Jehovah's Witnesses allow blood transfusion? Refusal of blood transfusion among Jehovah's Witnesses - are there any biblical grounds? Medical ban on blood transfusion

15.12.2000
"JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES" ALLOWED BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS?

Adapted from South London Press, November 12, 1999,
"Guardian" January 20, 2000, ITAR-TASS April 17, 2000
and The Times, June 14, 2000.

Leaders of the controversial sect Jehovah's Witnesses have unexpectedly announced that their members will now be allowed blood transfusions. The "Brooklyn Elders" decided that a "witness" who agreed to a blood transfusion under the conditions of a choice between life and death will no longer be "deprived of fellowship", that is, excommunicated from the sect. This decision is the biggest internal reform announced by the sect since the "armageddon" and "end of the world" predicted for 1975 did not take place.

The current decision, taken after a secret meeting of twelve members of the World Leadership Council at the sect's Brooklyn headquarters, has been billed as a minor correction of the position. Blood transfusion is now officially on the list of "non-disfellowshipping activities."

Up to this point, for decades, Jehovah's Witnesses have hailed as heroes of the faith adults and children who died or nearly died by refusing blood transfusions, absolutely, under all circumstances, forbidden. Here are just the latest facts.

In the fall of 1999, 36-year-old Englishwoman Juliet Mulenda died after a major operation. She was transferred to the intensive care unit after her lungs stopped functioning and she needed an urgent blood transfusion. However, the young woman's relatives did not know that she was a "Jehovah's Witness" and signed a document prepared by the sect forbidding her to transfuse blood. At the same time, doctors by law could not do anything without the consent of the patient.

For the same reason, 33-year-old Beverly Matthews died in November last year. She was married, but her husband did not share her religious views. Now he will be alone to raise their young son.

In April of this year, a 21-year-old "witness" - a citizen of Georgia Liya Dzhankanidze - died in the 1st Clinical Hospital of Tbilisi. Against the background of severe thrombophlebitis, Leah developed gangrene of her left leg. For several days, doctors and members of the public persuaded the patient and her mother to agree to a transfusion, but in vain. Leah underwent surgery without the necessary medical procedure, and her life could not be saved.

This incident caused a great resonance in the republic. Guram Sharadze, a member of the Georgian parliament, said that this was not the first time that young people drawn into the Jehovah's sect refused blood transfusions, which threatened their lives. The deputy announced his intention to raise the issue of banning the activities of this sect.

The leadership of the sect has already sent letters to elders throughout the UK (there are about 130,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in this country) explaining that they should no longer excommunicate its members who agreed to a blood transfusion from the sect. Similar letters were sent to the elders of Jehovah's Witnesses around the world.

Former Jehovah's Witness, Geoffrey Anouin, responded: “Disfellowshipped Jehovah's Witnesses are declared apostates and antichrists. Their friends and relatives who remain in the sect are obliged to stop all communication with them and not even return their greetings if they happen to meet on the street.”

Anuin predicted widespread outrage over the sect's decision and added that he knew two former members who now intend to sue the sect. “I know people who have been disfellowshipped just because they questioned that very ban. They were abandoned by all their friends and acquaintances, and they had to move to another place,” he added.

Indeed, now Jehovah's Witnesses have to answer serious questions, and the first of them is: why did hundreds of people die, who believed that blood transfusion would forever block their path to salvation? Who is responsible for their deaths? How will the leaders of the sect be able to look into the eyes of the relatives and friends of the deceased victims? After all, just yesterday they assured them that blood transfusion is not possible under any circumstances and that a “criminal” who has transfused blood is deprived of communication once and for all. And for ordinary members of the sect, the current decision provides another chance to reflect on how unmistakably the "Brooklyn elders" reveal the will of God on earth. Will they use it?

