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SUBJECT: Blood Transfusions
and Organ Transplants
QUESTION: What does the ICG
feel about blood transfusions and organ transplants?
ANSWER:
We do not have any literature on
this subject and I could not readily find any such
literature among other organizations in
the Church of God. The Jehovah's
Witnesses have extensive writings on the subject.
I talked to Mr. Armstrong at some
length on this subject and he wanted to make it clear that
Christians need to make choices based on God's Word and
their best judgment coupled with the unction of the Holy
Spirit (1 John 2:20). Regarding this subject, each
Christian must formulate his or her own "matter of faith" [Personal
Elements of Belief]
based on the scriptures and their own personal level of
faith.
It is Mr. Armstrong's feeling that
the church cannot publish a booklet on every possible
subject, but rather teach the Bible which contains all the
principles we need to aid us in making all these decisions.
Of course, there is always personal counsel. Having said
that, let's take a closer look at this question.
Let us take a look at some of the
arguments regarding these two subjects.
BLOOD ARGUMENT
Genesis 9:4
But flesh with the life thereof,
which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Leviticus 17:11
For the life of the flesh is in
the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make
an atonement for your souls:
for it is the blood that maketh
an atonement for the soul.
Leviticus 17:14
For it is the life of all flesh;
the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said
unto the children of Israel, Ye shall
eat the blood of no manner of
flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof:
whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
Leviticus 19:16
Thou shalt not go up and down as
a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand
against the blood of thy
neighbour: I am the LORD.
Deuteronomy 12:23
Only be sure that thou eat not
the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not
eat the life with the flesh.
Note:
The word "eat" here has the
following meaning:
398 'akal (aw-kal');
a primitive root; to eat (literally
or figuratively):
KJV-- X at all, burn up, consume,
devour (-er, up), dine, eat (-er, up), feed (with), food, X
freely, X in ... wise (-deed, plenty), (lay) meat, X quite.
It would seem that the devouring
of blood by any means would be wrong. The actual eating of
blood, aside from the Spiritual impact, would have physical
impact on our bodies in that we are taking in the substance
of that blood. Would this process not be the same if that
blood were injected directly into our bloodstream. The
whole idea of eating is to transfer the substance of the
food into the bloodstream.
RESURRECTIONS BY CHRIST
ARGUMENT
Throughout the Gospels we read of
several people being resurrected. Can you imagine the
situation if their organs had been given away.
Psychologically it does not set well with the mind. Now we
know there will be a general resurrection of people that
have had organs removed and even been vaporized in atom bomb
blasts but the principle seems to be clear that one should
not interfere with bodies under the control of Jesus Christ
and God the Father.
THE TEMPLE ARGUMENT
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 What? know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which
ye have of God, and ye are
not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a
price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God's.
Note:
These verses say it all:
1) Our body is a Temple in which
resides the Holy Spirit.
2) We are NOT our own...we belong
bone, organ, mind and blood to God.
3) We are bought with a price;
again, we are not our own.
4) We are to glorify God with the
use of our body.
5) Restatement: Body and Spirit
are God's.
The tabernacle in the wilderness
and later the temples that were made were but a pattern of
the human body. Each implement, each room and court
represented a part of the body. If you would like to
study this yourself, look up all the uses of the word
"pattern". You will see that most of them speak of a Temple
pattern and correlate directly to the human body. Clearly,
we would not take part of the physical tabernacle or Temple
and use it elsewhere in some other building. The
correlation must be complete, which is to say that we should
treat this temple, the human body, the same way we would
have treated God's physical Temple when it was here.
THE IMAGE ARGUMENT
Genesis 1:26-28
26 And God said, Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and
over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon
the earth.
27 So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him; male and female
created he them.
28 And God blessed them...
Note:
We are made in the image of
God. The image belongs to God. He blessed that creation;
that image. Do we not
tamper with that image with the
blood and organ transfers?
THE HOLY SPIRIT ARGUMENT
2 Corinthians 3:6
Who also hath made us able
ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of
the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth
life.
