BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS
Rev. Dr. Michael T. Welhous
Does “abstaining” from blood mean “eating” or “transfusing?” Decide for yourself.
"Wherefore my judgment is, that we trouble not them that from among the Gentiles turn to God; but that we write unto them, that they abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood. For Moses from generations of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves also shall tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, it shall be well with you. Fare ye well."
(Acts 15:19-29)The word "abstain," Strong's #567, is apechomai: to hold oneself off, i.e. refrain, cease. Compare the terms: eat: 1. to chew and swallow (food); 2. devour; consume. (The Scribner-Bantam Dictionary). transfuse: 1. to transmit; impart; instill, as a desire for knowledge; 2. (medically) to transfer (blood) from the blood vessels of one person or animal to those of another. (The Scribner-Bantam Dictionary).
“Chewing and swallowing” vs. “transferring from one blood vessel to another.” What exactly does the Bible say? “Eating” or transfusing?” Does it say, “chewing and swallowing” OR “transferring from one blood-vessel to another”?
Read Carefully:
Genesis 9:3-4
"Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As the green herb, I have given everything to you. But flesh with the life of it, the blood of it, you shall not eat."Leviticus 3:17
"It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood."Deuteronomy 12:15-16
"Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth as water."Deuteronomy 12:23
"Only be sure that you don't eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh."1 Samuel 14:31-35
"They struck of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. The people were very faint; and the people flew on the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and killed them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood. Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against Yahweh, in that they eat with the blood. He said, you have dealt treacherously: roll a great stone to me this day. Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and tell them, Bring me here every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and kill them here, and eat; and don't sin against Yahweh in eating with the blood. All the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and killed them there. Saul built an altar to Yahweh: the same was the first altar that he built to Yahweh."In each of these references, the same Hebrew word for “eat” is used: It is Strong's #398, akal: to eat (lit. or fig.): consume, devour, dine, feed (with)
“Abstaining” from blood. “Eating” or "Transfusing?” Decide for yourself, based on what the Scriptures actually say.
The lives of your family and friends, and even yourself, are far too important to risk, when God's word is so clear on this issue. Do not let any anyone -- an individual nor an organization -- convince you to adhere to something that Scripture does not command. "The blood is the life," and it just may be that you have an opportunity to help save a life with the blood.
M.W.