This is not the first time that children pay with their lives for the religious beliefs of their parents.

zombie parents

“When an adult needs an operation and, accordingly, a blood transfusion, and he refuses to do so, we, in turn, refuse to treat him,” says Igor Yakovenko, MD, Ph.D. about. Director of the Russian Neurosurgical Institute. Polenov in St. Petersburg. - The situation with children is more difficult. In the practice of our institute, there were several cases when Jehovah's parents refused blood transfusions to their children. In one case, the child required a planned operation. The mother stated that she did not allow blood transfusions. Then the lawyer of the Jehovah's Witnesses spoke for her, he negotiated with the doctors rather harshly. We refused to treat this child.

But when a boy from the Saratov region came to us with a brain tumor and it was necessary to operate urgently, and his father was categorically against the transfusion, referring to the fact that he was a Jehovist, we went to court. Fortunately, he is nearby, in the morning we began to prepare papers, and by the evening there was already a court decision on the need for a blood transfusion. So what to do? After all, doctors in this situation are between two fires: according to the Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on health protection, the actions of doctors must have the consent of the patient or his representatives. On the other hand, there is an article in the Criminal Code on non-provision of assistance. Now we have already developed an algorithm, we know how to act - only through the court, which, thank God, makes a decision in favor of saving the child's life.

At the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, which is located near St. Petersburg, at first they did not want to talk to the AiF correspondent on this topic. “To transfuse or not to transfuse blood is a private matter for everyone,” Ya.

Sivulsky, one of the leaders of the center. - The baby had no chance of salvation - this is the opinion of the doctors. When Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions, this does not mean that they do not think about their health. They are looking for alternative treatments." “The father of that boy from Saratov was not a Jehovah's Witness,” added G. Martynov, spokesman for the center. “Despite the fact that the boy was given a blood transfusion by court order, unfortunately, he died a few days later.”

It is strange then that the father of the child in the application for refusal of the operation indicated that he belonged to the organization as the main motive, which is recorded in all documents. Perhaps he had not yet been baptized, but he was preparing for it, and the refusal of a blood transfusion to his son could become a kind of entrance ticket to Jehovah's Witnesses? As for the death in the maternity hospital - yes, indeed, according to the doctors, the child had little chance of surviving even after a blood transfusion. But the transfusion had to be done not after childbirth, but in the early stages of pregnancy, which the expectant mother knew about and refused due to religious beliefs. Then the chance to save the child was really real.

Satan's world

What kind of religion is this, that people are ready to give up their lives because of its dogmas, and parents sacrifice the most precious thing - their children? “Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) have disguised themselves in such a way that you can't figure them out at once,” says Aleksey Shvechikov, professor, director of the Interuniversity Center for Religious Studies. - There are 15 million Jehovah's Witnesses in the world, about 200,000 in Russia. In the late 80s and early 90s of the last century, for example, a small group of SI was registered in St. By 2000, there were already 15,000 of them. The Witnesses are very active in missionary work, but, as the facts show, it is based on deceit, which is hidden behind the mask of care, attention, external democracy. The SI has its own translation of the Bible. In it, they made their own accents that were beneficial to them, that is, they actually committed a forgery. They emphasize everywhere that the existing world is satanic and must be destroyed. They call themselves a Christian denomination, but they do not recognize the Holy Trinity.

Christ is not God, but only a man. What kind of Christianity is this? Besides, Christ spoke of the immortality of the soul, while they speak of the immortality of the body. For the SI, in terms of significance, their own organization becomes more important than the state and family. Strict discipline is established. They have a legal committee that controls the behavior of members of the organization. A terrible punishment is when they stop talking to a member of the community because of some misconduct. Consent to a blood transfusion is an unequivocal reason for excommunication from the community. Some people are driven to a nervous breakdown, others even to suicide. The newly arrived member is processed within six months and turned into an active, obedient parishioner. He begins to believe that only here is salvation from the hostile surrounding world. Six months later, it can be considered lost to society. In addition, with their policy, Jehovah's Witnesses isolate members of the community from other people; they are not recommended to communicate with "infidels", watch TV, or read newspapers. SI is a destructive organization. In addition, in 37 countries of the world it is banned as a totalitarian sect. The main income of the SI is from voluntary donations. But if a member of the organization does not donate anything, he will be invited to the conversation. When the congress begins, additional funds are collected from everyone, and congresses are held quite often. So, on top of everything else, it's good business for the SI community."