Romans 8:10
1And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness.
Note:
These verses state that the
Spirit of God is life; life in us. Couple this with the
verse above (Lev 17:11) which says
that the life of the flesh is in
the blood. The correlation is that the Spirit of God is in
our blood. I say this both
figuratively and actually. The
Spirit of God resides in the forefront of our brain, an
organ full of life-giving blood.
THE SHED BLOOD ARGUMENT
Notice the rest of Lev 17:11...
Leviticus 17:11
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given
it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your
souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the
soul.
Notice the commentary
Leviticus 17:10-14
And whatsoever man there be of
the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among
you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my
face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him
off from among his people.
[That
eateth any manner of blood].
Neither the Hebrew nor the resident foreigner was to eat any
manner of blood. The reasons are given in <Lev 17:11>. The
first was that it was the fluid which carried life through
the body, and thus it represented the life or soul
([nepesh]) of the animal. The second was actually the
primary reason, with the first simply forming the foundation
for the second: Atonement for sins was made by the sacrifice
of animals, by offering the life of the animal as a
substitution for one's own life; the shedding of blood as
the fluid of life was the offering of that portion which
most clearly set forth the atonement picture. 13. He shall
even pour out the blood thereof. The blood of all edible
game which was slain was to be shed on the ground and not to
be eaten. ~from
Wycliffe Commentary
Note:
The blood carried life in the animal. This blood was shed
in sacrifice for man...a substitution for man's blood. It
was, of course, the foundation for the blood of Jesus. The
connection between these bloods is unmistakable. With a
connection like this how can man justify mixing them. It
does not seem to make Spiritual sense.
THE HEALING ARGUMENT
James 5:13-15
13 Is any among you afflicted?
let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? let him
call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he
have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Note:
This argument is clearly one of personal faith but the
instruction is clear and so is the promise. The prayer of
faith shall save the sick. God will forgive our sins.
THE GOOD REPORT ARGUMENT
Philippians 4:6-8
6 Be careful for nothing; but in
every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known
unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if
there be any virtue, and if there be
any praise, think on these
things.
Note:
As you will see in the PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE section below,
these issues of blood and organ transplants
are NOT of good report and seem
far from pure. Based on the above arguments so far, they do
not seem true or just.
Be sure to go through that
section below then reread this argument. We hear reports of
tainted blood, full of all kinds of
diseases and viruses such as
hepatitis and HIV. We see organs going to the rich or put
up on the auction block. None of
this can be right with God.
THE CHRIST EXAMPLE
ARGUMENT
Philippians 4:9
Those things, which ye have both
learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and
the God of peace shall be with you.
1 Peter 2:21-25
21 For even hereunto were ye
called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that ye should follow
his steps:
22 Who did no sin, neither was
guile found in his mouth:
23 Who, when he was reviled,
reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but
committed himself to him that
judgeth righteously:
24 Who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed.
25 For ye were as sheep going
astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of
your souls.
John 13:15
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I
have done to you.
1 Timothy 4:12
(speaking to
ministers but clearly applying to all brethren)
Let no man despise thy youth; but
be thou an example of the believers, in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Note:
We have no example, instruction
or admonition to do such a thing to our bodies or with blood
or organs.
SUPPORTING COMMENTARY
Blood (definition
from Bible Encylopaedia)
1. Hebrew and Old Testament
Customs: Notwithstanding the ignorance and superstition
surrounding this suggestively beautiful idea, it grew to
have more than a merely human significance and application.
For this crude practice of inter-transference of human blood
there came to be a symbolic substitution of animal blood in
sprinkling or anointing. The first reference in the Old
Testament to blood <Gen 4:10> is figurative, but highly
illustrative of the reverential fear manifested upon the
shedding of blood and the first teaching regarding it.
The rite of circumcision is an
Old Testament form of blood ceremony. Apart from the
probable sanitary importance of the act is the deeper
meaning in the establishment of a bond of friendship between
the one upon whom the act is performed and Yahweh Himself.
