SINCE A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS (hereafter: JW) who refuses blood bases his or her decision on trust in the wisdom and divine leadership of the Watch Tower Society (hereafter: WTS), it will be instructive to look at the record of the WTS in dealing with medical questions.
The current application of certain Bible texts, notably Acts 15:28,29, to support a blood prohibition for Christians was not shared by its founder, Charles Taze Russell. In a commentary about the apostolic council of Acts 15, Russell said:
"He [James] further suggested writing to them merely that they abstain from pollutions of idols (verse 29), and from things strangled and from blood – as by eating such things they might become stumbling blocks to their Jewish brethren (See 1. Cor. 8:4-13) – and from fornication" (Zion’s Watch Tower, Nov. 15, 1892, p. 1473 reprints)
So even though blood transfusions were not yet in use, Russell was clear that he does not even consider the dietary law on blood binding for Christians. We will return to this later.
After Russell’s death the Society gradually changed its view. The Watchtower of Dec. 15, 1927, page 371, hinted strongly that the "blood prohibition" in Genesis 9:4 applies to all men. Nevertheless, as long as only dietary law was being considered, this was not a controversial question.
A development beginning in the late 1920s became far more important in establishing the later blood prohibition than any Bible text.
Quack Medicine
LIKE MANY OTHER CHILDREN of the 19th century, Russell was extremely fascinated with science, technology and development. This fascination led to some ideas that were embarrassing in hindsight (like pyramidology), but his approach to popular "science" was mostly positive. Russell was above all an optimist. The disappointments following the failed predictions of a peaceful new world in 1914 were probably the reason this optimism would fade from Watchtower teaching.
The leadership under "Judge" Joseph Rutherford, who became President after Russell’s death in 1916, was also fascinated with technology and science. But if Russell had some strange ideas, Rutherford went over the hill and far away. Even more so did Clayton J. Woodworth, co-author of the infamous seventh volume of Studies in the Scriptures, "The Finished Mystery" (1917). In 1919 he became editor of a magazine called "The Golden Age," which is now known as Awake!
It is a generous description of Woodworth to call him a crackpot.
The Golden Age became a forum for the most extravagant claims about science. And above all, Woodworth was a champion of his very special ideas about medicine and health. The Bible Students could enjoy a steady stream of health advice, one stranger than the other:
"There is no food that is right food for the morning meal. At breakfast is no time to break a fast. Keep up the daily fast until the noon hour... Drink plenty of water two hours after each meal; drink none just before eating; and a small quantity if any at meal time. Good buttermilk is a health drink at meal times and in between. Do not take a bath until two hours after eating a meal, nor closer than one hour before eating. Drink a full glass of water both before and after the bath." (Golden Age, Sept. 9, 1925, pp. 784-785)
"The earlier in the forenoon you take the sun bath, the greater will be the beneficial effect, because you get more of the ultra-violet rays, which are healing" (Golden Age, Sept. 13, 1933, p. 777)
One major point in all the propaganda was the idea that aluminium cookware was the source for all sorts of horrible diseases. Jehovah’s Witnesses would therefore be very sceptical towards eating out, and might often blame a food poisoning on the cooking vessel instead of the food. You can find quite a few letters from readers in this period telling how wonderful it was that their child had been healed from various diseases by heeding the warnings in The Golden Age against aluminium cookware.
Another, much more serious delusion was the idea that the medical doctors were the agents of Satan.
"We do well to bear in mind that among the drugs, serums, vaccines, surgical operations, etc., of the medical profession, there is nothing of value save an occasional surgical procedure. . . . Readers of The Golden Age know the unpleasant truth about the clergy; they should also know the truth about the medical profession, which sprang from the same demon worshipping shamans (doctor priests) as did the ‘doctors of divinity.’" (Golden Age, Aug. 5, 1931 pp. 727-728)
It follows naturally that with this position, the Watchtower Society was serious about denying the "germ theory of disease" as a dangerous delusion from these "demon worshipping" medical doctors. Disease, they claimed, came from "wrong vibrations," and the WTS even marketed a special machine called the Electronic Radio Biola, which claimed to heal patients by sending special "radio waves" which corrected the vibrations. Needless to say, there were many letters from readers who had been healed by this device. The Golden Age carried advertisements for this wonderful machine, created by a Bible Student:
"Disease is Wrong Vibration. From what has thus far been said, it will be apparent to all that any disease is simply an ‘out of tune’ condition of some part of the organism. In other words the affected part or the body ‘vibrates’ higher or lower than normal. . . . I have named this new discovery . . . the Electronic Radio Biola, . . . The Biola automatically diagnoses and treats diseases by the use of electronic vibrations. The diagnosis is 100 percent correct, rendering better service in this respect than the most experienced diagnostician, and without any attending cost." (Advert in The Golden Age, April 22, 1925, pp. 453-454).