The activities of Jehovah's Witnesses are not officially banned in Russia. Although, for example, the prosecutor's office of the Northern District of Moscow several years ago, during an audit of the community's activities, came to the conclusion that it incites religious hatred, destroys families and inclines seriously ill people to refuse medical care for religious reasons, and liquidated it as a legal entity. This caused a stormy protest from the SI adherents, who spoke about the violation of the human right to freedom of religion. Yes, indeed, a person has the right to this freedom, but if he is dragged into religion by deceit and his psyche is controlled to such an extent that even the life of a child becomes less valuable than religion, what kind of freedom can we talk about?

Read also

Another wild death of a patient who did not allow himself to be treated for religious reasons occurred in St. Petersburg on January 19. A 22-year-old young man with a higher education refused a blood transfusion, citing the requirements of the religion preached by the Jehovah's Witnesses cult.

The Center for Combating Extremism promised to send the relevant material to the prosecutor's office and the Investigative Committee, and the editorial office received a transcript of the audio recording of the last words of the deceased.

We do not live in the Middle Ages...

22-year-old Vitaly Bodin entered the State Medical University named after I.P. Pavlov a few days ago by ambulance with a very serious diagnosis. The young man needed a blood transfusion, which he categorically refused. He provided the doctors with the “Declaration of Will and Power of Attorney for Medical Intervention”, where he indicated his own mother (also an adherent of Jehovah’s Witnesses) and the elder of the Tikhoretsk religious group of Jehovah’s Witnesses Yuri Melnikov as his representatives.

Melnikov was present almost all the time at the patient's bed and in every possible way supported his determination to refuse treatment, despite the possible lethal outcome. At the same time, the patient - a young man with a higher education - stood firm in his positions, despite, as the doctors said, the attempts to convince him made by his father and brother.

Moreover, employees of the Center for Combating Extremism of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District came to the dying man and also tried to convince him of the absurdity and danger of such behavior. But they didn't achieve anything.

The employees of Center "E" refused to communicate with the press officially. Without a voice recorder, the officer, who did not give his last name, said:
- The case is wild, and we just will not leave it. There is no clear corpus delicti in the actions of the people who convinced the young man to refuse medical care, and therefore we cannot write a report on the discovery of signs of a crime. However, we are preparing material to send it to the prosecutor's office and the Investigative Committee. Let them make a decision, let the prosecutor's office take prosecutorial response measures. Finally, let him show a legislative initiative - they have such a right. We do not live in the Middle Ages - it's time to end with such savagery ...

The police also drew attention to the personality of Yuri Melnikov, an activist of the Jehovah's Witnesses, who until the last moment supported the deceased's determination to refuse modern treatment. We were told that his actions should receive a separate legal assessment.

Don't betray God

A few hours after the death of Vitaly Bodin, a person who remained anonymous brought to the editorial office a transcript of the audio recording of the last words of the deceased. Allegedly, Vitaly was explaining his position to someone who was trying to convince him to give up his religious views in order to survive.

Here are the words of Vitaly in a somewhat literary processed version (the patient was in a very serious condition, was in intensive care):

“In 1996, my mother was baptized into Jehovah's Witnesses. In the spring of 2010, I became an unbaptized Jehovah's Witness and began to preach. Before that, I attended meetings with my mother or on my own. Thanks to the knowledge that I received while studying the Bible about God, I came to the conclusion that this is the truth, and I decided that it is necessary to live according to the principles that God requires. I know that if they give me a blood transfusion, then I will betray God and in the future I will not be able to live with this thought.

I attend the Tikhoretsk meeting. I consider Yury Melnikov my friend and brother in the church, he worries about me, so he came to the hospital. I signed the medical history for the refusal of blood transfusion to the doctors. My choice is conscious. My mother supports me, although my brother and father suffer, but I would do the same in her place.