In order that Abraham might become "the friend of God" he
was commanded that he should be circumcised as a token of
the covenant between him and God (<Gen 17:10-11>; see
CIRCUMCISION). It is significant that the eating of blood
was prohibited in earliest Bible times <Gen 9:4>. The custom
probably prevailed among heathen nations as a religious rite
(compare <Ps 16:4>). This and its unhygienic influence
together doubtless led to its becoming taboo. The same
prohibition was made under the Mosaic code (<Lev 7:26>; see
SACRIFICE). Blood was commanded to be used also for
purification or for ceremonial cleansing <Lev 14:5-7. 51-52;
Num 19:4>, provided, however, that it be taken from a clean
animal (see PURIFICATION).
In all probability there is no
trace of the superstitious use of blood in the Old
Testament, unless perchance in <1 Kin 22:38> (see BATHING);
but everywhere it is vested with cleansing, expiatory, and
reverently symbolic qualities.
2. New Testament Teachings: As
in the transition from ancient to Hebrew practice, so from
the Old Testament to the New Testament we see an exaltation
of the conception of blood and blood ceremonies. In
Abraham's covenant his own blood had to be shed. Later an
expiatory animal was to shed blood (<Lev 5:6>; see
ATONEMENT), but there must always be a shedding of blood.
"Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission" <Heb
9:22>. The exaltation and dignifying of this idea finds its
highest development then in the vicarious shedding of blood
by Christ Himself <1 Jn 1:7>. As in the Old Testament
"blood" was also used to signify the juice of grapes, the
most natural substitute for the drinking of blood would be
the use of wine. Jesus takes advantage of this, and
introduces the beautiful and significant custom <Mt 26:28>
of drinking wine and eating bread as symbolic of the
primitive intertransfusion of blood and flesh in a pledge of
eternal friendship (compare <Exo 24:6-7; Jn 6:53-56>). This
is the climactic observance of blood rites recorded in the
Bible. ~from
International Standard Bible Encylopaedia
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE
Below are some web sites that
look at the practical pitfalls of engaging in blood and
organ transplants:
http://home3.inet.tele.dk/omni/hippocrates_hcv.htm
Hepatitis C: The Hidden Epidemic
http://www.urban75.com/Health/hiv_infec.html
Preventing HIV infection
A WORD ABOUT DOCTORS
This counsel would not be
complete without saying something about what the Bible says
about them and in doing so show some of the things that
doctors can do based on scripture.
Physician
A person skilled in the art of
healing the sick. Both the Old and New Testaments frequently
mention the curing of
ailments, but specific details
about how this was done are few.
In the ancient world, primitive
medical practices were performed by magicians or priests.
This was especially true in ancient Egypt, where even
elementary brain surgery was attempted. Some of the Egyptian
procedures were adopted by the Hebrews. These included
embalming <Gen. 50:2,3, 26> or obstetrics, as with the
midwives Shiphrah and Puah <Ex. 1:15>.
Specific medical remedies are
often recorded in the Bible. These include the application
of bandages <Is. 1:6>, oil <James 5:14>, roots and leaves
<Ezek. 47:12>, wine <1 Tim. 5:23>, and salves-- particularly
the BALM OF GILEAD <Jer. 8:22>.
In the New Testament, the Good
Samaritan treated the wounded traveler's injuries with oil
and wine <Luke 10:34>. Luke, one of the twelve disciples of
Jesus and author of the Gospel of Luke, is called "the
beloved physician" by the apostle Paul <Col. 4:14>.
~from Nelson's Illustrated
Bible Dictionary
----END---
What some members have done is to
save up their own blood for an intended operation.
Now, having said all this, in the final analysis and after
having read the Healing Section of the Church web site, the
decision of what you do regarding this subject is
yours---something you do alone before God without judgment
from the church, the ministry or any member.
What you see above are Bible arguments and not moral ones.
In other words, the ministry stands behind what you see
above AND behind the fact that the final decision is yours
as stated by Mr. Armstrong.
See our extensive Healing section:
http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/bibleclassspecificstudies22.shtml
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