Hobo Joe :
A root problem is this: they say blood is sacred, but the Bible teaches that life is sacred. Blood is sacred only in that it figuratively represents a life lost. This is seen in the account of Noah being given permission to kill and eat animals. The death of an animal is represented by the blood poured out at its death. God added that if a man’s blood is shed—meaning he dies—that blood symbolically represents his life, and the law required that it be avenged. However, in the case of a man being struck or beaten, a great deal of blood could be lost, yet that blood did not represent his life. No avenging was required, only compensation for injuries. That blood was not “sacred” because it did not represent a life lost.
Consider Jesus as an example. If he was beaten, flogged, and bloodied but survived, the blood he lost would not atone; it would not be sacred. It is only because his blood represents his life—when he died—that it is sacred. Therefore, blood as a bodily fluid is not sacred in itself; it is simply blood.
Medical advances have revealed the life-saving properties of blood. Donated blood cannot be considered sacred, since the donor does not die to provide it. It does not represent a life lost; it is simply a bodily fluid with qualities that can save lives. Life is sacred. The Governing Body has failed to understand this simple principle and has thus created a rule that causes sacred lives to be lost—the very opposite of the principle of the sacredness of life.
The context of the command to “abstain” from blood is also important. First, it refers specifically to animal blood. Second, it is preceded by the principle that they wished to add “no further burden” to the Christians. That context does not allow for a rule that later becomes the most burdensome command imaginable—one that can require a person to die. The entire theme of the Bible is the eradication of death, the last enemy, a work of Satan. Yet we are expected to believe that God established a law that uses death—the very enemy—as part of obeying it.
2026-03-27 22:16:35