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NT church have been studied. Mosaic morality must be seen through the morality of the antitype.
The Christian recognises the Reality has been found in the death and resurrection of his "Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:11). For the Christian, there is no hope without the forgiveness
obtained through the atoning worth of the blood -- the death -- of Jesus.
As Leviticus 17 shows, the over-riding concern of Moses is to preserve the sacral significance of
blood, where its appointed role is to atone for sinful lives. Just as every Christian belief emanates
from and is based upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, so for the Jewish system. The
Tabernacle was central and it, in turn, depended upon the meaning of the sacrificial substitute, whose
blood was splashed upon the altar.
In a blood transfusion there is no relevance to atonement. Jesus Christ has fully and totally satisfied
the divine command -- it cannot be added to. In a blood transfusion there is no death involved nor is
one required. Indeed, the intent of a transfusion is to preserve life.
As with Noah, Moses' regulations concerning the handling of blood refer to animal blood. Animal
life was permitted to be taken. The context is of the permission to take life. In fact, the consumer had
to ensure the flesh was absolutely lifeless.
The Mosaic regulations referring to animal blood cannot be extended to the medical process of
treating human life. None of the regulations concerning the proper disposal of animal blood (which
indicated death had occurred) bears upon human life, either at the time of Moses or today. Those
laws pertain to the permission, even command, to take life -- animal life -- with the enjoinder that
human life was inviolate.
Moses' attitudes to human life pertain to its preservation (Note 'Thou shalt not kill' of Exodus 20) and
are supported by the modern medical process. Blood Transfusions maintain the moral principle of the
integrity of human life.
The principle of preserving human life through the transferring of substances from one person to
another is not condemned by the WTS. It permits the transplanting of bodily parts (Watchtower
March 15, 1980, page 31; Awake! June 22, 1982, page 26). The WTS draws the line at blood but its
reasoning is faulty since the Law of Moses at Genesis, Leviticus and Deuteronomy is speaking of
animal blood, of the permission to kill, of a symbol of death, of the atoning worth of the blood, and of
a system completely supplanted by the person Jesus Christ.
4. Whether Blood Transfusions Fall Within the Ambit of "Eating"
In its QB and BM (Blood, Medicine and the Law of God) booklets, the WTS clearly puts its position
that the Mosaic dietary rules have no bearing upon Christians, and that a transfusion is a form of
"eating" of blood:
"After Jesus died, true worshipers were no longer obliged to keep the
Mosaic law. Dietary restrictions of the Law, such as those against eating of
fat or the flesh of certain animals, were no longer binding." (QB page 10)
"Nothing is there stated that would justify making a distinction between
taking blood into the mouth and taking it into the blood vessels. And,
really, is there in principle any basic difference?" (QB pages 17-18; see also
BM page 14, Awake! January 22, 1958)
Hence the WTS has to differentiate between the Mosaic dietary rules on the eating of foods and the
rules on the eating of blood, even when the two are being considered in the same context, effectively
the same breath (Leviticus 7:25,26).
©1987 Doug Mason 25 doug_mason1940@yahoo.com.au
3: A Moral Principle
A TRANSFUSION IS DIFFERENT FROM EATING
"Transfusion" and "Eating" are biologically different processes. The Mosaic prohibition refers to the
eating of blood but physiologically the infusion of material into the bloodstream invokes a completely
different system.
"(In eating,) the food is . . entirely broken up and converted into a form in
which it can be absorbed into the body . . . The process is entirely
destructive as regards the food itself. The useful parts of the food are
converted ... This process is called metabolism.
"On the other hand the process of blood transfusion consists of the
introduction into the circulation of an additional quantity of ready-formed
blood. The transfused blood mixes with that of the patient and supplements
it, without being in any way altered itself." (God. Blood and Society A.D.
Farr, page 70)
"(Transfusion) is, in effect, a sort of tissue graft." (op. cit., page 72)
The WTS reasons [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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