I'm going to be baptized in the congregation by the summer of 2011.

Any Jehovah's Witness would have done the same in my place...”

Jehovist Petersburg

It remains to add that the appearance of another such case in St. Petersburg is not an accident. It is in our city that the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" successfully operates. It is located in the village of Solnechnoye in the Kurortny district of St. Petersburg and occupies a very decent territory there, which a few years ago an American citizen bought from the state - there used to be a summer kindergarten there.

Huge batches of literature propagating the views of Jehovah's Witnesses are sent to this center from different countries. According to our information, in the future, this literature from St. Petersburg is sent to various cities of Russia and even to the CIS countries.

In St. Petersburg itself, at least 6 religious groups of Jehovah's Witnesses are now working, which have a lot of adherents. After all, this denomination is distinguished by very serious missionary activity.

Dossier

In general, doctors in St. Petersburg quite often have to deal with situations when a patient requiring a major operation refuses a blood transfusion procedure, motivating this with his religious beliefs. Such patients are, as a rule, members of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization.

Doctors in such cases find themselves between two fires: they do not have the right to transfuse blood to a patient without his consent or without the consent of his legal representatives (if the patient is a minor), but criminal liability is provided for failure to provide assistance to the patient. Physicians have to apply to the courts, which, according to the established practice in St. Petersburg, decide in favor of physicians when it comes to minors, and in favor of patients when they are adults.

Simply put, the St. Petersburg courts believe that the religious views of parents should not threaten the health of their children, but if a person is an adult, then he is free to make decisions that relate to his health and life.

Relations between the state and Jehovah's Witnesses are also ambiguous. For example, this summer the European Court of Human Rights declared the dissolution of the Jehovah's Witnesses society in Moscow illegal and ordered them to pay 70,000 euros to the victims. As Ekho Moskvy reported, a lawsuit to ban the activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization was filed by the non-governmental organization Salvation Committee in 1995. In March 2004, the district court in Moscow dissolved the religious community and banned its activities. The organization was found guilty, in particular, of recruiting minors into a religious organization against their will and without parental permission. However, the court in Strasbourg considered that the dissolution decision was not based on the necessary factual basis.

Konstantin Shmelev

Dr. Peter

11 comments

I, too, am a Jehovah's Witness and defend this position. I would like to clarify that Jehovah's Witnesses do not give up life (that is, they prefer to die), they refuse whole blood transfusions in favor of blood substitutes. I was in Elizarov's clinic in Kurgan. Many Jehovah's Witnesses are operated there without the use of blood. When you fill out a document before the operation, there are two questions - whether you agree to a transfusion or not. That. to refuse blood transfusion is a personal position of each patient. In this clinic, doctors even conduct special seminars on bloodless methods of blood transfusion. If the doctors themselves offer the patient to make a choice, then why do they also sue? What's this? Disrespect for the patient's right to make his choice? Perhaps the reason is that many of our doctors do not have experience with bloodless treatments. It is no secret to anyone today that blood transfusion carries the risk of contracting many infectious diseases, and many die from complications associated specifically with whole blood transfusion. So is there something for everyone to think about? It is easy to condemn if someone does not act like everyone else, but to figure it out and understand?!

Unfortunately, not all operations can be carried out bloodlessly. But even if the doctors in some clinic do not know how to perform operations without the use of blood, this is not a reason to let the patient die!

By the way, I will say that even the most complex operations, such as operations on the heart, brain, joints, etc., can be performed without bloodshed - I mean with the help of blood substitutes. Even Russian doctors have experience in such operations, in the same Elizarov clinic. There are also methods of saving one's own blood - so that the patient loses less blood during the operation. Also, before surgery, patients can be given the drug "erythropoietin" (accelerates the production of red blood cells) - it is administered a few days before the operation, the number of red blood cells increases several times, and thus. the patient will lose fewer of his own red blood cells during the operation. In fact, in order to replenish blood loss (if the patient has lost a lot of blood), it is not necessary to do a blood transfusion, it is enough to replenish the volume of blood. To do this, they introduce the usual saline Ringer's solution or dextran, which are available in almost all modern hospitals! The advantage of plasma expanders is that when using them, it is possible to avoid the dangers associated with blood transfusion: bacterial, viral infections, post-transfusion reactions and Rh sensitization. By Refusing Blood Transfusions, Jehovah's Witnesses Enjoy Cheap, Safe, and Practical Treatments!