Even more astonishing than the quack science involved was the direct link to occult practices in this machine. The claim that the medical profession had descended from "demon worshipping shamans" becomes quite ironic when we see how this Radio Biola worked: The patient was told to write his or her name on a piece of paper. A tiny piece, only a dot, of this paper with ink was put into the machine. The machine (or rather, the operator) then somehow answered "yes" and "no" to questions about the patient’s health, reading the "electronic oscillations" of the patient’s organs based on this dot of ink. It was not limited to diagnosis; the machine had even been employed to answer questions about people’s life expectancy.
If the reader thinks this sounds like a fancy Ouija Board, he is quite correct. One Roy Goodrich, who was such a respected "Bible Student" that he was allowed to write a warning-article in The Golden Age, was convinced this machine was a clever spiritistic trap. The WTS leadership disagreed, and Mr. Goodrich found himself disfellowshipped (see The Golden AgeApril 22, 1925 pp 606-7; March 5, 1930 pp 355-62).
As we see above, the Watchtower Society argued that illness was caused by electrical "unbalance" in organs (which could be fixed: "Send for a Biola today. Price $35. Cash with order."). The idea that germs caused disease was not accepted in these quarters:
"medicine originated in demonology and spent its time until the last century and a half trying to exorcise demons. During the past half century it has tried to exorcise germs." (Golden Age, Aug. 5, 1931, p. 728)
The magazine further warned the Jehovah’s Witnesses against x-rays (Sept. 23, 1936, p. 828), and even though it didn’t consequently deny the benefit of all surgery, tonsillectomy was worse than suicide:
"If any overzealous doctor condemns your tonsils go and commit suicide with a case-knife. It’s cheaper and less painful." (Golden Age, April 7, 1926, p. 438)
How could anyone today even consider accepting medical advice from these people? At this point, it would be interesting to examine the source and origins of the present blood prohibition from the same Watchtower Society.
Vaccination – ‘a crime against humanity’
ONE OF C. J. WOODWORTH'S MAJOR PET PEEVES came out in his ongoing tirade against vaccinations. During the centuries great plagues and illnesses have taken hundreds of millions of victims, sometimes even devastated civilisations. Now, humanity was on the verge of a new age, when plagues as old as mankind were about to be extinguished. The tool was compulsory vaccination programmes. Especially smallpox, one of the most deadly diseases in history, was targeted for extermination, and thanks to the vaccination programme this was accomplished.
Woodworth did not consider this programme a benefit to humankind:
"Thinking people would rather have smallpox than vaccination, because the latter sows seeds of syphilis, cancers, eczema, erysipelas, scrofula, consumption, even leprosy and many other loathsome affections. Hence the practice of vaccinations is a crime, an outrage, and a delusion" (Golden Age, Jan. 5,1929, p. 502)
Yes, a vaccination was "a crime" and was sometimes likened to a rape (like JWs today say about blood transfusions). Moreover, like almost everything else it has been used as a "sign of the last days:"
"Vaccination never prevented anything and never will, and is the most barbarous practice. . . . We are in the last days; and the devil is slowly losing his hold, making a strenuous effort meanwhile to do all the damage he can, and to his credit can such evils be placed. . . . Use your rights as American citizens to forever abolish the devilish practice of vaccinations." (Golden Age, Oct. 12, 1921, p. 17)
In the world view of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, then as now, the three major evil forces in the world are false religion, governments which are ruled by Satan, and the oppressive Big Business. It was the latter that was responsible for the misinformation campaign that vaccinations were beneficial:
"The public is not generally aware of how large an industry is the manufacture of serums, anti-toxins and vaccines, or that big business controls the whole industry. . . . the boards of health endeavor to start an epidemic of smallpox, diphtheria, or typhoid that they may reap a golden harvest by inoculating an unthinking community for the very purpose of disposing of this manufactured filth." (The Golden Age, Jan. 3, 1923, p. 214)
These conspiracy theories remind us of more recent articles in the same magazine, now called Awake!, which ran a series of articles under this cover story:
"Selling Blood Is Big Business"
The objective of the series was to give the impression that blood was "red gold" (compare with expression "golden harvest" used above) and that the International Red Cross is guilty of massive deception by using unethical methods to sell blood for profit (Awake! Oct. 22, 1990).
Thankfully, the religious fanatics who opposed the vaccination programmes failed. If they hadn't, they would be guilty of millions of deaths up to this date.
Woodworth’s primary argument against vaccinations seems to have been that this was "animal filth" that would "pollute" humanity. According to The Golden Age, vaccinations not only caused all kind of dreadful diseases, including the Spanish Flu, it even retarded the intellect of men and caused moral bankruptcy:
"..much looseness of our day along sexual lines may be traceable to the easy and continual violation of the divine commands to keep human and animal blood apart from each other. With cells of foreign blood racing through his veins a man is not normal, not himself, but lacks the poise and balance which makes for self control." (Golden Age, Febr. 4, 1931, p. 293)
We will see exactly the same argument applied to organ transplants and blood transfusions later!
