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Jehovah's Witness Research Paper

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There are several churches today that object to medical treatment. At one point in time with nearly seventeen million active members, Jehovah’s Witness was the largest of these groups. Although, historically Jehovah Witnesses objected to a wide range of medical practices, today their only objection is to blood transfusions. The theology of the church that opposes blood transfusions is based on Bible verses that are found in Genesis 9:3–6, Leviticus 17:10, 11, and Acts 15:22–29 and 21:25, which require abstinence ‘‘from blood’’ and prohibit eating ‘‘meat that has its lifeblood still in it.’’ For the Jehovah Witness to accept a blood transfusion, according to the church’s teachings, constitutes eating blood and tramples on the sacrifice of Christ.
The ban on blood transfusions in the Jehovah Witness church was placed in 1945. In 1951, the first of the many, legal cases was filed in the US court. A young Jehovah’s Witness was diagnosis with erythroblastosis fetalis, the child’s parents refused to authorize a blood transfusion. Their reasoning was their beliefs that God’s law prohibited blood. Initially a probationary service was granted custody …show more content…

In 1952, the matter was clarified further. Justifying compulsory blood transfusion based on four points—(1) minimal danger, (2) treatment efficacy, (3) lack of alternative treatments, and (4) based on religious beliefs—adults cannot choose to be responsible for the death of their children and, declaring no interest in Biblical interpretation, the court stated clearly that, if parental religious beliefs placed a child’s life in danger then the state could intervene to protect the child (Woolley, 2005, p.

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