Ha ha ha!
It's a pity for the fool, in the 21st century a person begins to sincerely believe in God and invents prohibitions for himself. I also read the Bible and the Koran and other religious books, but I didn’t notice a spark of knowledge about the universe in them, just the life history of some people, countries, peoples, etc. It’s one thing when a person refuses the proposed treatment in favor of an alternative one, this is understandable . But when he motivates his actions with religious ideas - this is ridiculous (21st century!). By the way, this sect is very rich, why couldn't (or didn't want to?) organize another treatment, because it's not so difficult if you have money? And the mother calmly watched her son die just like that? This is not extremism, this is just human stupidity and stupidity, the position of slaves and people who are afraid to live. Any religion is a trap for potential slaves who do not want to take responsibility. let God (more precisely, his authorized representative) decide! Too bad there are so many idiots.

Here is the opinion of Jehovah's Witnesses expressed by the Head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation of the North Ossetian State Medical Academy, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Medical Sciences Vitaly Dmitrievich Slepushkin:
“I am a non-religious person, I do not adhere to any religion, but adhere to scientific facts. And the scientific facts today speak more and more about the undesirability of blood transfusion. [...] Based on my many years of practice – I have been specifically dealing with this problem since 1991 – I have not come across a single case when a blood transfusion was mandatory” (interview portal-credo.ru)
· “Jehovah's Witnesses initiated and sponsored scientific research on drugs that stimulate the formation of one's own blood” (Interview with portal-credo.ru)
· “Often critics of Jehovah's Witnesses have a very simplistic and tendentious approach to their religious views regarding medical treatment, which distorts the real picture. Jehovah's Witnesses do not practice so-called "faith healing." They seek, by exercising their patients' rights, to receive quality medical care and agree to all the many types of medical intervention ... with the exception of one thing - a transfusion of donated blood or its four main components [...] Jehovah's Witnesses do not want to go against their Bible-trained conscience, against God, relations with which are very valued. For them, the main thing is the opinion of God, not people. Therefore, they value their health and life, which they try to preserve in ways that do not violate their personal relationship with God [...] I believe that it is not the business of doctors to interfere in the purely religious sphere and the personal convictions of people. We must take them for granted and respect the personality of a person and his values, using his professional capabilities to provide qualified medical care to all categories of people who have the legal right to self-determination and choice of the type of medical treatment.

I would like to explain - why in the 21st century it is ridiculous to explain your position with reference to religious beliefs ... unless it is bad to show that you are a deeply religious person. We are all born with faith in God. Of course, before people were deeply religious, but now there are such people. If Jehovah's Witnesses did not adhere to the laws of God, in particular, the sanctity of life, they would not refer to alternative methods of blood transfusion .. - in our country they are little practiced, ..they would not care. many people, if they do not think about the fact that any blood carries the risk of infection with many infectious diseases and incompatibility with the patient's body. We exist on voluntary donations, this is an erroneous opinion that we are very rich - we support ourselves financially - by working like all people .. We want safe treatment, because we value life, and these are just alternative methods of treatment!

