1961_Blood, Medicine and the Law of God (Krew, medycyna a prawo Boże).docx

LIFE is a most precious possession and one that is worth vigorous efforts to safeguard it. In its endeavors to alleviate the suffering of humankind and extend life, medical science has introduced numerous treatments for use when health and life are endangered. Prominent among these is blood transfusion. The prevalence of this type of therapy makes it a matter on which all persons, both doctors and those who seek their help, ought to be informed. Does the medical profession endorse the routine administration of blood by doctors? Should patients request blood when under a doctor's care? Are there dangers to the health and life of those who receive such transfusions? Is it safe to donate one's blood? Does the medical profession consider the administration of blood or blood fractions indispensable in cases of hemorrhage due to accident or surgery? Most important, what does the law of God as recorded in the Holy Bible have to say about the use of blood? In the case of an individual who conscientiously rejects the use of blood in any form because of his religious faith, is it compatible with accepted medical practice for a doctor to refrain from administering it? These are questions to which you should know the answers and which you will find thoroughly discussed on the following pages.

 — THE PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT, 1961
WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA
PUBLISHERS
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
International Bible Students Association
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
 

Made in the United States of America

BLOOD, MEDICINE AND
THE LAW OF GOD

MEDICAL practice in this twentieth century has forced the issue of blood transfusion before the public. In every part of the world every day blood transfusions are administered. It has been reported that the number of blood transfusions given has increased tenfold in the last decade, over fiftyfold since 1938. According to the president of the American Association of Blood Banks, in the United States alone there are five million blood transfusions in a year.1 *

Reports of severe reactions, disease and even death as a result of the transfusion of blood call for a careful appraisal of the wisdom of this treatment. And the stand taken by nearly a million sincere Christians throughout the world, that blood transfusion violates the law of God and for that reason must be rejected by them, has made it necessary for doctors to give thoughtful consideration to other methods of treatment. It is an issue on which all persons ought to be informed.

GOD'S LAW ON BLOOD

The most important consideration from the standpoint of the Christian is, of course, the law of God. What does it say about blood? Does it permit medical use of blood to sustain life or not?

* Source material indicated by the reference numbers (1 to 89) is all listed on pages 59 to 62.

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Divine regulation of the handling of blood dates back to God's pronouncement to Noah immediately after the global flood, over 4,300 years ago. There, for the first time, God granted permission for man to add meat to his diet, saying: "Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for you. As in the case of green vegetation, I do give it all to you. Only flesh with its soul — its blood — you must not eat." (Genesis 9:3, 4) Before this the question had not been raised. Man ate only the soulless fruits and vegetables. But now when meat was given to man as food, the Creator specifically forbade any eating of blood.

When the nation of Israel was brought into covenant relationship with Jehovah God, he again emphasized the restriction on blood. "It is a statute to time indefinite for your generations, in all your dwelling places: You must not eat any fat or any blood at all." (Leviticus 3:17) Absolutely no blood, regardless of the source, animal or human, was to be taken into the body as food. Instructions on how to handle animals that were to be used for food were specific: "As for any man of the sons of Israel or some alien resident who is residing as an alien in your midst who in hunting catches a wild beast or a fowl that may be eaten, he must in that case pour its blood out and cover it with dust. For the soul of every sort of flesh is its blood by the soul in it. Consequently I said to the sons of Israel: 'You must not eat the blood of any sort of flesh, because the soul of every sort of flesh is its blood.'" (Leviticus 17:13,14) It was not to be eaten; it was not to be stored. The soul — the life — was in the blood; it belonged to God, and he commanded that it be poured out upon the ground. Not just once, but over and over again this commandment was stated. "Simply be firmly resolved not to eat the blood, because the blood is the soul and you must not eat the soul with the flesh. You must not eat

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it. You should pour it out upon the ground as water. You must not eat it, in order that it may go well with you and your sons after you, because you will do what is right in Jehovah's eyes." — Deuteronomy 12:23-25.

The matter was not to be taken lightly. Any violation of the law on blood was a serious sin against God, and God himself would call the law violator to account. "As for any man of the house of Israel or some alien resident who is residing as an alien in your midst who eats any sort of blood, I shall certainly set my face against the soul that is eating the blood, and I shall indeed cut him off from among his people." — Leviticus 17:10.

