#15 - Is Receiving a Blood Transfusion a Sin? – Part 1

Definitions:

eat vt 1: to take in through the mouth as food: ingest, chew, and swallow in turn.

ingest vt: to take in for or as if for digestion.

intravenous adj: situated, performed, or occurring within or entering by way of a vein.

transfuse vt 1a: to cause to pass from one to another: TRANSMIT…2a: to transfer (as blood) into a vein of a person or animal.

transfusion n 1: an act, process, or instance of transfusing; esp: the process of transfusing fluid into a vein or artery.

digestion n: the action, process, or power of digesting: as a: the process of making food absorbable by dissolving it and breaking it down into simpler chemical compounds that occurs in the living body chiefly through the action of enzymes secreted into the alimentary canal.

(Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1983, pp. 393, 621, 635, 1253, 354).

“It shall be a perpetual statute for your generation throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood” (Leviticus 3:17, KJV). This law, given by God, forbids the eating of blood, and of fat. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that accepting a blood transfusion is a sin worse than theft or adultery. Indeed, thieves and adulterers are more quickly forgiven by Watchtower judicial committees than individuals found guilty of taking blood. A Witness must refuse blood in all circumstances, even when this is certain to result in death. The organization also requires adults to refuse transfusions for their minor children. But, is accepting a blood transfusion really the same as ‘eating’ blood?

What exactly defines ‘eating’? According to the above definitions, eating entails a process, which begins with ingestion—or the taking in of food for digestion—into the mouth where it is then chewed, and swallowed. During and after this process, the food is digested—starting partially by the saliva and the chewing in the mouth, and then ending completely by the hydrochloric acid in the stomach. But isn’t blood a liquid, and aren’t liquids drunk? The eating of blood means the eating of flesh containing blood. This goes into the mouth as a solid, and the term ‘drink’, here, does not apply. But drinking entails the swallowing of liquid, and the drinking of blood is therefore, also, included in the above commandment.

What exactly defines ‘blood transfusion’? According to the above definitions, a blood transfusion is the process of transferring the blood of one person into the vein or artery of another person. This is done in emergency situations where a person is in need of life-saving blood to replace or replenish his body’s own blood supply. A Jehovah’s Witness will argue that receiving a blood transfusion is the same as ‘eating’ blood, because it resembles intravenous feeding. They claim it is intravenous ingestion. But is ‘ingestion’ the same as ‘eating’? Hardly. Eating involves ingestion, but ingestion does not necessarily involve eating.

So, according to the definitions given above, is receiving a blood transfusion the same as eating blood? Before this question can be answered, another must be asked: Does the process of receiving a blood transfusion follow the process of eating, as defined above? Let’s examine the facts and then ask ourselves: Does one receive a blood transfusion through the mouth? Does the blood received undergo the mouth-action called ‘chewing’? Does it then undergo the mouth-action called ‘swallowing’? Will the blood received undergo ‘digestion’? If the answer to the above questions is NO, then receiving a blood transfusion is NOT the same as eating blood. If you could stuff a drumstick into your vein, would you call that ‘eating’ chicken?

What, does the Bible say, is the penalty for eating blood? According to Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 7:24-27; 17:14-4, and Acts 15:8, God forbids the eating of blood. The punishment for eating blood was “cutting off”—excommunication—outlawed from the people. Eating blood, fat or flesh of an animal not properly killed was atoned for by washing one’s clothes and person, and remaining unclean until evening. But, is this how the Watchtower interprets the Bible?

The Watchtower contradicted the Scriptures when it first dreamed up this ban on blood transfusions. To enforce the Society member’s adherence to this ban, the Jehovah’s Witness president was quoted as saying that, in the Bible, “Deliberate violation of this law regarding the sacredness of blood meant ‘cutting off’ in death” (AID TO BIBLE UNDERSTANDING pg. 244). Is this what the Bible says? Definitely not! And there is no law in the Bible forbidding blood transfusions. Jesus said, “nothing from without a man, entering into him can defile him” (Mark 7:14, KJV). Since there is no law in the Scriptures forbidding blood transfusions, the Scriptural rule applies: “for where no law is, there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15).

According to Numbers 15:32-36, the punishment for breaking the Sabbath was death. This was a more serious crime than eating blood. But, why did Jesus work on the Sabbath? The answer is found at Matthew 12:11-12, Luke 14:5 and Luke 6:9. Jesus, the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8, Luke 6:5, KJV), permitted work on the Sabbath, which was necessary to save life. Why, then, won’t the Watchtower allow the lives of needy Jehovah’s Witnesses to be saved? This cult is, in effect, killing its own members! Therefore it is good to donate blood, and it is lawful to receive a blood transfusion, if it will save life.

The Watchtower has been a confused organization since its inception. The president of Jehovah’s Witnesses once declared, “Organ transplants are forbidden by God as they are equivalent to cannibalism” (The Watchtower, 11/15/67 & 6/8/68). This later became, “Organ transplants are not forbidden by God as they are not equivalent to cannibalism” (The Watchtower, 3/15/1980). God changed His mind. Finally, “Blood transfusion is essentially an organ transplant” (JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES AND THE QUESTION OF BLOOD, pg. 41). By their own logic, since God lifted the ban on transplants, blood transfusions are no longer forbidden by God. Unfortunately, the Watchtower contradicts its own words—and also the divinely inspired words of the Scriptures: Why does the Watchtower forbid the eating of blood (as Leviticus 3:17 states), but allows the eating of fat (as Leviticus 3:17 also states)? Christians! Don’t let Jehovah’s Witnesses fool you! Their beliefs are scripturally illogical. Believing them could kill you!