Most interestingly, the WTS did, in the same magazine, give some "Biblical" arguments for refusing vaccinations:
"Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that God made with Noah after the flood." (ibid.)
This was the first time in the movement’s history that the blood prohibition was applied to Christians. As we have seen, earlier it was applied to Jews only. Considering the evidence we have just seen, we may wonder why anyone would trust the judgement and exegesis of Woodworth and his companions!
Blood transfusions weren’t an issue this early. However, in Consolation (the interim name of The Golden Age) Dec. 25, in 1940, p. 19, we find a news item about a self-sacrificing physician who gave his own blood and thereby saved a woman’s life. Only in the late 1940s does the WTS explicitly condemn blood transfusions as "unscriptural," using exactly the same arguments as they had earlier used to ban vaccinations.
At the same time, the WTS could no longer sustain the idea that vaccinations did not work. In The Watchtower, Dec. 15 1952, p. 764, the dramatic reversal is hidden in a Question from Readers section:
• Is vaccination a violation of God's law forbidding the taking of blood into the system? -G. C., North Carolina.
The motive for the quick turnabout is immediately apparent from the answer:
"The matter of vaccination is one for the individual that has to face it to decide for himself. . . . And our Society cannot afford to be drawn into the affair legally or take the responsibility for the way the case turns out." [bold added]
It was quite obvious to the WTS that a vaccination ban could easily cost many lives, and there is little doubt that it did cost lives. However, the threat of financial cost to the Watch Tower Society was the one that quickly brought around "new light" on the question!
All previous "Biblical" arguments against vaccinations were suddenly found irrelevant (or, if you will, the "Society cannot afford" to uphold them). Woodworth must have been rolling in his grave (incidentally, he had died exactly one year earlier):
"After consideration of the matter, it does not appear to us to be in violation of the everlasting covenant made with Noah, as set down in Genesis 9:4, nor contrary to God's related commandment at Leviticus 17:10-14. Most certainly it cannot reasonably or Scripturally be argued and proved that, by being vaccinated, the inoculated person is either eating or drinking blood and consuming it as food or receiving a blood transfusion. Vaccination does not bear any relationship to or any likeness to the intermarriage of angelic "sons of God" with the daughters of men, as described in Genesis 6:1-4. Neither can it be put in the same class as described at Leviticus 18:23, 24, which forbids the mingling of humans with animals. It has nothing to do with sex relations."
No indeed. And not a single word of apology was ever issued to those who risked and – in some cases – wasted their lives believing in fairy-tales from men who claimed to speak for God. But even the WTS did not fully retract their formerly used "medical arguments." It merely stated:
"Medical science, in fact, claims that vaccination actually results in building up the vitality of the blood to resist the disease against which the person is inoculated. But, of course, that is a question for each individual concerned to decide for himself and as he sees it to be Jehovah's will for him."
What word of comfort was offered to those who had believed the nonsense?
"We merely offer the above information on request, but can assume no responsibility for the decision and course the reader may take."
However, in leaving one deadly speculation behind the WTS had created a new one.
The Blood Prohibition
THE WACHTOWER of July 1, 1951, p. 414, in an extended "Question from Readers" column, argued strongly that JWs must abstain from blood transfusions. In light of the obvious fear of legal responsibility, the remark preceding the section is interesting:
"A recent court case in Chicago involving Jehovah's witnesses and their stand concerning blood transfusions caused widespread comment in the public press and among the people generally. Many questions were raised. The following were most frequent, and came from various localities."
Note that this article was issued one and a half years before the article that retracted the ban on vaccinations. So the vaccination ban was still in effect. No wonder the arguments used are identical to those used to prohibit vaccinations.
"What are the Scriptural grounds for objecting to blood transfusions?
Jehovah made a covenant with Noah following the Flood, and included therein was this command: ‘Flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.’ (Gen. 9:4)"
However, while the "new light" of 1952 said that a vaccination was not a violation of God's covenant with Noah, blood transfusions were. Genesis 9:4 is still key to the argument used by Jehovah’s Witnesses against medical use of blood.
Just as the Society used many "medical arguments" against vaccinations, negative propaganda about blood fills Watchtower literature today. The 1951 article said:
"And let the transfusion enthusiasts with a savior-complex ponder the fact that on many occasions transfusions do harm, spread disease, and frequently cause deaths, which, of course, are not publicized."
And finally, to protect themselves against the odd court-case:
"Each one decides for himself, and bears the responsibility for his course. Jehovah's witnesses consecrate their lives to God and feel bound by his Word, and with these things in view they individually decide their personal course and bear their personal responsibility therefor before God."