Even in time of stress it was recognized that there was no justification for setting aside the divine law concerning abstinence from blood. This came to light on one occasion when the Israelites under King Saul were fighting against the Philistines. It had been a hard fight and the men were exhausted. "And the people began darting greedily at the spoil and taking sheep and cattle and calves and slaughtering them on the earth, and the people fell to eating along with the blood." This was no trivial matter, to be passed over because of the physical condition of the men. It was reported to Saul: "Look! The people are sinning against Jehovah by eating along with the blood." (1 Samuel 14:32,33) It was not merely a dietary indiscretion; it was a sin against God, and immediate steps were taken to put an end to it.
How much more this restriction would have application in the case of human blood! This is well illustrated in an incident that occurred during the reign of King David when the Philistines still had a garrison in Bethlehem near Jerusalem. "David showed his craving and said: 'O that I might have a drink of the water from the cistern of Bethlehem, which is at the gate!' At that the

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three forced their way into the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the cistern of Bethlehem, which is at the gate, and came carrying and bringing it to David." What they brought was nothing more than water, but they did it at the risk of their lives, and David knew it. "And David did not consent to drink it, but poured it out to Jehovah. And he went on to say: 'It is unthinkable on my part, as regards my God, to do this! Is it the blood of these men that I should drink at the risk of their souls? For it was at the risk of their souls that they brought it.' And he did not consent to drink it." (1 Chronicles 11:16-19; 2 Samuel 23: 15-17) David had respect for the law of God, and he wanted to avoid doing anything that even resembled violation of that law. He was a man after God's own heart. The course that he took has been recorded for our guidance.

APPLICATION TO CHRISTIANS

When the law covenant ended, being superseded by the new covenant made over the blood of Jesus Christ, did the restrictions on the use of blood pass away too? No, because this law did not originate with the law covenant; it was only repeated and emphasized there. Of interest in this connection is the observation made in Benson's Commentary, Volume I, which says: "It ought to be observed, that this prohibition of eating blood, given to Noah and all his posterity, and repeated to the Israelites, in a most solemn manner, under the Mosaic dispensation, has never been revoked, but, on the contrary, has been confirmed under the New Testament, Acts xv.; and thereby made of perpetual obligation."2 And Dr. Franz Delitzsch, noted Bible commentator, in agreement with this, says that this is not a requirement of the Jewish law to be abolished with it; it is binding on all races of men and was never revoked; there must be a sacred

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reverence for that principle of life flowing in the blood.3

The prohibition of the consumption of blood was no mere dietary law of the Jews. It is applicable to all mankind, all of whom are the descendants of Noah. In harmony with this and underscoring the importance of the matter, just sixteen years after Jesus established the Christian congregation the visible governing body made up of the apostles and other mature Christian men at Jerusalem focused the attention of all Christians on their obligation in connection with the matter, saying: "For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you, except these necessary things, to keep yourselves free from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper." — Acts 15:28, 29.

This cannot properly be viewed as a decree of merely temporary concern, designed to avoid stumbling first-century Jewish converts, as some have speculated. The decision was made as a result of the guidance of God's holy spirit, his active force, and, far from being a mandate that could later be dispensed with, it was clearly stated that these were "necessary things." Note the wording of the decision as it touches on the matter of blood. Its scope is not limited as to time, nor is it restricted to animal blood or to the taking of blood into the body through the mouth. The terminology is all-inclusive: "Keep yourselves free . . . from blood."

Since it was forbidden to take the blood of another creature into one's own body, it would necessarily follow that it would be wrong to give; blood to be infused into the body of another person. This is implied in the greatest commandment of the Law, which says: "You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with

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your whole soul and with your whole mind." (Matthew 22:37) And what is involved in loving God with our whole soul? Remember that in his post-Flood statement of the law to Noah, God equated the soul with the blood, saying: "Only flesh with its soul — its blood — you must not eat." (Genesis 9:3, 4) Later he restated the principle to the Israelites: "The blood is the soul." (Deuteronomy 12:23) We cannot drain from our body part of that blood, which represents our life, and still love God with our whole soul, because we have taken away part of 'our soul — our blood — ' and given it to someone else. Nor would it be sound to argue that loving one's neighbor as oneself would warrant such giving of blood to another person. Love of neighbor is the second commandment and is limited by the first one, which requires complete love of God, consequently obedience to his commandments.  —l John 5:3.

Jehovah God, who is lovingly obeyed by his worshipers, has authorized only one arrangement among his Christian witnesses by which the blood of one creature may be used on behalf of another to save life, and that is by means of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ. "By means of him we have the release by ransom through the blood of that one, yes, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his undeserved kindness." (Ephesians 1:7) The blood of Jesus was poured out on behalf of mankind, not by way of transfusion, which could have been administered to a few persons at most, but by means of sacrifice, and its benefits are available to all from among mankind who exercise faith in that divine provision. Wisely, worshipers of the true God, knowing that the blood represents life, avoid using their blood or that of any other creature for any purpose that has not been authorized by the Life-giver.

