HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE

Conclusion of  WHAT OF USING BLOOD AS MEDICINE?

"Blood in its more everyday form did not . . . go out of fashion as an ingredient in medicine and magic," reports the book Flesh and Blood. "In 1483, for example, Louis  XI  of France was dying.  'Every day he grew worse, and the medicines profited him nothing, though of a strange character; for he vehemently hoped to recover by the human blood which he took and swallowed  from certain children.' "

What of transfusing blood? Experiments with this began near the start of the 16th century.  Thomas Barthlolin (1616-80) , professor of anatomy at the University of Copenhagen, objected:  Those who drag in the use of human blood for internal remedy of diseases appear to misuse it and to sin gravely. Cannibals are condemned.  Why do we not abhor those who stain their gullet with human blood?  Similar is the receiving of alien blood from a cut vein, either through the mouth or by instruments of transfusion.  The authors of this operation are held in terror by the divine law, by which the eating of blood is prohibited.

Hence, thinking people in past centuries realized that the Biblical law applied to taking blood into the veins just as it did to taking it into the mouth. Bartholin concluded:  "Either manner of taking [blood] accords  with one and the same purpose, that by this blood a sick body be nourished or restored." 

This overview may help you to understand the nonnegotiable religious stand that Jehovah and Jehovah's Witnesses take.  They highly value life, and they seek good medical care. But they are determined not to violate God's standards, which has been consistent:  Those who respect life as a gift from the Creator do not try to sustain life by taking in blood.  Still, for years claims have been made that blood saves lives. Doctors can relate cases in which someone had acute blood loss but was transfused and then improved rapidly. So you may wonder, 'How wise or unwise is this medically?  Medical evidence is offered to support blood therapy. Thus, you owe to yourself to get the facts in order to make an informed choice about blood.   www.jw.org. 

Next time: HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE?/BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS - HOW SAFE?

From the Watchtower magazine