That the WTS itself did not change its opinion on vaccinations, but merely received "new light" to avoid being legally responsible for deaths, is evident in The Watchtower of Nov. 1, 1961, p. 670:
"• Since the Bible forbids the eating of blood, how are Christians to view the use of serums and vaccines? Has the Society changed its viewpoint on this?-J. D., U.S.A.
The Bible is very clear that blood could properly be used only on the altar; otherwise it was to be poured out on the ground. (Lev. 17:11-13) The entire modern medical practice involving the use of blood is objectionable from the Christian standpoint. Therefore the taking of a blood transfusion, or, in lieu of that, the infusing of some blood fraction to sustain one's life is wrong.
As to the use of vaccines and other substances that may in some way involve the use of blood in their preparation, it should not be concluded that the Watch Tower Society endorses these and says that the practice is right and proper. However, vaccination is a virtually unavoidable practice in many segments of modern society, and the Christian may find some comfort under the circumstances in the fact that this use is not in actuality a feeding or nourishing process, which was specifically forbidden when God said that man was not to eat blood, but it is a contamination of the human system.
So, as was stated in TheWatchtower of September 15, 1958, page 575, "It would therefore be a matter of individual judgment whether one accepted such types of medication or not." That is still the Society's viewpoint on the matter. - Gal. 6:5.
However, the mature Christian is not going to try to find in this a justification for as many other medical uses of blood substances as possible. To the contrary, recognizing the objectionableness of the entire practice, he is going to stay as far away from it as he can, requesting other treatment where such is available."
As of 1961, vaccinations were still "wrong," but not enough for the Society to risk legal responsibility. Vaccinations were called "contamination," but were not – and please take note of this point – considered a nourishing process.
The fact that taking vaccinations and serums is not the same as eating blood is a "comfort" and leaves the matter in the hands of the individual – or so the Watchtower Society says.
This is not the case, alas, with blood transfusions. To this day the blood prohibition is based on the Watchtower Society's claim that a blood transfusion is the same as eating blood:
"A patient in the hospital may be fed through the mouth, through the nose, or through the veins. When sugar solutions are given intravenously, it is called intravenous feeding. So the hospital's own terminology recognizes as feeding the process of putting nutrition into one's system via the veins. Hence the attendant administering the transfusion is feeding the patient blood through the veins, and the patient receiving it is eating it through his veins." (The Watchtower, July 1, 1951, p. 415)
Again we must keep in mind that the people making these claims are the same who years earlier had stated that "thinking people would rather have smallpox than vaccination," and argued that a tonsillectomy was worse than suicide with a case knife! Their medical expertise should be taken with a grain of salt, to put it mildly, and there is no evidence that their understanding of the Bible was any better. In one case The Golden Age discovered that the Hebrew expression for "one language" in Genesis 11:1 literally means "one lip", so, the magazine concluded: "Their lip must have been shaped in the same general manner..." (July 13, 1927, p. 663)
The blood prohibition gradually became a JW institution. A long series of rules and regulations concerning blood has been issued over the years, of which these are examples:
·JWs are obliged to check with their butcher if there is any chance that the meat sold comes from animals not properly bled. Further, they will have to find out which words are used for blood products in their local area, and check with the manufacturer if in doubt. (The Watchtower, Nov. 1, 1961, p. 669)
·The JW must ensure that fish is properly bled (ibid.)
·JWs cannot feed their pets with food that contains blood, neither can a pet receive a blood transfusion (The Watchtower, Febr. 15, 1964, p. 127)
·JWs cannot allow a leech to feed on their own blood (The Watchtower, June 15, 1982, p. 31)
·JWs cannot use fertiliser containing blood (The Watchtower, Oct. 15, 1981 p. 31)
·A JW owning a store is not allowed to sell blood products (The Watchtower, July 15, 1982, p. 26)
·JWs can not store their own blood before an operation (The Watchtower, March 1, 1989, p. 31)
Add to this the fact that over the years a number of specialised rules have been issued specifying which blood components are illegal and which are a "matter of conscience," and which medical procedures involving blood are illegal and which are a "matter of conscience." You can see why this is a complicated field for a JW who wishes to remain loyal to the WTS.
And loyal they must be. If a JW decides to save his, his spouse's or his children's lives contrary to Watchtower rules, he would be disfellowshipped from the congregation, which would force his friends and family to shun him.
"• In view of the seriousness of taking blood into the human system by a transfusion, would violation of the Holy Scriptures in this regard subject the dedicated, baptized receiver of blood transfusion to being disfellowshiped from the Christian congregation?
