Vol. 6, No. 9, 1989

Articles on Jehovah's Witnesses

Colleen Ralson

According to Jerry Bergman, Ph.D., in his book, Jehovah's Witnesses and Blood Transfusions, the Society's first direct condemnation of blood transfusions in Watchtower publications was in December 22, 1943, which only mentioned it in connection with immunizations (p. 14). Then in Dec. 1, 1944, the Watchtower came out strongly with prohibitions against the eating of blood or blood transfusions (Ibid. p. 14). The declarations become stronger and more specific to the Witnesses, until by 1961 they were disfellowshipped for accepting a blood transfusion (Ibid, p.17).

Their position against blood transfusions still stands today and they would prefer death before they would eat or accept a blood transfusion for themselves or for one of their children. It has been pointed out that eating blood and taking a blood transfusion involves two separate systems of the body, the cardiovascular system and the digestive system. But, to no avail, the Witness still stands firm that blood transfusion is "eating" blood.

Perhaps it should be pointed out to the Jehovah's Witnesses that a nursing mother is breaking Jehovah's commandment by allowing her baby to "eat" blood. Soon after the birth of a child, by about the second postpartum day, a substance called colostrum, a white serum, is produced by the mother for her nursing child.

"The secretion of colostrum persists for about a week, with gradual conversion to mature milk," (Williams Obstetrics, 15th Ed., p. 378).

"Antibodies" as well as "other host resistance factors, as well as immunoglobulins, have been described in human colo¬strum and milk. These include components of complement, macrophages, lymphocytes, lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, and lysozyme," (Ibid, p. 378; emphasis mine).

The Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary explains that a macrophage is a cell of the body's reticuloendothelial system, which are the wandering cells that have the power to ingest matter in the body such as bacteria. Included in this group of cells is the monocytes, which broken down further are leukocytes, which are white blood corpuscles! (pp. R25, L20).

Taber's goes on to say that a lymphocyte, is also "a white blood corpuscle... that normally number from 25-30 percent of total white cells," (Ibid, p. L44; emphasis mine).

This presents a dilemma for the faithful Jehovah's Witness. Would Jehovah create the human body in such a way that if a mother in the normal natural way, would nurse her newborn child, she would be making that baby to "eat" blood, which they believe Jehovah forbids?