BLOOD TRANSFUSION-Transfusing Blood Is Not Forbidden In The Bible -It Is A Cure Methodology Proffered By The Holy Spirit.

Last week, news from some FM radio stations, sprang some surprise to listeners who heard that a 'Faith' church in Accra refused blood transfusion to an anaemic sick member who had been admitted in a hospital. And the end result was that the sick lady miserably died.

The argument of that church was that it does not approve of blood transfusion because the Bible does not sanction it in its teachings, and therefore it is a sin to give blood to a sick person. Within the context of this church's logic, can someone ask whether a laboratory test or DNA test which require an extraction or removal of some specks of blood (which act is not specifically prescribed in the Bible) be described as sinful practices that must be prohibited by Christians? On the whole, this is indeed ridiculous thinking of that Faith church.

About nine years ago, news of the death of two very young children, Ruth Wodzro and Stephen Asare which occurred at the Suhum Government Hospital, as a result of their having denied blood transfusion by their parents, was another shocker to many people in the society.

Is it really true that God is against the medical practice of blood transfusion meant to cure fatal anaemic patients or to save crucial lives? The parents of the two deceased children coincidentally belong to two religious sects -Saviour's Church of Ghana, and Jehovah's Witness Organisation, both of which prohibit blood transfusion to their members.

For its part, the Saviour's Church headquartered at Osiem in the Eastern Region, considers blood transfusion as not necessary from a spiritual standpoint rather than from any Biblical text. Being allegedly a spiritualistic healing denomination (said to mix Western occultism with Old Testament rituals) unlike the Pentecostal-charismatics, the Saviour's Church holds the belief that since it is God only who can heal, any sick member (however fatally anaemic) must be prayed upon for God's own spiritual blood transfusion. This can be true. But do they have the spiritual power or verve to effect blood transfusion in anaemic patients? This is where they deceive themselves!

Slightly at variance with this God-the-blood-supplier faith, is the creed of the Jehovah's Witness sect which bases its position upon some scriptural texts that God is against blood transfusion. The Jehovah's Witness sect derives its premise from some Old and New Testament quotations. And particularly relevant here is Leviticus 17:10 : 'And whatsoever men 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'.

By context, the blood-prohibition refers specifically to what obtains from animals, not men. But the ethos of the passage is physically or 'skilfully' linked with the import of the New Testament Acts 15:28-29: 'For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us…. that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled …..'

So, to the third-generation President of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Nathan H. Knorr(1905-1977) who was the immediate successor of Joseph F. Rutherford (1869-1924), and distance successor of the founder Charles Taz Russel (1852-1916), it was easy to interpret those Bible texts in terms of what he read from the Encyclopedia Americana: 'the blood is a quicker and shorter road to feed all ill-nourished body than eating food which turns into blood after several changes'.

Nathan Knorr's argument then was: if the blood can nourish the body much as food nutrients do, then allowing oneself to be transfused with blood, amounts to eating blood (to nourish oneself) which the Bible allegedly prohibits in those quoted texts. On this view, President Nathan Knorr and his 'Government Body' at the American headquarters called Bethel, situated at Brooklyn, New York, strictly placed, in 1945, a ban on blood transfusion upon all Jehovah's Witnesses. Does that mean that his predecessors sinned to go to hell because they allowed blood transfusion to be practised? You can see the irony in this whole issue!

The injunction published in their Awake magazine which first came out in 1946, required all Witnesses to 'seek eternal life' by paying respect to 'the sanctity of blood and to conform themselves to God's righteous ruling concerning this vital matter'. The order is still enforced on all the 17 million-plus Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide. And it is known to have caused the deaths of some unfortunate patients. In Ghana, within the ranks of the over 180,000 Witnesses (Watchtower magazine, January 1, 1996 estimated the number of Jehovah's Witnesses in Ghana to be 174,175) blood-transfusion related deaths are said to have been occurring now and then.

In my home town, Breman Asikuma in the Central Region, not less than seven such 'blood denial' deaths were reported in the early 60's, by Dr Groosche of the Catholic hospital there -within a span of 18 months!

Some relatives of these deceased Jehovah's Witnesses explained that they could have been disfellowshipped had they allowed blood transfusion. One Jehovah's Witness strangely quipped that since blood is the soul of man, to add one's blood to another person's blood means adding part of one's soul to the other person's soul. Gashes! …. So funny! In this case, he concluded funnily: 'on the Resurrection day, one would be questioned for appearing before Jehovah God with one-and-a-half soul'. But is the soul, a divisible entity? How can part of it be added to another soul? This is a ridiculous puerile hypothesis that excites laughter and mockery!

But perhaps a more sober defence of their position can be found in a sorrowful saga reported by Professor William Cumberland of the US ('Caring and Curing'). In it, a seven year-old daughter of Darrel and Rhoda Labrenz was in 1951 dying in Chicago for lack of blood. But the mother explained away her religious stand: 'If my baby dies, I'll feel sorrowful. But it would be bearable because of my beliefs. If she died, she would have a chance for the new earth (referring to the future millennium paradise, not the present heaven), but if we break Jehovah's laws (by resorting to blood transfusion) we feel we will lose not only our chance but the baby's for the new earth'. What a ludicrous rationalisation!

The baby was however saved by a court action prosecuted by the hospital authorities for blood transfusion on her. The court ruled: 'Laws, while they cannot interfere with religious belief and opinion, may be constitutionally appropriate for interfering with religious practices'.

Here in Ghana, such initiative may be at the discretion of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Parliament, and the lady who died at the hospital in Accra last week for lack of blood transfusion could have been saved if the Human Rights Commission had been prompted to make an emergency ruling. In fact, blood transfusion which is now a cure custom of doctors is a consequence of intellectual research which was spiritually informed by the gift of knowledge which the Holy Spirit gives. Briefly put, blood transfusion is ordained and blessed by God to be used to save people. And remember, the name Jesus means 'Saviour' -a person who saves.

Meanwhile, theologians, Bible scholars and pastors who have given opinions on the issue say that the blood prohibitions quoted in the Bible texts are those peculiarly concerning 'animal blood', not human blood. A theologian argues: 'How can blood transfusion mean the same as blood eating? Do we eat with our skins? How can God who has opened men's minds to a way of curing, through blood transfusion, at the same time forbid it to allow men to die? People who refuse blood transfusion act on sheer ignorance of Biblical knowledge as obtained in pneumatological studies.

God is a restorer of life both through the spiritual blood of Christ and physical blood of voluntary donors. God doesn't forbid blood transfusion. No passage in the Bible bans blood transfusion.

Apostle Kwamena Ahinful