The inspired Holy Scriptures answer yes." (The Watchtower, Jan. 15, 1961, p. 63)
In case someone might consider breaking this rule in secret, he can be sure God will not let him get away with it. The WTS intimated that God would punish parents for a blood transfusion by letting their child be stillborn! And if the child should live, they would all eventually die at Armageddon:
"Lifesaving efforts by unscriptural means can never produce results of lasting good. How foolish it is to think that one can save life by violating the laws of the Life-giver! While it may produce seemingly beneficial results at the moment, it may ultimately take its toll in disease and stillborn children as a direct result of such an ill-advised course. Even if no physical harm results to the patient or to one’s offspring, violation of the law of God seriously jeopardizes one's opportunity to gain eternal life in God's new world." (The Watchtower, Sept. 15, 1961, p. 565)
The WTS is dead serious about keeping JWs from medically "polluting their body" by any means.
In the meantime, another development occurred that further sheds light on the thinking at Watchtower Headquarters.
Organ transplants: cannibalism!
AS WITH BLOOD, THE WTS originally had no objections to organ transplants. In a Questions from Readers section in The Watchtower, Aug. 1, 1961, page 480, the question about organ transplants is answered pointedly:
"• Is there anything in the Bible against giving one’s eyes (after death) to be transplanted to some living person?—L. C., United States.
The question of placing one’s body or parts of one’s body at the disposal of men of science or doctors at one’s death for purposes of scientific experimentation or replacement in others is frowned upon by certain religious bodies. However, it does not seem that any Scriptural principle or law is involved. It therefore is something that each individual must decide for himself. If he is satisfied in his own mind and conscience that this is a proper thing to do, then he can make such provision, and no one else should criticize him for doing so. On the other hand, no one should be criticized for refusing to enter into any such agreement."
In view of the unorthodox views on medical practices demonstrated by the WTS on earlier questions, it is not surprising that it found some "Biblical principles" addressing this question the next time it came up, in 1967:
"• Is there any Scriptural objection to donating one's body for use in medical research or to accepting organs for transplant from such a source?-W. L., U.S.A.
. . . When there is a diseased or defective organ, the usual way health is restored is by taking in nutrients. The body uses the food eaten to repair or heal the organ, gradually replacing the cells. When men of science conclude that this normal process will no longer work and they suggest removing the organ and replacing it directly with an organ from another human, this is simply a shortcut. Those who submit to such operations are thus living off the flesh of another human. That is cannibalistic. However, in allowing man to eat animal flesh 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." (The Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1967, p. 702)
Most people would probably be surprised at the idea that an organ transplant is cannibalism, but the WTS argued that this was the case. And again, the JWs would have to toe the line. They should rather die or be crippled than accepting an organ transplant.
As with the question of vaccinations, quack science was employed to support the idea that organ transplants were wrong. For the WTS, it has always been of primary importance to give JWs the idea that the rules really benefit them. And just as many JWs have been convinced and firmly believe that blood transfusions are evil and bad for them, they were exposed to the same sort of propaganda about organ transplants:
"A peculiar factor sometimes noted is a so-called ‘personality transplant.’ That is, the recipient in some cases has seemed to adopt certain personality factors of the person from whom the organ came. One young promiscuous woman who received a kidney from her older, conservative, well-behaved sister, at first seemed very upset. Then she began imitating her sister in much of her conduct. Another patient claimed to receive a changed outlook on life after his kidney transplant. Following a transplant, one mild-tempered man became aggressive like the donor. The problem may be largely or wholly mental. But it is of interest, at least, that the Bible links the kidneys closely with human emotions." (The Watchtower, Sept. 1, 1975, p. 519)
In the same magazine, some health reports about certain risks in organ transplants are extrapolated to make it appear like the benefit is virtually zero and the risks are huge. We have seen this pattern in WTS’ attempts to demonise vaccinations, we see it used on organ transplants and, as we will see later, it is especially evident in statements about blood transfusions.
An interesting motivation behind this view of organ transplants is a peculiar idea about the heart. Like the above article strongly suggested that a kidney transplant caused emotional change, the WTS argued that we do indeed think with our literal heart! When the Bible mentions heart as a seat for our deepest emotions and wishes, people will understand this symbolically, realising that these things physically reside in the brain. Unless, that is, you are a leader of the Watchtower Society.
"Most psychiatrists and psychologists tend to overcategorize the mind and allow for little if any influence from the fleshly heart, looking upon the word "heart" merely as a figure of speech apart from its use in identifying the organ that pumps our blood. . . . The heart is a marvelously designed muscular pump, but, more significantly, our emotional and motivating capacities are built within it. Love, hate, desire (good and bad), preference for one thing over another, ambition, fear-in effect, all that serves to motivate us in relationship to our affections and desires springs from the heart." (The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, p. 134)
Some JWs will still remember a drama at the "Divine Name" convention the following summer on this topic, where giant, glowing, talking models of a heart and brain illustrated the point that we really store information in our hearts! Needless to say, JWs with any understanding whatsoever of science or medicine were deeply embarrassed by these teachings. I am too young to remember this, but I clearly remember when I first realised that this was indeed the teaching of the WTS, and even though I did not argue with my father I was extremely sceptical towards this idea – and I was in primary school at the time! What I did not realize, unfortunately, was the danger of allowing men with such shallow reasoning based on quack science to decide life and death matters for a community of millions of JWs.
