Acts 15:20

[bambina13]

In this passage – “It is my judgment, therefore,
that we ought to stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God,
but tell them by letter to avoid pollution from idols,
unlawful marriage, the meat of strangled animals, and blood.” – what exactly does the reference to blood mean? A friend of mine is a Jehovah Witness, and as your know, they believe it refers to transfusions.

 

[TimothyH]

The four rules were part of a letter sent by the Apostles of the Church in response to a specific situation in Syrian Antioch in the year 48 AD.

The Christians in Syrian Antioch were being told that they had to circumcise their children and that they had to observe the Levitical laws of the Old Testament in order to be saved. The letter says that this is not so, that obedience to the law of Moses is not required for salvation, but that four disciplines are required in order to live peacefully among the Hebrew Christians.

The four things laid out - pollution from idols, unlawful marriage, the meat of strangled animals, and blood - were the four requirements for Gentiles to be able to live among the Jews way back in Leviticus 17 through 22. This delighted the Gentile Christians because they didn’t have to circumcise. Many Gentile Christians were Greek and the exposed glans of the penis was vulgar to them. This also delighted the Hebrew Christians as the same rules about Gentiles living among the Jews from Old Testament times was upheld in first century Antioch. It was a brilliant solution to the problem of Hebrew and Gentile Christians inability to live together peacefully.

Blood was used in pagan rituals. That is what blood in the letter refers to. But that is really besides the point. The letter to the Christians in Syrian Antioch is about Gentiles and Hebrews getting along together, living peacefully side by side. In instructing the Gentiles to observe the four precepts of the Levitical law in order to live among the Jews, the Church satisfied both Gentiles and Hebrews, and brought peace to the largest Christian community on earth at the time.

-Tim-

 

[Cachonga]

It seems like this was put to you as an arguement against blood transfusion by the JW’s. The problem with the claim made by JW’s is that the restriction to blood from Leviticus was to EATING blood (or meat with the blood). This is why the Isrealites drain the blood from animals before cooking.

A blood transfusion does not involve eating blood! The two actions (eating/transfusing) are two completely different acts. In the one case (eating), the blood passes through the digestive system, has nutrients extractedm and is eliminated from the body. In the second case (transfusion), the blood is put directly into the blood stream, where it continues to function as God intended blood to function.

Jesus said, “There is no greater love than that a man lay down his life for his friend.” (paraphrased). I have “laid down” many pints of my life for many unknown friends over the years (hint - give blood!). On a personal note, if it had not been for transfusions, I would have been dead many, many years ago!

Hope this is helpful!

Pax!

 

[jcrichton]

In this passage – “It is my judgment, therefore,
that we ought to stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God,
but tell them by letter to avoid pollution from idols,
unlawful marriage, the meat of strangled animals, and blood.” – what exactly does the reference to blood mean? A friend of mine is a Jehovah Witness, and as your know, they believe it refers to transfusions.

Hi, bambina!

…as it has already been explained… a discipline held by the Mosaic Law as required by God. There also was a list of animals that were not to be eaten. When speaking on consumption here’s what Jesus states:

**15 Nothing that goes into someone from outside can make that person unclean; it is the things that come out of someone that make that person unclean. 16 Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!’ 17 When he had gone into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples questioned him about the parable. 18 He said to them, 'Even you – don’t you understand? Can’t you see that nothing that goes into someone from outside can make that person unclean, 19 because it goes not into the heart but into the stomach and passes into the sewer? 20 And he went on, ‘It is what comes out of someone that makes that person unclean. 21 For it is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.’ **(St. Mark 7:15-23)

…and here’s St. Peter’s experience:

9 Next day, while they were still on their journey and had only a short distance to go before reaching the town, Peter went to the housetop at about the sixth hour to say his prayers. 10 He felt hungry and was looking forward to his meal, but before it was ready he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven thrown open and something like a big sheet being let down to earth by its four corners; 12 it contained every kind of animal, reptile and bird. 13 A voice then said to him, ‘Now, Peter, kill and eat!’ 14 But Peter answered, ‘Certainly not, Lord; I have never yet eaten anything profane or unclean.’ 15 Again, a second time, the voice spoke to him, ‘What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane.’ (Acts 10:9-15)

There are reasons why certain provisions of the Mosaic Law were established and, at the Coming of the Messiah, most were set aside–while some, at the Church’s infancy, were practiced or held (I believe these were part of Jesus’ warning that He had much to reveal to them but they could not stand it then–St. John 16:12-15) in order for better coexistence with the Jews and Jew-converts.

What the Jehovah Witnesses seem to not comprehend, besides Jesus’ Word, is that science (medical) was never abolished by Christ and that it developed with greater and greater understanding and abilities… and as Scripture tells us: All wisdom comes from the Lord (Sirach 1:1).

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[DelsonJacobs]

In this passage – “It is my judgment, therefore,
that we ought to stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God,
but tell them by letter to avoid pollution from idols,
unlawful marriage, the meat of strangled animals, and blood.” – what exactly does the reference to blood mean? A friend of mine is a Jehovah Witness, and as your know, they believe it refers to transfusions.

The verse cannot refer to “transfusions” as blood transfusions were not invented at the time this statement was written. The technique was not developed and employed until the 17th century, so this statement has to refer to something else, right?

It does. It refers to keeping kosher dietary rules. The reference to “strangled animals and blood” is a request to Gentile Christians to be considerate of their Jewish brothers when they eat together at table. While Gentiles ate animals that were slaughtered and bled any way they wished, kosher laws require that animals strangled to death cannot be used as food. And if animals were not bled according to strict kosher rules (removal of certain veins and fat and adding salt), the meat was still believed to have “blood” in it.

Gentile Christians were aware of these prohibitions and customs. This is why the expression “strangled animals and blood” is so terse or brief. It was almost an idiomatic expression in the first century, a reference to Jewish kosher food.

It is of interest that the prohibition is not that Gentile Christians adopt a kosher diet. Read as a whole the New Testament is strictly against forcing assimilation of Gentiles to Jewish custom and vice versa. This was an official statement by the apostles in Jerusalem, and the context shows that the Gentiles were not being told to avoid their foods for all time, just for the sake of full communion with Jewish Christians when they came together.

That being said, the prohibition on eating “blood” was not a permanent one. If it was then it would have meant that Gentiles HAD to keep kosher for all time since that was what was being referred to, not just drinking or digesting blood. And since the expression has to do with preparing and serving kosher meat, it can’t be used to prohibit blood transfusions.