I am not Jehovah's witness. My family is Orthodox, though with its own traditions, which have always been honored both in the Soviet period and in the German occupation. Leave the guy alone. He died, so he considered it necessary. He is not a psycho and an adult. I myself am disabled. childhood and our doctors so many times imposed a treatment that after many years is already considered harmful. Doctors are not gods and it is a human right to listen to them or not. They also want to remove my uterus from September. And in our family it is impossible to disobey a husband. And I pray, I'm being treated in tib. technique and homeop. Fibroids disappeared from 14 weeks to 6. Confirmed in different places. Surgeons do not understand anything, they do not believe their eyes. Their problems. The more I live, the more I am convinced that it is wrong for doctors to give less power. What happened to the guy is a disaster, but this is just an excuse for this committee to announce the ability to force ordinary people to obey the will of doctors. There are not so many literate among them. Trusting them is more terrible than giving the body the opportunity to launch internal resistance mechanisms. I had a blood transfusion after the operation, and then I caught an infection. Of course they do, but it would be better if I sat on saline for a little longer. Our doctors are not responsible for much, so it's better to give a chance to the strength of the spirit. And the committee will, of course, protect its corrupt protégés among doctors. Estimate, if they don’t go to the doctors for treatment, where is the money for them to grab. And it’s better to pay a Tibetan lama than a young doctor with a diploma after 1992. Everything was sold at that time and their diplomas, by the way, are not recognized abroad. Up to 91 they recognize, and later re-protection is required. So several doctors left me for the states and Germany. I don’t want to trust our doctors and that’s it. And it is unconstitutional to deprive us of the rights to our opinion. I think this death is a reason to fight Jehovah. They are standing across the road to the military registration and enlistment offices. Slaves are not allowed to be stamped. They are servants of God, and the military wants to make everyone the slaves of corrupt officials. Reason turned up..

To say that someone died because they refused a blood transfusion is at least not competent. People die due to complications caused by illness or injury. Or due to the fact that doctors hesitated to choose an alternative treatment. A doctor who does not use whole blood or blood components is truly an experienced professional in his field. And the doctor who stubbornly insists on his method of treatment is limited and ignorant.
The author of the article is incompetent

After a caesarean section, a transfusion was performed, although the loss was insignificant - as a result, hepatitis C, a friend of mine after an abortion, is infected with hepatitis C, in February I am going to have an operation again, and I have a firm attitude to refuse transfusion. At the hepatitis forum, I talked with people who, after a transfusion, in addition to hepatitis C, found both syphilis and HIV .... so I consider myself happy ..... and last year my cousin Lenochka died, two children remained ( no dad) from transient hepatitis C (((((((...she was only 43 years old......

I agree that blood transfusions are dangerous, especially in this day and age when there is no good oversight of the blood entering the bank. But to say that this is a Biblical basis and by this we betray God, I do not agree. The Bible refers to the BLOOD of animals taken as FOOD. There is NO TRANSFUSION, there is NO human blood. Similarly, if SPs refuse blood transfusions, they must also refuse to use many medications, including vaccinations.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, a law was given that forbade the eating of the blood of any living creature, because through the gastrointestinal tract, the blood that is eaten still enters and mixes with your own blood. In the Greek Scriptures, Christians of the first century were also commanded to "abstain from blood," which means the prohibition of the use of blood both for food and for intravenous transfusion. As for the refusal of vaccinations - this is already too much. If Biblical principles and laws are not violated when choosing a treatment, then a Jehovah's Witness is free to choose the methods of his own treatment.

We do not consider it possible for ourselves to think that "a few grams of blood from EVERY body inside" is not immoral, just like "a few moments of fornication" is not immoral (roughly, of course, but clearly).

But this is our personal opinion.

Another interesting point in favor of the ban on the use of the blood of EVERY body:

In the Law of Moses, there is another option for using blood (more precisely, the meat of an unbleeded animal):

Tue.14:21: Do not eat any carrion; to a foreigner who [happens] in your dwellings, give her, let him eat her or sell it to him, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God.

The question arises: if, according to Genesis 9:3, 4, the law on the inadmissibility of eating blood applies to all people, then why is there such an indulgence in the Mosaic law for "foreigners"?

In Sat ( 2004 15.09. With. 26 Notable Thoughts from the Book of Deuteronomy) verses from Deut. 14:21 were explained by the fact that foreigners were not under the Mosaic law and could use such meat "for various purposes", gently hinting that they could not eat such meat, but use it for clothing, feeding dogs, etc. Although the text of Scripture says exactly that a foreigner LET EAT such meat, and not only use it for clothes, etc. - for “various purposes”.

