Karen Knows Best

A Jehovah’s Witness Tells Karen Off…

Friday, July 25, 2008
Posted in: Uncategorized

Hey it happens.

The ticking off was in response to one of my pet peeves about Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Here’s an excerpt from the e-mail:

At Genesis 9:3, 4, God made his view on blood’s sanctity clear when He said: “Flesh with its soul—its blood—you must not eat.” Later, this directive repeats at Acts 15: 28, 29: “Keep abstaining from…blood…If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. Good health to you!”

In accord with these commands, Jehovah’s Witnesses have a sincere desire for the best medical treatment. That includes transfusion alternatives offered by more than 100,000 doctors worldwide. These alternatives, unlike transfusion, don’t carry the risk of blood born pathogens, AIDS and HIV, Hepatitis C and B, or death that results from receiving incompatible blood.

Yeah, thanks for that love. I feel much more enlightened now.

By the way, is it me, or does 100,000 doctors who offer transfusion alternatives sound like a relatively low number?

I still hate organised religion like Amy Winehouse hates make-up remover.

14 Comments »

Emmy
July 25
12:34 pm

There are transfusion options, and they are offered to people. They are most certainly NOT the best medical treatment available, particularly in the very old and very young. I’ve seen severely anemic patients refuse blood because someone tossed a Watchtower at them and told them it was the right thing to do. They all died. If someone needs blood, good health- if not prosperity- has already passed them by.

But hey…I support a person’s right to kill themselves. Make whatever medical decision you want. Now, if you choose to make that same decision for your child, we got a problem.

Tuscan Capo
July 25
3:24 pm

Its these kind of interpretations of Biblical language (which has been translated by MEN not God) that gives me a problem with organized religion. One group will point at a verse in the Bible and fanatically say it is the literal word of God, then turn right around and claim the Song of Solomon is nothing more than a comparative allusion to the relationship between Christ and the Church. Others will find absolutely no contradiction in the last words Jesus uttered on the cross while at the same time swearing Jesus taught that the consumption of wine is a sin. And I’ve yet to find any translation of the Bible that even hints that it was just a fruit flavored non-alcoholic beverage he turned into the water into.

Dee Tenorio
July 25
5:32 pm

While I at least know the reason they abstain now, lol, those quotes were about EATING. You could also say that the quote, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man gives his life for a friend.”, is an argument FOR blood donation, as blood is life.

Not that I want to get biblical on Karen’s blog, but it’s a fair response.

Tuscan–nope, I haven’t found one either. In fact, books of the bible remind us that a little wine is good for the stomach. I think many folks back off it because drinking can often lead to drinking too much and letting the flesh lead, rather than the spirit.

I’m not a fan of organized religion either. Faith in God, personal relationship with God and a personal study of the Word, that I can get behind. Doing things by rote has always struck me as having too much distance. Prayers should come from the heart, not a page in a devotional.

Dee
(who figures she’s just ticked off several folks, so apologies in advance, Karen.)

kirsten saell
July 25
7:38 pm

I don’t think I can say it any better than Emmy, Capo and Dee.

Lynne Connolly
July 25
7:38 pm

Oh dear, that got me thinking….
Fancy a story about a converted vampire, a converted vampire who is a Jehovah’s Witness?

AztecLady
July 25
8:48 pm

Perhaps you did, Dee, but many others *raising hand* are nodding while reading.

Capo, your comment reminded me of this quote:

I have no problem with God; it’s His fan clubs that irk me ~ ~ Rick Jones

Indeed.

Holly
July 25
9:05 pm

There are currently (approximately) 6 billion people in the world, so yeah, 100,000 sounds like a relatively low number.

I have a friend who recently refused a blood transfusion because – and I quote – “Ewww, I don’t want someone’s nasty blood in me!”

People are just strange, I guess.

shirley
July 25
10:19 pm

Oh dear, that got me thinking….
Fancy a story about a converted vampire, a converted vampire who is a Jehovah’s Witness?

That’d be a short one, no? “I can’t take blood not my own.” Steve ripped open his wrist, the need to feed overwhelming.

And bled to death. For good.

Not a writer, but I thought it was funny, LOL!

DebH
July 26
1:18 am

Dear Jehovah’s Witnesseses:

Here’s a simple solution. Donate your own blood. Often. Like, once every couple of weeks. There are places called “blood banks” that will be happy to take it for you and store it in attractive baggies. If you don’t need it, I’m sure someone else will appreciate your gift of clean, holy, blessed blood.

If it’s an emergency, why not ask a fellow JW to donate *their* non-diseased blood to you? Thus will you be assured of avoiding tainted AIDS-y blood. And your fellow JW gets Brownie Points for sacrifice. Everyone wins. See how often the simple solutions will elude you?

veinglory
July 26
3:11 pm

I don;t think it’s about potential contamination but ‘eating’ another person’s woo woo life force. So storing their own blood might work but not anyone else’s.

Throwmearope
July 26
8:32 pm

Nope, they can’t take their own blood either. Once it’s left the body, it cannot be returned.

My cousin is a Witness and he refused a transfusion for his 8 year old daughter who had been run over by a car. She was bleeding internally. So my dad knocked my cousin out cold and told the doctor to do what he needed to do. The daughter lived. Of course, we don’t talk to that cousin anymore.