{"id":2851,"date":"2017-09-04T22:56:10","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T22:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/?p=2851"},"modified":"2017-09-15T19:08:35","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T19:08:35","slug":"the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved-part-5-life-over-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved-part-5-life-over-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jehovah’s Witness Blood Issue: Resolved! Part 5: Life Over Law!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Here we are at part five of our examination of the Watchtower’s assumptions about blood. (What? You didn’t read the previous parts? Here’s a link to part one<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Even if you have accepted all of their assumptions thus far, it still doesn’t justify your withholding a blood transfusion from your children or yourself. Why? Because we have a few more important assumptions left to examine, though they’ll go relatively quick.<\/p>\n

The Watchtower assumption we’re going to look at here is that Law takes precedence over Life:<\/p>\n

We do not want to die. But if we tried to\u00a0save our present life\u00a0by breaking God’s law, we would be in danger of\u00a0losing everlasting life.
\n— What Does The Bible Really Teach\u00a0(2005) pp.130-131<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To start things off, we’re going to quote the Watchtower yet again. We caught them in a rare moment when their guard was down and they neglected to see how their words contradicted the above statement and ruled out their ban on blood transfusions:<\/p>\n

Matthew 12:1-4, NW: “At that season Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath. His disciples got hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. At seeing this the Pharisees said to him: ‘Look! your disciples are doing what it is not lawful to do on the sabbath.’ He said to them: ‘Have you not read what David did when he and the men with him got hungry? How he entered into the house of God and they ate the loaves of presentation, food it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests only?'”<\/p>\n

In these verses and in the ones following Jesus was calling attention to acts of mercy on the sabbath day, that it was perfectly legitimate to render a show of mercy to one who is in need even though it was the sabbath, and that there is, in effect, no violation of the sabbath by such course of action. He had no rebuke for David’s course.
\n—Watchtower 1952 September 15 p.575<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The account that the Watchtower cited from Matthew invokes the rabbinic principle known as pikuach nefesh<\/em>: saving life overrules God’s\u00a0law. In the above passage, the Watchtower writers agree with this principle. They acknowledge that “there is, in effect, no violation” of God’s law in the “show of mercy to one who is in need.”<\/p>\n

Now let’s imagine the figure of Jesus, just as the Watchtower has represented him above, only this time instead of being out in the\u00a0grainfields with his apostles, he is sitting at the bedside of a child who has\u00a0massive internal bleeding. The attending doctor has ordered the nurse to administer blood. Suddenly, in storms the elders from the Watchtower’s Hospital Liaison Committee, with Bibles in hand. “Stop!” they shout, “You are doing what is not lawful!” Based on the above Watchtower passage, what do you honestly suppose Jesus would say to them?<\/p>\n

The Watchtower frequently tells us that principles for right conduct can be derived from the Bible. What principle did the Watchtower derive from the Bible in the passage above? It’s obvious that the principle here is: When a law of god’s would cause someone to die, then that law should be broken.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>So, even if your Watchtower-belief has\u00a0somehow managed to survive the peeling of all the previous assumptions, and you still really believe that there is a law of god’s against blood transfusion, the above biblical principle (elucidated for us by the Watchtower, no less) throws the ban out the window and into the trash. Your “no-blood” card and\/or “advance directive” should follow (better yet: apply a lit match.)<\/p>\n

The Bible and the Watchtower have just made it clear to us that it is “perfectly legitimate to render a show of mercy to one who is in need” even though it breaks the Bible god’s law (such as not working on the Sabbath), “and that there is, in effect, no violation… by such course of action.”<\/p>\n

In other words: the biblical principle given by Jesus is one of Life over Law<\/em>. It is “perfectly legitimate” to break god’s law in order to save life.<\/p>\n

You can scratch off the Watchtower’s “Law over Life” assumption, and have a blood transfusion (in any form) if ever you should need one.<\/p>\n

Next up: Love over Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here we are at part five of our examination of the Watchtower’s assumptions about blood. (What? You didn’t read the previous parts? Here’s a link to part one.) Even if you have accepted all of their assumptions thus far, it still doesn’t justify your withholding a blood transfusion from your children or yourself. Why? Because … Continue reading “The Jehovah’s Witness Blood Issue: Resolved! Part 5: Life Over Law!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3vZ6t-JZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2791,"url":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved\/","url_meta":{"origin":2851,"position":0},"title":"The Jehovah’s Witness Blood Issue: Resolved!","author":"smmcroberts","date":"September 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a big one, folks: the gloves are coming off and we're going to dismantle the Jehovah's Witness blood doctrine, hold it up to the light, and bury it once and for all. When we are done, there will be no excuse left for a Witness to claim that\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/blood_issue_resolved2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2796,"url":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved-part-2-how-good-is-their-word\/","url_meta":{"origin":2851,"position":1},"title":"The Jehovah’s Witness Blood Issue: Resolved! Part 2: How Good is Their Word?","author":"smmcroberts","date":"September 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This is part 2 of a multi-part article. If you haven't done so yet, please read part 1 first. In part 1 we began peeling the Watchtower's onion: the many layers of assumptions that must be accepted in order to believe that blood transfusions are sinful. We saw that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved-part-2-how-good-is-their-word\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/blood_issue_resolvedPart2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2765,"url":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved-part-3-context-context-context\/","url_meta":{"origin":2851,"position":2},"title":"The Jehovah’s Witness Blood Issue: Resolved! Part 3: Context, Context, Context!","author":"smmcroberts","date":"September 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"When it comes to quoting the Bible (as is also the case with most other sources) the content is often misleading when we neglect to take into account the context. And when the Bible is quoted by the Watchtower -- an organization notorious for twisting the words of others --\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved-part-3-context-context-context\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/blood3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2856,"url":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved-part-6-love-over-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":2851,"position":3},"title":"The Jehovah’s Witness Blood Issue: Resolved! Part 6: Love over Law!","author":"smmcroberts","date":"September 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"An implied assumption of the Watchtower's ban on blood transfusions is that Law takes precedence over Love. Let's take the example of a mother whose eight year-old daughter has been hit by a car and is suffering internal bleeding. The massive loss of blood needs to be immediately replaced by\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-jehovahs-witness-blood-issue-resolved-part-6-love-over-law\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/blood-awake-1994-300x274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2365,"url":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/how-a-leech-sucked-the-lifeblood-out-of-the-watchtower\/","url_meta":{"origin":2851,"position":4},"title":"How a Leech Sucked the Lifeblood Out of the Watchtower","author":"smmcroberts","date":"April 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\"For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world\u2019s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made\u201d Romans 1:20 (NWT, 2013 ed.) In the scripture quoted above, the Bible informs us that the creator's qualities are clearly seen from the \u201cthings made\u201d (i.e. from the reality of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/how-a-leech-sucked-the-lifeblood-out-of-the-watchtower\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Watchtower destroyed by leech","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/watchtower_leech6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/watchtower_leech6.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/watchtower_leech6.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/watchtower_leech6.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":822,"url":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-watchtower-a-bloody-mother-thou-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":2851,"position":5},"title":"The Watchtower: A Bloody Mother Thou Art!","author":"smmcroberts","date":"October 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him [Moses], and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/the-watchtower-a-bloody-mother-thou-art\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Donating-Blood.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2851"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2924,"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions\/2924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smmcroberts.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}