Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Food Knight
Someone explain to me what the perceived immorality of accepting a blood transfusion could be?
There is a verse in the old testament (in Leviticus) that says the Israelites could not eat the flesh of animals that had been strangled (not bled) because 'the soul is in the blood'. Then in the new testament (Acts), when the apostles were trying to figure out what parts of the OT still applied to christians, they concluded to stay away from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from fornication... They interpret the commands not to eat blood to mean 'do not take in blood in any way, including intravenously.'
Ironically, JWs do not believe in a soul separate from the body. They figure soul=life.
Over the decades they've change their stance on specifically what components of blood are allowed until today most of what makes up blood is allowed if taken separately. However, they will never straight-up allow transfusions because hundreds (maybe thousands?) of their members have died refusing blood transfusions and they can't say, "Oops, we were wrong about that."