Genesis 9:4

"But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat."

Problem:

The J.W.'s cite this reference as proof that blood transfusions are forbidden by Scripture. A Watchtower publication puts it this way:

 

"Is God's law violated by these medical procedures that involve the use of blood? Is it wrong to sustain life by administering a transfusion of blood or plasma or red cells or others of the component parts of the blood? Yes! The law God gave to Noah made it unlawful for anyone to eat blood, that is, to use it for nourishment or to sustain life. Since this is wrong in the case of animal blood, it is even more reprehensible in the case of human blood. The prohibition includes 'any blood at all'. (Leviticus 3:17)" 1

Solution:

1. This passage is not necessarily binding upon all nations. Circumcision, distinction between clean and unclean animals, and animal sacrifices were all practised by the patriarchs but are not now binding upon believers. (Gal. 6:15; Col. 2:14-17; Heb. 10:11-12).
   
2. The prohibition of the eating of the blood was later limited to Israel as a part of the Law of Moses. It was not made binding upon all nations.2 "Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: [because the blood had not been poured out as the law required] thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien . . . "3 (Deut. 14:21).
   
3. There is an inconsistency in the J.W. position on blood transfusions. Blood transfusions are rejected as "feeding upon blood"4 yet inoculations are not considered "feeding on blood". The inconsistency becomes apparent once it is realized that serum with which a person is inoculated is derived from blood. A tetanus injection is a blood serum taken from animals such as cows and horses,5 and gamma globulin6 derived from blood plasma is used in the treatment of kidney and liver diseases, and for the modification or prevention of certain infectious diseases, such as German measles, infectious hepatitis, mumps, and measles.7
   
4. Blood used in transfusions is taken from a living, willing donor, not a corpse. Murder is not committed. It was Jesus Christ who said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (Jn. 15:13). Blood transfusions are given to sustain life, not to take it.

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Footnotes:

1. Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, (Brooklyn, New York: Watchtower and Tract Society of New York, Inc., 1961), pp. 13-14.
   
2. See also Psa. 147:19,20 "He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them . . ."
   
3. It may be thought that Lev. 17:10 conflicts with the instruction given in Deut. 14:21. The apparent conflict is resolved once it is realized that the strangers are different in the two passages. In Lev. 17:10 the strangers were those who "sojourned among" the Israelites as proselytes to the Jewish faith. They observed the law. (Exod. 12:48,49). The strangers in Deut. 14:21 were "strangers in the gates", i.e., foreigners visiting a city in Israel.
   
4. "Vaccination or Inoculation Not Feeding on Blood", Make Sure of All Tbings, (Brooklyn, New York: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc., 1953), p. 48.
   
5. "Tetanus treatment employs antitoxic serum (preferably of human origin in order to avoid the serious hazards of serum sickness) . . . For widespread use it is prepared from the blood serum of horses or cows that have been inoculated with tetanus toxoid or tetanus toxin, or both, and have become immune." "Blood Transfusions", Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. III, (New York: Encyclopedia Britannica Press, 1968), pp. 885-886.
   
6. "Immune serum globulin, or gamma globulin, is a relatively small portion of the plasma that contains the antibodies or chemical substances that help fight disease caused by invading bacteria and viruses." Ibid., p. 809.
   
7. Ibid., p. 809.

Ron Abel