Could the allowance of blood fractions be curtailing the growth of the religion?

by Apognophos 29 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  Apognophos

  So, imagine that you're just a regular Joe who's not familiar with the Witnesses and is looking for the answers to life, the universe, and everything. You hear a knock at your door. Before long, you are studying with a Jehovah's Witness. There's lots of clear-cut answers to your questions, straight from the Bible. Sure, some teachings are a bit odd, like this "earthly/heavenly hope" business, but everything has a scripture as its basis, so the study is moving along.

  You come to the chapter in the study book that mentions blood transfusions and how they're not allowed. You're concerned about this, but your study conductor reassures you, "Certain fractions are a conscience matter, so you can at least take those if you want." You say, "Really? I can take fractions of this sacred substance, just not the major components? What are the scriptures that say a fraction of something forbidden is okay?" The Witness shrugs. "Can I at least see a list of what I can take?" The JW supplies you with a complicated list.

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  What is going through your mind at this point? Isn't just about anyone's BS Alarm liable to be going off at this point?

  In the old days, the teaching was very simple: The OT says not to eat blood, and the NT maintains the command to abstain from blood, therefore we don't take any blood into our system. If you weren't inclined to look deeper into what those verses are actually saying, this seemed quite satisfactory. "Hey, I guess these people are just following the Bible more faithfully than anyone else."

  That's not to say that there haven't always been Bible students who balked, and ultimately stopped studying, because of this teaching. But I have to think that the teaching is actually making the religion harder to take credibly now that many fractions are allowed. It's just so arbitrary that it seems insane.

  We've noticed that it's becoming nearly impossible to find anyone in the first world to convert to the religion if they weren't raised in it. I can't help but wonder if this convoluted fractions business plays any role in that. Eh, maybe not. I would imagine a bunch of other teachings are bigger stumbling blocks for most students, like no holidays, or 1914, etc. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone here has personal experience with this, if they conducted a Bible study after fractions were allowed, and discussed it with the student.
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  OneEyedJoe

  I suspect that most anyone who makes it that far in the "study" is already sufficiently indoctrinated that the relatively remote chance that they'll need a blood transfusion allows them to dismiss any questions they might have regarding the implementation of the blood ban. They've already invested so much time into the cult that their CD will prevent them from raising questions at that stage. Combined with the social pressure of having 2 JWs explaining this to you like it's the moist rational thing ever it's probably only going to raise questions of they or a family member has needed blood in the past.

  The blood ban in general I'd probably losing them recruits, but nowhere near what they're losing just by being exposed for what they are on the internet.
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  Magnum

  I don't have any experience with a particular student, but I feel as you indicated that it would have to be a major stumbling block to any intelligent one who is a logical thinker. The doctrine is illogical and just does not make sense. It's either wrong to take blood or it's not. If it's wrong, then it's also wrong take fractions of blood - fractions derived from whole blood that has been sent to some facility and processed like some kind of commercial product.

  I do know well the feelings I had when the doctrine changed to allow fractions. I just couldn't swallow it; I knew it was wrong. I thnk that change was one of the major contributing factors to my leaving JWdom. I remember arguing with several JWs about it. Their arguments were ludicrous; they were completely devoid of logic. I guess that's why they're still JWs.
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  Crazyguy

  Not celebrating holidays and birthdays are killing recruitment more effectively.
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  NAVYTOWN

  I always wondered why JWs were OK with eating meat, which contains blood. I asked an elder that question once and he said 'Well, we just try to cook the meat until it's well done'. That's when I really started questioning JW 'logic'.
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  Londo111

  "No, Brother HLC. I didn't take whole blood...I took overlapping fractions!"
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  steve2

  Nice one Londo111!
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  _Morpheus

  Is it possible...? Of course its possible And may have been a stumbling block for some, but like magnum i havnt seen or even heard of anyone stopping a study over that particular issue. Its really rather esoteric, the whole fraction thing. During a study its not emphisised greatly and the fraction thing even less. I also tend to think theres an element of emotional distance on that issue, meaning humans tend to think it will never happen to them. Its hard to discuss blood tranfusions and think it will actually happen to you personally if it never has before. I think thats true of most dubbies. They dont ever really think they will faced with the blood issue, its easy to dismiss, coupled with the hype over the alternatives that the HLC touts it turns into a moot point in the minds of witnesses.
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  Pistoff

  I doubt if any gung ho witness realizes that they could basically reassemble blood and take it, just through the use of fractions.

  No limit on what fraction, or the amount; just 'small' fractions.

  In comparison to a 200 lb man, any fraction they might use is small.
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  Apognophos

  I appreciate what OEJ and _Morpheus are saying -- I suppose most of us expect that we'll never probably need blood. I would still think that a student would be pretty wary of the whole blood teaching, though, and that's the point where I imagine that hypothetical conversation is almost inevitable. It just seems like it leads down a road to realizing that the JW you're studying with doesn't know why he believes what he does about blood and fractions, and is just following orders like a muppet.

  Last night I read over the section of the Bible Teach book that discusses blood. It was published in 2006, after the new light on fractions, but it says nothing about them. It's just a straight "abstain from blood" message. Holding back on details in order to allow room for changes in the fractions allowances, perhaps?