Vol. 8, No. 9, 1991

Jehovah's Witnesses: Playing With People's Lives

John Whaley

In recent months the world has been horrifed by the reports of the bloodshed which took place in China's Tiananmen Square as hundreds of pro-democracy students were mercilessly killed as a result of direct orders from the Communist Party. However, the numbers of students killed in China do not come close to the number of Jehovah's Witnesses who have died as a result of the medical policies of the Watchtower's Governing Body, including the present stand on blood transfusions.

Once such case is that of a young Phoenix woman who died "...48 hours after refusing a blood transfusion that could have saved her life," (Arizona Republic, March 9, 1968).

This is not simply one isolated case, but rather is becoming an epidemic. A few years ago Leslie Kane reported, "There are 550,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in the U.S., and they are forbidden by their religion to receive human blood. A number of them died after refusing transfusions," (The Star, Feb. 12, 1980).

Since its beginning, the Watchtower Society has issued several policies regarding certain established medical treatments. In the 1930's, the Watchtower Society began attacking the issue of smallpox vaccinations. In the May 1, 1929 issue of the magazine, The Golden Age, the Watchtower stated, "Thinking people would rather have smallpox than vaccinations, because the latter sows seeds of syphilis, cancers, eczema, erysipelas, scrofula, consumption, even leprosy and many other loathsome affections. Hence the practice of vaccination is a crime, an outrage, and a delusion," (p. 502).

Several years later, Witnesses were told that vaccinations were against God's law. This was based on their interpretation of Genesis 9:4, "You shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, the blood."

As one can imagine, this policy caused quite a problem for Witnesses who needed vaccinations to enter school or to enter the country. In order to circumvent this problem, Witnesses would simply have a Jehovah's Witness doctor give them a certificate without ever having the vaccinations. In some cases, doctors would even simulate vaccinations on children by the use of acid (Witnesses of Jehovah, p. 178).

However, in 1952, the Watchtower reversed its policy by stating that, "The matter of vaccination is one for the individual that has to face it to decide for himself," (The Watchtower, Dec. 15, 1952, p. 764). Unfortunately, the change came too late for many Witnesses who had been submitted to acid burns and serious illness because of their refusal to break "God's law".

For the next several years, all was fairly quiet on the medical front for Witnesses until 1967. In that year, Witnesses were told that organ transplants were a form of cannibalism! In the November 15, 1967 Watchtower, Witnesses were told that those who submit to organ transplants were "...living off the flesh of another human. That is cannibalism... Jehovah God did not grant permission for humans to try to perpetuate their lives by cannibalistically taking into their bodies human flesh, whether chewed or in the form of whole organs or body parts taken from others." pp. 702-704.

Nevertheless, this policy, too, was soon reversed. In the March 15, 1980 issue of the Watchtower, they stated, "It may be argued, too, that organ transplants are different from cannibalism since the `donor' is not killed to supply food..., there is no Biblical command pointedly forbidding the taking in of other human tissue," (p. 31).

The article concluded by stating that it was a matter of individual conscience. Once again, "God" had changed his mind, but at what price? How many Witnesses' lives were destroyed between 1967 and 1980 because of a ruling by an autocratic body of men?

Presently, the same tragedy is happening all over again as Witnesses are constantly being admonished to refuse blood transfusions. Will the Governing Body once again reverse the policy? Will "God" once again change his mind? Probably, but only after hundreds, if not thousands, of Witnesses lose their lives.