New BLOOD Watchtower - June 15, 2004 Issue!

by UnDisfellowshipped 102 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  outbutnotdown

  The poor chaps!!!!!!!

  Can you imagine how nerve-racking it will be for all the JW's who will have to choose what to do?

  Doctor to mom and dad, "If you don't give your child this blood fraction, he will die."

  Elder to mom and dad, "It's up to you, but if it stumbles eighty-five year old brother Faithful and he loses his faith, then you are guilty of sinning against God!!!!!"

  Man, it sucks that they put people through that sh*t!!!!

  It is typical Governing Body tactics, though. It gives them the option of choosing to kick you out or not, without any definable guidelines. (I'm sure there are other people here who feel that they were made an example of when they were df'd because they made people think a bit too much or whatever.)

  Brad
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  researcher

  I probably am only reiterating what others have said..................but if its a conscience matter.....than what matter does it make? To state the this 'particular aspect' is wrong but this 'particular aspect' may differ among different christians is nothing but confusing to the onlooker and outsider. Bottom line is,,, blood is blood,,, the orginal intent of the law must far out weigh the modern disection of molecules and their substances. Its kind of like taking the bill of rights and the orginal constitution of the usa, and trying to apply it to circumstances of modern society that the founding fathers never intended it to be.
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  seeitallclearlynow

  Good to hear from you, researcher.
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  Wow! Thanks for all of the amazing and insightful and intelligent comments!

  jgnat said:

  Wanna start a writing campaign to Bethel, asking these Pharisees to clarify matters, please? It obviously bugs them, otherwise they wouldn't have mentioned it. Of course they can't get any clearer, Legal won't let them.

  I think that is a FANTASTIC IDEA!

  FLOOD the Watchtower Society with Blood Fraction questions!!!

  Here is the MAIN contact information for the Watchtower's Blood Department:

  Watchtower Hospital Information Services (HIS) 25 Columbus Heights New York, NY 10011 Phone: 718/ 560-4301 Fax: 718/ 560-4479 e-mail: [email protected]

  That E-Mail Address definitely DOES go to the Watchtower Society!

  Here is another one of their E-Mail Addresses you can send questions to: [email protected] which was taken from www.towerwatcher.orcon.net.nz/blood.html
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  Ozzie said:

  But surely a strong concience may also say Yes! to some things??

  Absolutely! In the Bible Paul said that it was the ones with STRONG consciences that said YES to eating the meat sold in the markets that might have been offered to an idol, and it was the WEAK ones that refused to eat the meat.
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  Bebu said:

  Someone commented on another blood thread recently--I think it was Mary's comment--that the blood in question was from a DEAD ANIMAL.

  Transfusions come from living people; there is no death (or sacrifice) involved in a blood transfusion!!... and so all their logic is absurd from the get-go.

  Absolutely!

  According to the Bible (which comes 3rd to JW's behind the Watchtower and Awake!), God only forbade Noah from eating blood from an animal that HE KILLED, in order to show respect for the LIFE he took.

  Genesis 9:3-7 (NKJV): Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it."

  Notice that God was talking to Noah about humans SHEDDING blood -- in other words, KILLING.

  (Also, since the Society claims JW's are still under Noah's Law on Blood, then why are JW's NOT under Noah's Law on having lots of children and multiplying?)

  That is why God ONLY gave the death penalty under the Law for eating blood from an animal KILLED BY HUMANS.

  God said that people could eat animals WITH blood that DIED ON THEIR OWN, but that they would simply be unclean for the day and have to bathe.

  The one Scripture about blood that the Watchtower Society almost NEVER mentions is Leviticus 11:39-40:

  Leviticus 11:39-40 (NKJV): 'And if any animal which you may eat dies, he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until evening. He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

  A Jew who ate an animal WITH BLOOD inside that died ON ITS OWN (in other words, an animal that was NOT killed by humans), simply had to clean up and bathe. That was his ONLY "punishment". It was the same "punishment" as carrying the dead animal or touching the dead animal.

  Now, let's look at Acts:

  Acts 15: 19-20 (NKJV): Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

  Acts 21: 25 (NKJV): But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided *that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality."

  Notice, what was forbidden in Acts was obviously eating blood from animals that were "strangled" (killed by humans) -- and it did not forbid eating blood from animals that died on their own.

  Conclusion: Since blood transfusions are donated by LIVING HUMANS, and since the donor DOES NOT DIE, there is NOTHING wrong with blood transfusions according to the Holy Bible!
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  Gerard said:

  Unacceptable: Whole Blood: Red Cells, White Cells, Platelets, Plasma

  Christian To Decide: Fractions from Red Cells, Fractions from White Cells, Fractions from Platelets, Fractions from Plasma.

  Translation: You can't eat a sandwitch but you can eat bread, jam, turkey & lettuce separately.

  That is a great illustration, Gerard!

  Also, here's another illustration:

  A father tells his son, "You are forbidden from taking my car". But then the father tells his son, "You can have the car IF you first dismantle the entire car and break it down into smaller pieces, EXCEPT you cannot have the gasoline -- I have reserved the gasoline for myself!"

  With that "Unacceptable / Acceptable" List, the Watchtower Society is now allowing 100% OF BLOOD if you break it down into smaller pieces and THEN take those pieces!

  The only component or fraction that seems to be completely forbidden (???) is THE WATER that is inside of blood plasma! That wicked water!
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  Quote from The Watchtower, June 15, 2004 Issue:

  Unacceptable: Whole Blood: Red Cells, White Cells, Platelets, Plasma

  Christian To Decide: Fractions from Red Cells, Fractions from White Cells, Fractions from Platelets, Fractions from Plasma.

