Saturday, May 16, 2009 7:14 PM
From: "Carlos Burman"
Dear mer,
Thank you for your sincere email.
Yes,its true,blood can and has saved thousands of lives over the years...
Science and medical research has made it possible for humans to live longer and longer.
And of course,Most people,including Jehovahs witnesses are very grateful to doctors and to thier various research that is in the interests of human life.
We dont want to or do we enjoy going against doctors when we tell them that we cannot accept blood whether through a transfusion or by any other means.
However,at Genesis 9:4 God said to Noah after the flood but before the Mosaic law was even known:"Only flesh with its soul-its blood-you must not eat"
Also,when the Mosaic law was finally given, Leviticus 17:11 said to the Israelites:"For the soul of the flesh is in the blood,and i myself have put it upon the altar for you to make atonement for your souls, because it is the blood that makes atonement by the soul in it"
Jehovahs only purpose for the use of blood was to use it upon the altar...Israelites would come to the altar and burn thier various sacrifices that was required under the law....basically, because it was instituted by God himself,blood was made sacred.
Thus, blood back then was not to be used in just any way they felt like....if after giving this command to the Israelites one man went and injected himself(if syringes existed back then)with blood,would God be pleased?
Well,if he did disobey Him,Jehovah would not be pleased with him.
The same is true today, a true christian today is one that obeys Christ and follows the way he lived and who reads and applies Jehovahs word,the bible.
Thus at Acts 15:29 the apostle paul says to the first century christians:"To keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication..."
Thus, Paul wrote that abstaining from blood was as necessary in the 1st century as it was in the mosaic law...infact paul classes it as bad a sin as committing Fornication or Idolatry...
However,you might say that: "well,it doesnt specifically say not to take blood through a transfusion"
That is true,however,smoking is not mentioned in the scriptures either,neither is terrorism...but of course bible principles help us to CLEARLY see that these things are wrong and and shouldnt be practiced.
If you were at a party and someone told you that they couldnt drink alcohol because they were driving and if the police caught them they would be arrested and lose thier license....would it make a difference if you said:"it doesnt matter, i can inject the alcohol into you or i can transfuse it in to you" or even better "i can mix it into solid food so that the alcohol is not drunk through your mouth"
Would it truly make a difference HOW the alcohol went into your body?
of course not,if the police catch you,they wont care which way the alcohol went in to you..they would be looking at the fact that you have put alcohol into your body that shouldnt be there.
Acts 15:29 said:..."Keep abstaining from...Blood"
Not, "Keep abstaining from blood only if its through your mouth"
When at the start of the sentence it says "Keep.." it means,it should be continuous..
It doesnt say to stop sometime in the future after i die or when you feel like it.
We all have an opinion and we all have freedom of choice...no one can tell us what to do or what to say,however,Gods word the Bible clearly shows us that Blood was made sacred by Jehovah to both the Jews and the christians.
Jehovahs witnesses are not fanatics..we merely follow Gods word ,as God himself, intended all people to do so .
Adam and Eve had freedom of choice,yet, instead of Trusting that god was telling them the truth about the tree that they eventually ate from,they disobeyed God and all humans have had sin passed on to them as a result and they themselves ended up dying with no hope of a resurrection..what a disaster for them and a great inconvenience to God and for human life.
So while,Jehovah is not taking away our freedom of choice in many aspects of our life,he does advice us as to the best way to live which will ultimately give them the best way of life NOW and in the FUTURE.
After Jesus and all his apostles died..secular evidence shows that blood still was drunk by 1st 2nd and 3rd century christians...i could show you that later in time that others in later centuries continued to obey Gods law.
Perhaps you have heard of Tertullian, a christian who lived around about 160-230CE..he said as written in a book called "Tertullian,apologetical works":"...We do not even have the blood of animals at our meals,for these consist of ordinary food...At the trials of christians you(pagan romans) offer them sausages filled with blood. You are convinced, of course, that the very thing that which you try to make them deviate from the right way is unlawful for them.How is that,when you are confident that they will shudder at the blood of an animal,you think that they will pant eagerly for human blood?
Minucius felix who lived as a 3rd century christian said:"So much do we shrink from human blood,that we do not use the blood even of eatable animals in our food"
Both were early christians yet they didnt eat or drink blood in any form or from any source..they practiced Gods laws.
Did you know that today,Surgery without blood is becoming more and more common.
Infact many Doctors and surgeons admit that surgery without blood is much safer than with blood...they called it GOLD STANDARD surgery...and one of the main reasons why doctors do this kind of surgery is because of Jehovahs witnesses obedience to the bible command.
So while blood can save thousands of lives....thousands of lives die from misuse of the blood..including the doctors mistake of giving the wrong type of blood..blood that is no longer to be used...diseased blood etc..
Even those who live on after major operations and surgery,they only live on for a few more years,perhaps a few more decades,.....except they disobeyed God and unless they acted ignorantly may never live again.
My mum has had 14 operations in her life...half of which are major and include open heart surgery all without blood..its true she could have died..but she lived..shes fine and shes well.
The principle that guides many Christians today is one that i showed you in my last email:
"Whoever wants to save his soul will lose it;but whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it.For what benefit will it be for a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul?..." Matthew 16:25,26
We all have freedom of choice and opinion but the bible tells us that Gods law is perfect..Jehovahs witnesses like anyone wants to live ,but we much rather live forever, in a perfect world, in the future, as the Bible indicates all those who obey him will inherit .....than gain a few more years or decades in this evil world even if it means not seeing loved ones until the new world in the future or even never again.
Jehovah is God..he alone must be worshipped.
This was a long email admittedly,yet there are many other things that could be said about this subject to show there is no reason why a true christian today should not obey Gods scriptural law on blood.
Regards
Carlos
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Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 15:10:43 -0700
From:
Subject: Blood stands for life
To:
Hello good morning Br Carlos..
To have a good friend is far and foremost pleasurable for our life. I feel completely rejuvenated having chat with a couple of friends there in Kingdom Hall.
Religious freedom is more important than life itself. If Jehovah's Witnesses say no to transfusions we all have to pay deepest respect to their decision no matter what the basis of their decision might be. It is their solemn, own freedom. Freedom of faith, which is a right guaranteed by Constitutions.
So I leave it to them. And here's my thought.
As you pointed out no meat has been banned under New Testament. Likewise in my opinion, blood is now OK for humans to make the most of from every aspects as much as we can.
Let' s think about the symbolic meaning of Redemption. This idea is very unique in Christianity. Blood of humans from Adam had been made unclean by original sin, yet Jesus redeemed its sin in his death on the torture stake. So humans are now eligible to get access to eternal life if they really repent.
Blood was originally used in pagan traditions in ancient times and of course in modern times contaminated blood causes many fatal diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis.
However once it is used and applied in completely sterile states, transfusion has been saving tens of precious lives and many other blood related products such as plasma, globulin have been a key to cure for many diseases. Then all of a sudden we understand why Jesus compared wine to his blood.
Then we also agree with the claim that blood stands for life made by Jehovah's Witnesses.
Doctor prescribed immunoglobulin when I was likely to suffer from tetanus three years ago, which is made of blood.
I know my idea is over-interpretation of the meaning of Redemption, but I believe scientific truth and religious belief go with in the long run.
My wishes,
mer
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