Did the Watchtower Society ban Vaccinations and Organ Transplants?

by Vanderhoven7 27 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Vanderhoven7

  An avid WTS supporter writes:

  RE: VACCINATIONS: Vaccinations have never been banned. . If they were, then no representative of the WTS would have been allowed to travel overseas when vaccines were compulsory Around 1920 when vaccines was regularly in the news, there was both positive and negative information printed in the Golden Age (forerunner of the Awake) but NOT from the staff writers, but from out side sources of article by medical doctors at the time and others that responded to those articles.

  RE: ORGAN TRANSPLANTS: Organ transplants were never forbidden by the Society. Like vaccinations, organ transplants have always been up to the individual.

  
  

  Is he right or wrong?
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  Sea Breeze

  Organ transplants were never forbidden by the Society.

  They were not allowed when I was a kid.
  
  
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  Disillusioned JW

  I think (based upon my recollections of quotes of WT literature) that initially WT literature said that organ translates were fine, that later for a short period of time the WT condemned them (and I think they banned them), but that even later once again they did not ban them.
  
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  Bartolomeo

  g72 7/8 pp. 27-28 “Keep Abstaining from . . . Blood”

  And here again, it might be noted, that the stand of the Christian witnesses of Jehovah​—that such transplants are in effect a form of cannibalism—​proved a safeguard.
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  slimboyfat

  There were certainly strong statements in the Watchtower against organ transplants, but I don’t know any concrete statement that it was a disfellowshipping offence. I’ve also been looking out for examples for over 20 years and I have not yet come across a story of a JW who died for refusing an organ transplant because of the Watchtower’s opposition to transplants. If anybody knows of any it would be useful to share details, including a source, if possible.

  I suspect that they changed their stance on organ transplants early enough so that they had changed their position by the time that organ transplants had become commonplace. It’s worth bearing in mind that other religious groups were also skeptical about the ethics of transplants when it was a new medical treatment.

  Having said all that, I do know a JW who refused a heart transplant in the 1990s who probably died earlier than he otherwise would have because of that decision. His reasoning was that he didn’t believe it was possible to get a heart transplant without blood because the heart is full of blood. So for him, and it was his own reasoning, not anyone else, refusing blood necessitated also refusing a heart transplant in particular.
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  Anony Mous

  All organ transplants involve transplanting blood as well, blood itself is also considered an organ.

  Transplants:

  https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/quotes/transplants.php

  Vaccinations:

  https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/medical.php#vaccinations

  The pictures are hilarious.
• 

  Sea Breeze

  This member posted that their father died because of the WT organ transplant policy (ban) here:

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/166438/organ-transplants-cannibalism?page=2

  Another needless death is reported here:

  The subject of a transplant came up, and my parents searched the Watchtower publications to see what the society had to say, finding that it was not permissible. So, he did not have a transplant. He was on dialysis for several years, but it was not enough. He died in 1978, and two years later the society changed their policy, to make it a matter of conscience in 1980.

  
  

  Name: Arvid Einar Moody – Born: Aug 1910 – Died: May 1978 in Cambridge Mass. To view the death certificate, click here.

  I believe Dad was baptized in 1929, and I have a picture of his baptism…in fact lots of family pictures of Witness activities including, assemblies, sound cars, etc…as well as the portable phonograph and Rutherford records…also a very large number of books going back to the turn of the century.

  Dad was an elder in the Hyde Park Congregation on River St. in Hyde Park, MA. Dad designed the hall. He was the sound servant for our circuit, and most district assemblies in our area. He was well-known in the area, and fairly well-known at
• 

  TD

  Is he right or wrong?

  He is not completely correct, but not blatantly wrong either.

  Serum immunizations (i.e. Post-exposure vaccines) were formally allowed in 1958 and the Watchtower article openly admitted that blood-based vaccines had been placed in the same category as blood transfusions in the past.
  

  "Ban" is too strong a word, as transfusion was not yet a "disfellowshipping" offense, but it would be dishonest to pretend that the JW parent organization did not explicitly teach against such "misuse of blood."

  Our starry-eyed apologist could be shown multiple statements in the mid 50's stating that anything derived from blood is forbidden regardless of whether it was administered as an injection or transfusion.
  

  The situation with organ transplantation is similar. To my knowledge, there were not formal sanctions for non-compliance, but again, it is dishonest to pretend that the JW's did not teach against them.

  That transfusion was "essentially an organ transplant" and therefore a form of cannibalism was actually one of the JW arguments against transfusion at one point. Bartolomeo above has provided a quote, but there are others.
  
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  Earnest

  slimboyfat : There were certainly strong statements in the Watchtower against organ transplants, but I don’t know any concrete statement that it was a disfellowshipping offence.

  There was no concrete statement that accepting an organ transplant was a disfellowshipping offence. But The Watchtower, 15 November 1967, p.702 did state :

  Those who submit to [organ transplants] are thus living off the flesh of another human. That is cannibalistic. However, in allowing man to eat animal flesh Jehovah God did not grant permission for humans to try to perpetuate their lives by cannibalistically taking into their bodies human flesh, whether chewed or in the form of whole organs or body parts taken from others.

  That was sufficient for most Witnesses to believe that human organ transplants were contrary to God's will until 1980 when it was made clear it is a matter of conscience.
  
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  Biahi

  My mom (born in 1936) was not vaccinated, and got whooping cough, measles, etc. due to not being vaccinated. Also, expelled from school at least once over this issue. I was a little kid in the 1960’s, organ transplants were a no-no then. 🤷‍♀️😏