  With that statement, the Watchtower Society is definitely NOW allowing the use of Hemoglobin and Hemoglobin products such as PolyHeme and HemoPure, -- Hemoglobin was previously forbidden in the 1990's!
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  BluesBrother said:
  

  I thought this was strange. Ist article "Rightly Value Your Gift of Life" , actually values Christs blood above his life
  P14 "Some churches emphasize Jesus death, their adherants saying such things as "jesus died for me" (Consider various translations of Eph 1.70
  P15 "Really if you had to rely on such translations you might overlook a very important point and this could limit your understanding of the Bibles message. Such renderings obscure the fact that the original text of Eph 1.7 contains a Greek word that means blood. Thus .....NWT says "We have release by ransom of the blood of that one......"
  P16 .........More was needed than a death, even the death of the perfect man jesus .

  Despite explaining that he was raised a spirit , with no blood. The article says that he presented to God the value of his lifeblood
  P18 "This divine truth allows us to grasp the wondrous scope of what the bible says about blood - why God views it the way he does, What our view of it should be and why we ought to respect the restrictions God set about the use of blood...(Some bible refs) these make it plain that each Christian should put faith in his [Jesus] blood"

  Is this not new pseudo light? I have not seen it explained that way before. .. Is it not putting the thing back to front? If blood signifies life, then why is it more important than life itself? How can you put faith in the red liquid that coursed through a mans veins, even Christ's...... Adam did not shed his blood - he lost his life, so surely it was Christs life that paid back the ransom?

  If I was still a dub , I would be so confused. And some poor so and so in every congregation has got to stand up one Sunday in July , conduct the study and pretend that it is so simple!!

  You're right -- I just now noticed that.

  The Society is saying that Jesus Christ's BLOOD was MORE IMPORTANT than Jesus Christ HIMSELF! UNBELIEVABLE STATEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Can you believe that????

  The Society is also saying that OUR blood is MORE IMPORTANT than our LIFE!

  That is not what the Bible teaches!

  Notice this Verse:

  Mark 2:27: And He [Jesus] said to them [the Pharisees], "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath"

  In the same way, BLOOD was made FOR man, NOT man for blood.

  Did Jesus die for our BLOOD or did Jesus die for our LIFE?

  The Bible says that Christians should be willing to GIVE UP THEIR LIVES for their fellow Christians, and yet, the Watchtower Society teaches that Christians must not give up their BLOOD for their fellow Christians!!!???!

  The Bible says that we are supposed to imitate Christ by giving our lives for others (1st John 3:16), so shouldn't we also imitate Christ by giving our BLOOD for others? (even though our sinful blood and our sinful lives have no saving power in God's eyes)
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  Minimus said:

  The point is if a person still could take certain blood factions from the acceptable list, it's because the blood had to be DONATED. How do they ever explain that away? Anybody know????????

  Here is the only "explanation" (which doesn't explain anything) that the Society has given for that question as far as I know:

  The Watchtower, June 15, 2000 Issue "Questions From Readers" (Reprinted in June 15, 2004 Issue):

  Some would refuse anything derived from blood (even fractions intended to provide temporary passive immunity). That is how they understand God's command to, abstain from blood.' They reason that his law to Israel required that blood removed from a creature be 'poured out on the ground.' (Deuteronomy 12:22-24) Why is that relevant? Well, to prepare gamma globulin, blood-based clotting factors, and so on, requires that blood be collected and processed. Hence, some Christians reject such products, just as they reject transfusions of whole blood or of its four primary components. Their sincere, conscientious stand should be respected.

  Other Christians decide differently. They too refuse transfusions of whole blood, red cells, white cells, platelets, or plasma. Yet, they might allow a physician to treat them with a fraction extracted from the primary components. Even here there may be differences. One Christian may accept a gamma globulin injection, but he may or may not agree to an injection containing something extracted from red or white cells. Overall, though, what might lead some Christians to conclude that they could accept blood fractions?

  "Questions From Readers" in The Watchtower of June 1, 1990, noted that plasma proteins (fractions) move from a pregnant woman's blood to the separate blood system of her fetus. Thus a mother passes immunoglobulins to her child, providing valuable immunity. Separately, as a fetus' red cells complete their normal life span, their oxygen-carrying portion is processed. Some of it becomes bilirubin, which crosses the placenta to the mother and is eliminated with her body wastes. Some Christians may conclude that since blood fractions can pass to another person in this natural setting, they could accept a blood fraction derived from blood plasma or cells.

  And also this new Quote from the June 15, 2004 Issue:

  Some have concluded that such minute fractions are, in effect, no longer blood and hence are not covered by the command 'to abstain from blood.' (Acts 15:29; 21:25; page 31, paragraph 1) That is their responsibility. The conscience of others moves them to reject everything obtained from blood (animal or human), even a tiny fraction of just one primary component.

  So, as long as the individual JW IMAGINES that the fraction is no longer blood, then it really is no longer blood! Just like the fact that if a JW IMAGINES that a blood circulating machine is still part of his body, then he can have his own blood circulated through a machine and back into his body.

  Also, The Society claims that it is WRONG to take blood fractions to "sustain life", but then they say that the reason why most JW's accept fractions is BECAUSE the fractions pass from the mother to the baby inside the womb in order to "SUSTAIN LIFE"!