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OBEDIENCE OF EARLY CHRISTIANS

By their obedience to God's law requiring abstinence from blood early Christians stood out in contrast to the world around them. It is reported that ancient Egyptian princes bathed in human blood for rejuvenation. Other men would greedily devour flesh that had been freshly slashed from a living animal, considering it a delicacy because it was still quivering with life and dripping with blood. Treaties were made by some peoples by cutting their arms and presenting the gashes to each other to draw out some of the blood by mouth. Spectators at the Roman gladiatorial contests would even rush into the arena to suck the blood from the vanquished gladiators, supposing that they might thereby acquire the strength of the dying man.4 What a contrast to the Christian respect for the sanctity of life!

So well known was it that the Christians would not consume blood that one's consenting to eat even a little bit of blood sausage was taken as evidence that he was not a Christian or that he had renounced the faith. It is reported that "during the persecutions the pagans tested the Christians by leaving them only the choice of suffocated meats and blood-sausage."5

At one time, in a propaganda move to make the public abhor the Christians, the Romans charged that these followers of Jesus Christ slew their own children and drank their blood at their secret meetings. But Tertullian, writing in their defense, showed how ridiculous the charge was, arguing that the prohibition of animal blood from their diet obviously precluded the much more gross wrong of consuming human blood. And he produced evidence to show that the Romans were well aware of this Christian stand. "Let your error blush before the Christians, for we do not include even animals' blood in our natural diet," he said. "We abstain on

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that account from things strangled or that die of themselves, that we may not in any way be polluted by blood, even if it is buried in the meat. Finally, when you are testing Christians, you offer them sausages full of blood; you are thoroughly well aware, of course, that among them it is forbidden; but you want to make them transgress."6 But faithful Christians would not transgress, even if doing so would mean release from a punishment of death.

Although there was a drifting away from the true faith after the death of the apostles, it is reported that "in the Christian Church the custom of refraining from things strangled and from blood continued for a long time."7 Even in the year 692, a religious council in Troullos (in Constantinople) prohibited any food made of blood. It decreed: "We suitably rebuke those, who in some way prepare a meal with the use of the blood of any animal and they thus eat it in order to satisfy the gluttonous belly. If, therefore, anyone will henceforth attempt to eat the blood of any animal in whatsoever way, he will, if a priest, be unfrocked and excommunicated if a layman."8

VIOLATIONS OF GOD'S LAW

Christians in this twentieth century are faced with both local and national practices involving the use of blood that are not at all unlike those prevalent in the days of the apostles. In some places in Africa natives tap the jugular vein of cattle to drink the blood. In many places men wait in line to drink the hot blood of animals killed in the slaughterhouses. Blood puddings and blood sausages are sold under various names almost everywhere. Blood is commonly used in some Oriental countries in soups and gravies, and it may be prepared and sold as candy or used in other dishes that are considered to be great delicacies. These misuses of blood are

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obvious violations of God's law on blood, and Christians avoid them.
However, refraining from eating blood by itself and from deliberately mixing it in foods being cooked at home is not the extent of the prohibition imposed by God. Animals that are used as food must be properly bled. This rules out the eating of any animal that has been smothered or found dead in a trap or an animal that did not have its throat slit to allow proper bleeding after being shot. The custom in many places of killing chickens by strangulation, breaking the neck but not cutting it, also renders these unfit for consumption by Christians. If one learns that his butcher does not properly bleed the animals sold for food, he wisely finds another place to do business or even refrains from eating those meats if nothing properly bled is available. Likewise, a conscientious person refrains from eating chicken or other meat in restaurants in places where he knows that little or no attention is given to the matter of proper bleeding. Under these circumstances, if a Christian wants to have meat in his diet he may buy a live animal or fowl and do the killing himself.

Disrespect for God's law forbidding consumption of blood has become so prevalent in the world that whole blood, blood plasma and blood fractions are used in numerous products that are in common use. Some meat-packing houses put whole blood or blood plasma into their wieners, bologna and other cold-meat loaves. In certain localities bakers use powdered blood plasma in pastry as a substitute for eggs. Numerous tonics and tablets sold at drugstores contain such blood fractions as hemoglobin. So it is necessary for one to be on the alert, to make reasonable inquiry at places where he buys meat and to read the labels on packaged products. As the old world becomes more careless in its attitude toward the law of God it is vital for the Chris-

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tian to become ever more watchful if he is to keep himself "without spot from the world." — James 1:27.