However, the question remains: why then SUCH a difference in the requirements for people? A foreigner from the time of the Mosaic law could not know the prohibition on carrion: Noah was not given any instructions about carrion (an animal that was not bled bloodless). FOR THE PEOPLE ONLY, Jehovah has been explained in detail how to handle the blood of EVERY BODY. Therefore, permission to eat carrion is for one who has nothing not knows about God's requirements - emphasizes the IMPORTANCE of the requirements TO OBSERVE THE PROHIBITION on the use of blood inside ONLY FOR JEHOVAH'S PEOPLE, enlightened in this regard in all details. From that person who is not part of His people - and the demand is small. And Christians will be asked for it.

That is why to justify the use of blood from EVERY BODY - inside for the sake of saving life in this age - we think it is the same as to justify any other lawlessness for the sake of saving life in this age (murder and theft). Especially sincethe use of blood in the treatmentthere is an alternative: bloodless medicine.
At the present time in America, for example, civil and military medicine is advocating exclusively for the bloodless method of treating patients, having come to the conclusion that it has an indisputable advantage precisely because of the refusal to transfuse the blood of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Perhaps the only thing we do not agree with in the teachings of the OSB about blood is with problems with fractions, molecules and elements of blood and the deprivation of communication of those who nevertheless decide to use blood-based drugs or transfuse blood. Why? Based on four points:

1) God ordered to bleed the animal as much as it was POSSIBLE in principle, given that blood in the form of myoglobin and residues in the muscles still inevitably remains, and it is no less in the thickness of the meat than in honey. preparations. In an ampoule of actovegin, we think, there is much less residual blood of an animal than in a cutlet, for example, or a liver pate.

The technology of exsanguination of the largest blood vessels of animals, which has existed since the time of the VZ, allows, without fanaticism, to free the carcass of an animal from blood BASIC, and everything beyond that - the blood that is in a bound state in the muscles in the form of, say, myoglobin - does not count , it is called meat and is part of it.

So, the blood of the main channel is the BASIS of the life of the animal and symbolizes ITS LIFE. In a suffocated animal or carrion, blood does not flow out of the bed - it coagulates due to a lack of oxygen, and therefore such an animal could not be eaten. (We don’t talk about the dangers of blood, although it is actually harmful in terms of food due to the mass of pathogenic microorganisms that cause many diseases). The meat of an animal that has been bled according to technology somehow contains traces of blood, but nevertheless, Jehovah's people have always eaten such meat.

2) The presence of the principle: everything sold at the auction,(except for outright blood, of course) eat WITHOUT any research– 1 Cor. who is unknown). Paul did not advise fanaticism to sort out what was sold at the auction, otherwise the risk of starving to death is great: a fanatical conscience will always find something to cling to.

3) As you know, such a blood fraction as leukocytes is found in large quantities in the milk of a nursing woman, there are even more leukocytes than in the corresponding amount of blood. In the blood, there are from 4,000 to 11,000 leukocytes per cubic millimeter, while in the mother's milk in the first months of feeding there can be up to 50,000 leukocytes per cubic millimeter. This is 5-12 times more than in the same volume of blood ( directory data)

It turns out that an infant consumes human blood fractions in the form of leukocytes, but this type of feeding is provided for by God, and nowhere is a ban on breastfeeding with milk containing blood fractions found in Scripture.

It turns out that the issue of the use of blood fractions is also not sufficiently studied in order to have Biblical grounds for prohibiting their use for treatment.

4) The Bible records only the attitude towards the use of ANIMAL blood FOR FOOD. Based on this, one can only come to the conclusion that it is impossible to transfuse the blood of animals, but, as it seems to us, even modern medicine will not think of this before. Eat the blood of animals, even in the form of honey. a drug like "Hematogen" - would also be wrong from the point of view of this passage of Scripture - Acts. 15:28.