This was not purely an academic question! The prohibition of organ transplants rested on this concept, which again had been important in the long-rejected ban on vaccinations. To instil fear in JWs against organ transplants and especially heart transplants, the following quack claims were reported:
"MedicalWorldNews (May 23, 1969), in an article entitled "What Does a New Heart Do to the Mind?" reported the following: "At Stanford University Medical Center last year, a 45-year-old man received a new heart from a 20-year-old donor and soon announced to all his friends that he was celebrating his twentieth birthday. Another recipient resolved to live up to the sterling reputation of the prominent local citizen who was the donor. And a third man expressed great fear of feminization upon receiving a woman's heart, though he was somewhat mollified when he learned that women live longer than men. According to psychiatrist Donald T. Lunde, a consultant to surgeon Norman Shumway's transplant team at Stanford, these patients represent someofthelessseverementalaberrations [italics ours] observed in the Shumway series of 13 transplants over the last 16 months." The article continues: "Though five patients in the series had survived as of early this month, and four of them were home leading fairly normal lives, three of the nonsurvivors became psychotic before they died last year. And two others have become psychotic this year."" (The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, p. 134)
The idea that a person would have his personality changed by a new organ was also, as we remember, used to support the vaccination ban. And as we will see later, the same idea is used to increase the anti-blood hysteria among JWs. When the WTS argued the dangers of organ transplants, this quack science was again applied
"It is significant that heart-transplant patients, where the nerves connecting the heart and brain are severed, have serious emotional problems after the operation. The new heart is still able to operate as a pump, it having its own power supply and timing mechanism independent of the general nervous system for giving impulse to the heart muscle, but just as it now responds only sluggishly to outside influences, the new heart in turn registers few, if any, clear factors of motivation on the brain. To what extent the nerve endings of the body and the new heart are able to make some connections in time is not clear, but this cannot be ruled out as one of the several factors causing the serious mental aberrations and disorientation that doctors report are observed in heart-transplant patients." (The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, p. 135)
In the same article, the WTS even argued that people who accepted donor hearts lost their personalities, and more than hinted that people who had donor hearts were really heartless!
"These patients have donor-supplied pumps for their blood, but do they now have all the factors needed to say they have a "heart"? One thing is sure, in losing their own hearts, they have had taken away from them the capacities of "heart" built up in them over the years and which contributed to making them who they were as to personality."
The advice the WTS gave on day-to-day situations based on its literal understanding of heart and mind was sometimes unintentionally humorous:
"To illustrate, suppose the time comes when you must make a decision on buying a new suit or dress. First, the mind is confronted with certain facts. Perhaps older clothes are getting past their usefulness or there is a need for a change for some good reason. The heart comes very much into the picture too, as there is a desire at heart to look presentable. Heart and mind are in agreement that a new dress or suit be obtained. The mind now collects information on prices, quality, styles, and so forth, so that when you go shopping you have a pretty good idea which suit or dress should be purchased. But when you arrive at the store, there in the window is quite an eye-catcher, just waiting for the impulse buyer. It is not really practical for you; it involves much more money; it is rather extreme in styling; but how it tantalizes the heart! "It’s the heart’s delight!" Now what will be done? What decision will be made? Will it be a practical, reasoned-out one, or one according to this new desire of the heart? If you are not very careful, the heart will overwhelm the mind." (The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, p. 140)
During the period organ transplants and blood transfusions were both prohibited, these things were often equated in WTS literature. In one case, when an anonymous JW who was a surgeon wrote his life story in the Awake! magazine, he wrote about the dangers of blood transfusions:
"It has been especially gratifying to me to see at firsthand evidence of the truthfulness of the Bible’s directives on blood. The medical profession itself has gradually come to appreciate that blood is not an innocuous lifesaver. Blood transfusion is now recognized as a dangerous procedure — as hazardous as any other organ transplant." (Awake!, March 22, 1974, p. 21)
He also added:
"Today much is also made of the transplanting of various organs—kidneys, hearts, lungs and livers. . . . Because of what I have reason to believe is the Creator’s view of organ transplants, I have serious reservations as to their Scriptural propriety." (ibid. p. 23)
Small notes in WTS literature not only told stories about the horrors on blood transfusions, but also gave the same strongly exaggerated accounts of the dangers of organ transplants. In many Awake! magazines, we find under the feature "Watching the World" notes like these:
"Transfusion Horror
• Two babies were infected with syphilis by blood transfusions at Germany’s Kiel University Clinic last year, reports WiesbadenerKurier. Infection spread to the parents. Not knowing the source, at least one of the families involved threatened to break up, each partner accusing the other of being unfaithful. Even though the truth came out in court, the damage was done. "Two people will have told one another things of which they would be ashamed when they learned the truth," notes the article.