MEDICAL USE OF BLOOD

Over the centuries man's use of blood has taken different forms. Even as it was used by Egyptian princes in efforts at rejuvenation, so in 1492, it is reported, the blood of three young men was used in an unsuccessful endeavor to revive Pope Innocent VIII. But not until after William Harvey's research into the circulation of the blood, in 1616, was there any extensive effort made to transfuse the blood of one living creature into the veins of another. ,In an early attempt at blood transfusion lamb's blood was used, with apparently good results, but later when a patient died as a result of such treatment, the physician was tried for murder. Though there was further experimentation in the field, in the latter half of the nineteenth century the use of salt solution in the treatment of shock and hemorrhage proved itself much safer and virtually replaced the transfusion of blood.9

Research by Austrian-born pathologist Karl Landsteiner at the turn of the century again shifted the tide of interest in blood transfusion when he discovered that there are certain factors that cause the red cells of the blood to clump together when mixed with blood of another type, and he declared that with regard to this agglutinating reaction there are three blood types. A few years later clinical methods were developed for typing and matching blood in order to avoid incompatibility reactions. Bolstered by the emergency of World Wars I and II and the Korean war, blood transfusion became established as standard medical treatment.

In the endeavor to understand the human body and maintain health, man has learned much about

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the composition and purpose of the human blood. It is known that the blood includes plasma, which is the fluid part and which carries in solution various other substances, and that there are suspended in the plasma red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes), and blood platelets (thrombocytes). The plasma, which is about 91 percent water, makes up about 55 percent of the blood volume; it contains various plasma proteins, such as albumin, globulin and fibrinogen, in addition to other organic and inorganic substances. The plasma plays a vital role in carrying food and water to the body cells to sustain life. The red cells, which contain hemoglobin, are the oxygen carriers, and without them all life processes in the body would rapidly end. It is said that these red cells, numbering approximately thirty million million in an average adult man and with a life span of about 100 to 120 days, are worn out and replaced at the rate of ten thousand million an hour. White cells are not as numerous as the red cells, but they carry on warfare against disease and infection in the body. The platelets occupy a key role in blood coagulation, stopping bleeding by plugging up unwanted openings in the vascular system. Thus even a very brief resume of the functions of the blood spotlights the fact that our life processes are dependent upon blood.

With the progress of medical research, methods have been developed by which the blood could be separated into its component parts. Doctors can use plasma instead of whole blood. Red cells can be used apart from the plasma, and the plasma proteins can be separated for specialized treatment.

GOD'S LAW AND BLOOD TRANSFUSION

Is God's law violated by these medical procedures that involve the use of blood? Is it wrong to sustain life by administering a transfusion of blood or

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plasma or red cells or others of the component parts of the blood? Yes! The law God gave to Noah made it unlawful for anyone to eat blood, that is, to use it for nourishment or to sustain life. Since this is wrong in the case of animal blood, it is even more reprehensible in the case of human blood. The prohibition includes "any blood at all." (Leviticus 3:17) It has no bearing on the matter that the blood is not introduced to the body through the mouth but through the veins. Nor does the argument that it cannot be classed with intravenous feeding because its use in the body is different carry weight. The fact is that it provides nourishment to the body to sustain life.
Of interest in this connection is the statement found in the book Hemorrhage and Transfusion, by George W. Crile, A.M., M.D., who quotes a letter from Denys, French physician and pioneer in the field of blood transfusion. It says: "In performing transfusion it is nothing else than nourishing by a shorter road than ordinary — that is to say, placing in the veins blood all made in place of taking food which only turns to blood after several changes."

In view of the constant developments in the field of medical research, new treatments involving the use of blood and its component parts are constantly coming to the fore. But regardless of the method used to infuse it into the body and regardless of whether it is whole blood or a blood substance that is involved, God's law remains the same. If it is blood and it is being used to nourish or to sustain life the divine law clearly applies.
Mature Christians who are confronted with a decision to make as to the acceptability of medical therapy that involves the use of blood are not going to take the viewpoint that since technique has changed the law no longer applies. They are not going to feel that if they have some of their own blood stored for transfusion, it is going to be more

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acceptable than the blood of another person. They know that God required that shed blood be poured out on the ground. Nor are they going to feel that a slight infraction, such as momentary storage of blood in a syringe when it is drawn from one part of the body for injection into another part, is somehow less objectionable than storing it for a longer period of time. They are not trying to see how close they can walk to the line withou...