If you were to ask Jehovah's Witnesses why they would refuse a blood transfusion they will explain that it is because of what the Bible says about blood. They usually refer to Acts 15:20 where it says "abstain from blood" and reason that transfusing blood is not abstaining from blood.
But they don't realize that what the Bible says about blood is not the real reason why they refuse blood transfusions. That real reason only shows up when looking at what Jehovah's Witnesses always do when the Watchtower Society stops teaching something. For example...
For decades they believed that it was "the Creator's promise" in the Bible that the New World will be here before the generation of 1914 passes away. They said they believed this because of what Jesus said at Matthew 24:34 about "this generation will not pass away until all these things (including the New World) occur." But in November of 1995 the Watchtower Society stopped teaching such a thing. What did Jehovah's Witnesses then do?
If the real reason they believed that teaching was because it was truly based on the Bible, then even though the Society stopped teaching it, Witnesses should have continued to believe it anyway. But they didn't. They all stopped believing it the moment the Society stopped teaching it. What does this show?
It shows that the real reason why they believed that teaching was because that's what the Watchtower Society was teaching. They started believing it when the Society started teaching it and they stopped believing it when the Society stopped teaching it. Therefore what the Bible says at Matthew 24:34 is not the real reason they believed it.
Again, this is what Jehovah's Witnesses always do when the Society starts and stops teaching something. While they are teaching something they call it "a true teaching of the Bible." When they stop teaching it is called "old light." This is the way it works with this religion.
Is there any reason to believe that it is any different with the Society's current teaching about blood transfusions? Do Witnesses believe that transfusions are against God's Law because of what it says at Acts 15:20, or because this is what the Watchtower Society happens to be teaching at the present time? Here too the real reason will only show up if the Society ever changes what it teaches about blood transfusions.
Why are they so willing to change what they believe whenever the Watchtower Society changes what teaches? I feel that former Governing Body Member Ray Franz has the answer on page 296 of his "Crisis of Conscience" where he said...
"I believe that (all Witnesses) are, in effect, the captives of a concept. The concept or mental image they have of 'the organization' seems almost to take on a personality of its own, so that the concept itself controls them, moves them, or restrains them, by molding their thinking, their attitudes, their judgments...The ...concept of 'the organization'... becomes, in fact, the dominant, controlling force."
Without realizing it, their belief that the Watchtower Society is "God's organization" - rather than the Bible - is what dominates and controls what they believe. That concept causes them to believe that whatever comes to them from the Watchtower Society is coming from God Himself since this is the organization he is using to teach them everything they need to know. As long as they believe that concept they will remain captives of it.
If the Watchtower Society ever does change its mind about blood transfusions, Witnesses may still continue to seek alternative forms of treatment for medical reasons rather than Scriptural ones.
Don Cameron
http://www.captivesofaconcept.com/
