apostate" site, even such great ones like jwfacts, but for some reason I stumbled on AJWRB, thinking initially it is from the LiasonC, but even as I realised, it is not official, the well written arguments caught my attention and convinced me how false the whole blood doctrine really is.
After that I slowly allowed other ideas to come in and started to question and explore the freedom of the mind...
I was an active Jehovah's Witness when I first read the information on ajwrb.org. I found a reference to the site in an article in the Gainesville (FL) Sun. It was my first venture on an "apostate" website. It changed my mind completely regarding how I felt about accepting a blood transfusion. It also opened the door to exploring other websites and eventually walking away from the organization.
On the day my second son was born in 1982 (before HLCs) the head of the pediatric intensive care nursery told me as I was awakening from an emergency C-section that my baby would not live the day out if I did not let him have a blood transfusion. Well, not only did he not get a transfusion, but he lived and thrived. That experience made me a strong supporter of the Watchtower's ban on transfusions. When I read Lee Elder's letters to the Society and their dodgy replies I began to realize that transfusions of whole blood were necessary in certain instances to save a life.
I am very grateful to Lee Elder for his very informative site on blood. It is a reasonable and informative site. Glad to hear it is coming back.
Reopened Mind
Minimus, with all due respect to a long time poster / asker of questions / former JW Elder etc...;-) Your question to Lee seems a little rude (imho anyway)
You said: Lee, exactly what have you accomplished? JWs still won't take blood. No JW that I know of has changed their opinion about blood.
Isn't that just as dumb as asking Paul Grundy 'what his jwfacts.com site has accomplished? The WTS still exists?'
How is he supposed to answer that weird question?
People have obviously said it has helped them...Hasn't he done something good right there?
That was was of the 1st sites that started to open my eyes.
Thanks Lee
AJWRB was a very useful resource to deprogram the WT blood doctrine from this born in JW.
JWs sacrafice their children upon the alter of this WT doctrine. It needs more exposure then it currently gets.
Tresdecu, fair question.
When that site came out, it was heralded as the site that would change the blood doctine. Many believed that exposing the Society's view of blood would force the Society to back off from their views and or punishment for taking blood. During that time, many thought the Society was reformable.
That site did not change the Watchtower's views. They still pretty much carry on as they did before.
Did the site , does the site provide help to people? I'm sure it does, but it didn't do what many suggested it would do---change the terrible blood policy of the Witnesses.
I get what Minimus is saying, but to set out with one objective and achieve another which is still worthwhile is not a total failure.
I don't think the WT will be reformed on its' blood policy by pressure, either from outside or within. I think it will take a tragedy which hits them hard in the pocket and threatens to trigger a raft of lawsuits to make them change.
I have long believed that Hospital Liason Committees were set up NOT to ensure that JW's firmly refused blood in all its forms, but to ensure that JWs ACCEPTED blood products that they would normally have refused if they firmly and faithfully adhered to the WT interpretation on blood. All along it has been a two faced, damage limitation exercise which has saved lives as a by product of saving face and protecting the WT's image and reputation.
That said the AJWRB website opened my eyes too and was a big piece in my own journey out.
From the site:
"The Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood began with the sole mission of educating Jehovah's Witnesses regarding the many inconsistencies in the Watchtower's blood policy so that they could truly make an informed choice about their medical treatment and that goal has never changed."
AJWRB has always been an educational association which is why we received support from the medical community and were able to publish articles in medical journals:
http://jme.bmj.com/content/26/5/375.full
http://jme.bmj.com/content/26/5/299.full
I think that it would be fair to say that we have opened many eyes both inside the organization and outside. We created dialogue and shined a light upon the policy showing howing grossly inconsistent and dangerous the policy is.
By exposing the WTS public perjury at the ECHR regarding Bulgaria we may have had something to do with their ceasing formal disfellowshipping action worldwide.
By exposing the inconsistency regarding blood fractions we may have had something to do with their now allowing all blood fractions including hemoglobin.
By exposing the lack of knowledge and ignorance concerning the acceptance or availability of these products to Jehovah's Witnesses we probably had a lot to do with their decision to expand the advance directive and list what is available so that Witnesses could make more informed choices. This act in itself unilaterally caused shock waves in the JW community.
I think its probably fair to say that AJWRB has helped thousands of people to rethink their relationship with the WTS and most of those individuals have chosen to leave. That was not our intent but it has proven to be the case.
I would disagree that the WTS cannot be reformed. It seems to me that this particular policy has been in a state of nearly continual change or reform. It is not AJWRB's job to make policy for the WTS. Simply to educate about what that policy is. If history is any guide, and I am pretty confident that it is, there will be more changes to the policy. Indeed, its quite possible that eventually the policy will go the way of the vaccine and organ transplant bans of earlier times.
Lee
The difference being though that if they say 'New Light: Blood is OK' someone is gonna sue their pants off.
Please accept my appreciation and thanks for the site and your work. Don't stop
I too disagree as I believe the Wt. is not able to be reformed.
I would disagree that the WTS cannot be reformed.
...The WBT$ cannot be reformed....Ever!..
........AJWRB has Educational Value..
..........................But..
It will never change how the WBT$ is Run..
....................................................................
...OUTLAW