More Transplant Complications
• Recently it was reported that the incidence of cancer is 100 times greater among organ-transplant recipients than among the general population. However, the frequency of brain tumors is "about 1,000 times greater," according to Dr. Wolff M. Kirsch, of the University of Colorado Medical Center. The prolonged immunosuppressive therapy to prevent rejection of the new organ frequently entangles the patient "in a snare of pathological processes," he says. Prospects for helping such patients are considered "bleak."" (Awake!, Feb. 22, 1974, pp. 30-31)
Needless to say, the WTS' writers search newspapers and magazines all over the world for these articles, and would of course never give a single reference to positive results of blood transfusions or organ transplants as long as these are prohibited.
This ban on organ transplants could not be sustained in the long run. The direct cause for the change is not given, but the WTS merely states that it is "a matter for conscientious decision by each one."
"• Should congregation action be taken if a baptized Christian accepts a human organ transplant, such as of a cornea or a kidney?
Regarding the transplantation of human tissue or bone from one human to another, this is a matter for conscientious decision by each one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Some Christians might feel that taking into their bodies any tissue or body part from another human is cannibalistic. . . . Other sincere Christians today may feel that the Bible does not definitely rule out medical transplants of human organs. . . . It may be argued, too, that organ transplants are different from cannibalism since the "donor" is not killed to supply food." (The Watchtower, March 15, 1980, p. 31; bold added)
Again, as had happened when the ban on vaccinations had been lifted, there was not one word of apology to those who had been adversely affected. Also, the WTS is hypocritical when it pretends that "sincere Christians may feel" anything but what they have been told to feel. As with the blood prohibition, "sincere Christians" are not free to feel, they are only "free" to do exactly what the WTS orders them to do. When individual JWs risked their lives they did it because they were ordered to do so under threat of being disfellowshipped, and because they believed the WTS spoke for God. The reversal on two major medical issues demonstrates that on the matter of medicine, the WTS certainly does not.
After the reversal the horror stories about organ transplants ceased, while exaggerated reports on the dangers of blood transfusions continue to this day. With respect to organ transplants, the WTS' change of heart is shown in this article:
"Bloodless Heart Transplant
Last October, three-year-old Chandra Sharp was admitted to a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., with a heart that was not only enlarged but also failing. She was undernourished, her growth stunted, her weight only 19 pounds [9 kg], and she needed a heart transplant. She was given only a few weeks to live. Her parents agreed to the transplant but not to blood transfusion. They are Jehovah’s Witnesses.
This was no issue with the surgeon, Dr. Charles Fraser. TheFlintJournal of Michigan reported on December 1, 1993: "Fraser said the Cleveland Clinic and other medical centers are becoming adept at performing many surgeries—including transplants—without the infusion into the patient of other people’s blood. ‘We have learned more about how to conserve blood, and how to prime the heart-lung machine with solutions other than blood,’ said Fraser." He then added: "Some specialty hospitals have for decades been doing major cardiovascular operations without blood transfusions. . . . We always try to do surgery without (transfused) blood."" (Awake!, May 22, 1994, p. 7)
In light of the earlier ban on organ transplants – heart transplants in particular – this sudden praise of bloodless heart transplants drips irony. For doesn't the heart do more than just pump blood? No, this was changed ten years earlier:
"What are we to understand, then, by the word ‘heart’?. . . . What an amazing number of different functions and capabilities are ascribed to the heart! Do all of these reside in the literal heart? That could hardly be so. . . . in nearly a thousand other references to ‘heart’ in the Bible, ‘heart’ is obviously used in a figurative sense. . . . obviously, a distinction must be drawn between the heart organ and the figurative heart." (The Watchtower, Sept. 1, 1984, pp. 3-7)
In another ironic twist, we see that less than two years later, the same magazine states:
"The ancient Egyptians believed that the physical heart was the seat of intelligence and the emotions. They also thought that it had a will of its own. The Babylonians said that the heart housed the intellect as well as love. The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that it was the seat of the senses and the domain of the soul. But as time passed and knowledge increased, these views were discarded. Finally the heart became known for what it is, a pump to circulate the blood throughout the body." (The Watchtower, June 1, 1986, p. 15)
The article did not remind the reader that the WTS had taught the same as these ancients until just two years before! This embarrassing chapter in WTS history was closed, and only the dead and wounded were left behind.
