Have you noticed that the latest copy of the Organization book (In the section dealing with questions for baptismal candidates) contains no question related to blood transfusions, unlike the previous edition ? If the entire matter of blood transfusions was all of a sudden made a matter of individual conscience, what do you think would be the result?
What if the reason for this change was that the original thinking on the matter was shown to be in error &/or full of inconsistencies?
Or what if the reason was that the GB decided that anything not specifically banned in the scriptures would now be a matter of conscience including blood transfusions, smoking, and other such things. (some such things could still result in being "marked" but not shunned - 2 Thess 3:13,14). This decision being based on the thought that the current GB did not want to be accountable for going beyond what is written or for making rules that ONLY Christ as the head of the congregation can do? - Heb 13:17 PLEASE ANSWER ONLY IF YOU ARE A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS. I for one, will place my faith in the resurrection, and will honor the sanctity of ALL blood as being God's right to decide it's use. The nations around the nation of Israel drank human blood, and so did those in the first century, so to keep abstaining from blood did not have to be distinguished, it applied to all blood.
Again it comes down to our faith in Jehovah's promises. Nothing lost now cannot be restored by Jehovah.
Trying to twist things to justify a faithless course of action is wrong.
In the end no matter who you try to convince that you are right in questioning the G.B., and even if some should follow your faithless course, it is Jehovah that we ALL answer to. There is NO doubt that he is using an organization here on earth to accomplish the preaching work assigned by Jesus. Further there is NO other organization that displays the unity we have worldwide. All your questions are designed to do is to try to divide that unity in part. You may have some success, but NEVER as a whole will Jehovah's organization be divided.
As a young mother, who was at the time, disfellowshipped, I rejected a blood transfusion when I needed an emergency C-Section. Even though I did not have the congregation to back me up, Jehovah did. So again, it is our faith in Jehovah and our willingness to obey his earthly organization, flaws and all, as we are all imperfect, that is the real issue. Look at us, as imperfect as we are, we serve in unity worldwide. That is not man's doing, that is following Jehovah.
Too bad you lost sight of that.
EDIT: By faithless acts I am not implying that you would take any form of blood, rather your faithless act is questioning Jehovah's capability of directing us here on earth through his organization. Do you cut Jehovah's hand short because of doubting the organization he IS using?
Look at the nation of Israel. They repeatedly disobeyed, openly defied and challenged Jehovah. Yet the promised seed still came through Abraham's line of descent. Even faithful Moses who lead the Israelites did at times do things to accomodate the people. In Matthew 19:8 is Jesus speaking of just such an accomodation. Ultimately, Jehovah took the necessary steps to correct that nation. Those that accepted that correction, recieved the blessings that were set aside for them, those that rejected that correction were themselves rejected. If serving Jehovah is really what you are most concerned with, then follow the organization he is using and stop referring to them as something apart from Jehovah.
David did not overstep King Saul, even when it was clear that Saul was no longer serving Jehovah's interests. Because Saul was annointed by Jehovah, David left it Jehovah's very capable hands to correct matters. Should we do any less? Discipline is not punishment. Jehovah only disciplines those whom he loves as a son. What's more Jehovah reads the heart. You know all of this, and still you act faithlessly by speculating the intentions or justness of the organization Jehovah is using. I was disfellowshipped in what was in my mind, unfairly, but I remained loyal, accepted the discipline and later understood why that action was necessary. Even if a man should be unfair, or even wrong all together, if Jehovah is allowing it, the test may be for our benefit. Again there is nothing that gets by Jehovah, and cannot be, in HIS due time corrected. But if we allow ourselves to set aside the principles or laws because we challenge the authority of those appointed by Jehovah, we lose out.
Again I say look at what the entire association of brothers is doing worldwide, could it be without Jehovah's backing? You are in serious need of drawing closer to the congregation, and staying away from those that speculate.
What is even more faithless is you would try to engage those of us, that are loyal into such speculation as well, not to mention our young ones. Keep your doubts to yourself, and do some praying and meditating looking at things from Jehovah's point of view.
By being here you are sure to draw the apostates who will encourage you to continue down this slippery slope. Is that REALLY what you want, someone to agree with you? I hope my dear brother /sister that you can continue to look at the whole picture. Use the wide angle lens even as our latest Watchtower study reminded us that Jehovah does. The beauty of this, is we are imperfect and Jehoavh accomplishes his purpose with us despite that fact. Agape' Tirshatha Report It
hey, I have an idea...instead of pestering people about morality, how about we use fear and coercion to get them to donate blood?
I.E., if you donate blood you get moved to the top of the list for blood & organs, and if you don't donate blood you'll have to wait longer. I'm not. But I have studied them enough to know that they keep changing their minds on things, claiming "new revelations" from God. Like when the world was going to end in 1975. Didn't happen, so they changed their tune. Claimed they never said it in the first place. "What if" questions can only get speculative answers, even from JWs. My speculative answer is that more JW mothers will survive critically difficult deliveries. I am a JW and yes it is a matter of conicence in certian areas sutch as bone marrow and splices from certain blood cells I know what the scriptures say and my conscience still wouldn't let me "partake" if it was a matter of choice. My loyalty is to Jehovah and after 36 yrs. of nursing I know some dirty little secrets in medicine. Even non witnesses are refusing blood and opting for the ever popular bloodless surgery. Some in the Medical field are getting smarter. What you want is a religion that speaks to your desires and wants and leaves God outside. Many churches out there like that all you have to do is show up on a Sunday and join. Your choice. I personally choose to follow the Bibles standards. What would happen?
People would follow their Bible-trained consciences as we do in the cases that are conscience matters today.
What if fornication became a matter of conscience?
Would we run out to buy the Pill and condoms?
You say "When Acts said abstain from things strangled what did it mean? It obviously meant eating things that were strangled because they were killed by stragulation by man for food and thus not plead. Why are we to take Abstain from blood as meaning any more than "eating" blood from a slaughtered animal that was not properly bled?"
Vot's kindly advice to you is to go "back to the books" and do some research into those verses.
That "rationalising" is like walking on thin ice, my friend..... It always has been a matter of conscience. Whether we want to obey the "abstaining from blood" as part of the necessary things for Christians (Acts 15:20, 28-29) or not is a matter of whether we choose to have a good conscience with Jehovah. We are always free to go either way.
It is also Jehovah's choice whether to remember you as faithful or not, allowing you into life under His Kingdom or not.
Today is much harder than in ancient times as we now divide things up into components of blood. Back then, they as we do today, understand eating meat means we will eat some of the blood still in there. It is not possible to remove every blood cell. It was only necessary to drain off most of the blood as able. So too with today's components of the blood.
True Christians today would still not take in blood by eating or transfusions with a good conscience. How far done the component trail one goes until they do have a good conscience with Jehovah is up to the individual.
The rules in compliance with Hebrews 13:17 was already made by the GB of Jerusalem in Acts 15:20, 28-29. |