With the ban on eating human blood - as if there are no problems. There remains only one question about the use of human blood for medical purposes. But there are no direct prohibitions on this, although, as it seems to us, it is foolish to even think that they could be. It IS ENOUGH that God showed the principle “ soul ALL BODY - in blood» -Lev.17:14. AND " refrain from blood". So there is no difference between whether the body of an animal or a person is used to extract blood from it - from any blood you have to refrain and that's it.

But since there are still NO DIRECT instructions about the prohibition of human blood transfusion - the conscience of those who are faced with the question of life or death - can still admit that in the absence of such - there is a small loophole for allowing an attempt to save a life through a blood transfusion, especially if remember also the Biblical example of an extreme situation with unpunished consumption of blood - 1 Sam. 14:32-34.

However, even in this example, we do not have the right to ALLOW planning a blood transfusion for extreme situations, for this is called GIVING A SETTING and PLANNING a violation of God's prohibition on blood. It’s one thing when you know for sure that you can’t transfuse blood, but you couldn’t withstand the pressure and transfused it, and it’s completely different if you have a plan in your head to save a dying person through a blood transfusion.

In connection with these reflections, we believe that it is immoral to deprive those who DO NOT PLAN to transfuse blood and LEARNED CORRECTLY, but in an extreme situation cannot withstand the severity of a possible loss, decide to transfuse blood to save their lives.

What method to solve the problem of saving lives in a critical situation - each Christian decides ACCORDING TO HIS CONSCIENCE. And for decisions of conscience, one cannot deprive oneself of fellowship.

But be that as it may - TO TEACH that God allows blood transfusions on the basis that Jesus gave 5 liters of blood for his brothers, and we, therefore, do not need to spare our two hundred milliliters - WRONG, not according to the Bible, and there is apostasy from God's principles regarding the blood of EVERY body.

It is not uncommon for Jehovah's Witnesses to die from needing a blood transfusion, but they refuse. Why is this happening? After all, it depends on whether a person lives or not. To understand this, you need to know the history and worldview of Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Jehovah's Witnesses movement was founded in 1884 by US citizen Charles Taze Russell. He was a preacher in the Christian church until he rejected most of its teachings.

At first, Jehovah's Witnesses called themselves the "Watch Tower Society" and broadcast a direct understanding of the Bible through Russell's "Studying the Scriptures" manual. The ban on blood transfusion was first introduced in 1944.

Why can't Jehovah's Witnesses receive blood transfusions?

According to the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, blood is holy, because it contains the human soul. Therefore, Jehovah's Witnesses renounce any consumption of blood and its components.

Changing opinions on blood transfusion.

Views on blood transfusion and organ transplantation have changed over time. Sometimes it was considered a matter of conscience, sometimes it was encouraged, sometimes it was considered a grave crime. There is always a lot of criticism around this.

Someone supports Jehovah's Witnesses, and someone, on the contrary, condemns. Thus, in 1999, A. Zilber created the book Blood Loss and Blood Transfusion in support of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Principles and methods of bloodless surgery. It describes various methods of treating Jehovah's Witnesses for blood loss, and also talks about other methods of treatment.

But Professor V. Moroz and Doctor of Medical Sciences Yevgeny Zhiburt oppose A. Zilber. They say that nothing can replace blood, and sometimes a person cannot recover without blood and blood transfusions.

Doctors have sued Jehovah's Witnesses many times. They demanded permission to transfuse patients' blood. After all, what doctor can calmly respond to the patient's words: "I am a Jehovah's Witness, I refuse to save my life and agree to death"?

Doctors can't just stand by and watch their patient die when they can be saved with a simple blood transfusion. There are cases when a blood transfusion to a child whose parents are Jehovah's Witnesses is performed on the basis of a court order.

Despite the fact that refusal of blood often leads a Jehovah's Witness to irreversible death, a person still does not agree to a blood transfusion. For them, this is a grave sin, and daring is preferable to them than living with a grave sin.