Quack science and the risks of blood transfusions
THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY HAS NOT been content with giving "Biblical" reasons for prohibiting blood transfusions. Articles and publications dealing with this question are just as concerned with emphasizing the dangers of blood transfusions and the advantages of some alternatives to blood transfusions. Playing to the JW community, the Watchtower and Awake! magazines are filled with horror stories and snide remarks emphasizing the danger. Most JWs, when dealing with the issue, will say much about Hepatitis and AIDS and the horrible dangers of blood transfusions. Despite having no expertise in medicine they will also insist that there are always alternatives to blood transfusions. This is because of the heavy propaganda from the WTS:
"It is not surprising that transfusing such a complex substance might, as one surgeon put it, "confuse" the body's immune system. In fact, a blood transfusion can suppress immunity for as long as a year. To some, this is the most threatening aspect of transfusions.
Then there are infectious diseases as well. They have exotic names, such as Chagas’ disease and cytomegalovirus. Effects range from fever and chills to death. Dr. Joseph Feldschuh of the Cornell University of Medicine says that there is 1 chance in 10 of getting some sort of infection from a transfusion. It is like playing Russian roulette with a ten-chamber revolver. Recent studies have also shown that blood transfusions during cancer surgery may actually increase the risk of recurrence of the cancer.
No wonder a television news program claimed that a blood transfusion could be the biggest obstacle to recovery from surgery. Hepatitis infects hundreds of thousands and kills many more transfusion recipients than AIDS does, but it gets little of the publicity. No one knows the extent of the deaths, but economist Ross Eckert says that it may be the equivalent of a DC-10 airliner full of people crashing every month." (Awake!Oct. 22, 1990, p. 9)
Those who have read this document so far will be aware of the fact that the WTS has used similar -- and stronger -- arguments against vaccination programmes and organ transplants, not to mention medical science in general. While there are negative side effects of vaccinations, informed persons agree that on the whole they have been of tremendous benefit to humanity. Even though some individuals have died, vaccinations have saved millions of lives. One would be hard pressed to find anyone -- JW or not -- who would not agree that vaccinations have been a good thing.
We will later return to these exaggerated horror stories about blood transfusions. For now let it suffice to point to the similarities between the threats used against those who accepted vaccinations, organ transplants and now blood transfusions.
The WTS has not been content just to exaggerate real threats. In line with claims about alleged personality changes as a result of vaccinations and organ transplants, it appealed to the same sort of quack scientists:
"Criminals in jail are given the opportunity to donate their blood. For example, the New York Times of April 6, 1961, reported: "Inmates of Sing Sing Prison at Ossining will give blood to the Red Cross today." A commendable act? Perhaps not as beneficial to their fellow men as the community is led to believe. . . . in his book WhoIsYourDoctorandWhy? Doctor Alonzo Jay Shadman says: "The blood in any person is in reality the person himself. It contains all the peculiarities of the individual from whence it comes. This includes hereditary taints, disease susceptibilities, poisons due to personal living, eating and drinking habits. . . . The poisons that produce the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal are in the blood." And Dr. Américo Valério, Brazilian doctor and surgeon for over forty years, agrees. "Moral insanity, sexual perversions, repression, inferiority complexes, petty crimes -- these often follow in the wake of blood transfusion," he says. Yet it is acknowledged in the public press that organizations whose blood supply is considered reliable obtain blood for transfusion from criminals who are known to have such characteristics." (The Watchtower, Sept. 15, 1961, p. 564)
So according to the WTS a blood transfusion can give you a criminal's personality! We ask what is the more astonishing: that the WTS actually taught this nonsense or that it was able to dig up "experts" who agreed with them? We know for certain that this quackery was believed by many JWs well into the 1980s, and probably still is.
It is interesting to note how much in recent years the WTS has changed its general ideas about science, and medical science in particular. While it once considered the medical profession to be demon-possessed, it is now more likely to print articles in Awake! magazine about the wonders of surgery and medicine, and it often warns against certain alternative treatments that are not backed by scientific evidence.
Considering that the JW community has historically been hostile to medical professionals (and this hostility has of course been fed by the controversies related to the blood prohibition!) and positive to "alternative medicine," (some of those "experts" quoted to support the anti-vaccination stand were homeopaths) it will be interesting to see how quickly this reversal will change the attitude of the rank and file.
Despite the fact that the WTS has gone to great lengths to minimize damage to the JW community by allowing more and more blood components to be used in treatment, the blood prohibition is a major cause of the strained relationship between Jehovah’s Witnesses and medical professionals, and is a major reason the JWs are considered a dangerous religious group.
Also, despite all JW arguments about "alternatives," their blood ban kills.
Notes:
The information in this section and the following builds on Prof. M. James Penton's Apocalypse Delayed - The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses (University of Toronto Press, 1985), and on extensive quotations and comments published by Ken Raines in his magazine JW Research.
One article from Ken Raines' publications is put on the web by Free Minds, Inc. Read The Watchtower Society and Medical Quackery for a very thorough treatment of various forms of quack medicine recommended by the Watchtower Society.
An earlier edition of this article said the Watchtower Publications Index 1930-1985 did not mention "organ transplants." In fact, it does list a number of articles under the keyword "transplants." Apologies for the error.
