Is there a prohibition against Christians eating blood?

RickJ

What do you mean "eat blood"?

Would eating a rare steak count?

Starman

To eat is to ingest. To ingest is to take into the body. Some say that there is a fine distinction between the two though and point out that eating involves
digestion while taking into the body, such as via blood transfusion is somehow different. So there definitely is a controversy as far as meaning. Rare steak if bleeding I think would probably come under such a prohibition.
Jehovah's Witnesses understand it to mean taking into the body either via the mouth or via transfusion.

There is also a controversy concerning the prohibition's applicability to Christians by those who disagree. They claim that the law was done away with and with it the prohibition of ingesting blood.

Leviticus 17:10
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.


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.

This is countered by stating that the law prohibiting ingestion of blood was given to mankind prior to the Mosaic law and therefore was not abolished.

Genesis 9:4
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

Its applicability to Christians is further buttressed by the reference to the following scripture found in the New Testament:

“to abstain from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.” (Acts 15:19-21) NWT

The reason for avoiding the meat of strangled animals was because they had not been bled.

So those are more or less the viewpoints that are involved.

The controversy becomes more intense when blood transfusions are offered as treatment and the Witnesses refuse to use that medical alternative because they view it as a violation of God's law. So they request substitutes that work just as well or almost as well and sometimes even better.

But this offends those who hold a different viewpoint because they don't think that person should be willing to die in order to avoid the treatment whereas Jehovah's Witnesses are willing to die if necessary. But this willingness to die isn't restricted to ingestion of blood. It is a willingness to die in order to keep integrity reference to many other of God's commandments as well. That's why many were tortured to death in concentration camps in Hitler's Germany because the Witnesses refused to agree with his anti-semetic Aryan supremacy ideology.

But it's willingness to die in reference to the blood issue that attracts the attention.

BTW
Those who take umbrage with Jehovah's Witnesses willingness to die in order to stay faithful to God's laws as they understand them were and still are the very ones who are very willing to die for their country in order to stay faithful to it as citizens. Just a thought.

31pumpkin

Well, Starman, therein lies the differences of interpretation of scripture.

I can't say I know much about Jehovah Witnesses, but I'll comment on the blood question lightly.

Christians I know of don't restrict themselves to eating unleavened bread either. Another old Testament law.

Also now look at Matthew 15:10 -

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him' unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "

So if you are grouping "ingesting & infusing" as the same rule - I can't see the point of the restrictions.

Didn't God tell Peter in Acts to "kill and eat"?

But of course you have your right to interpret the scripture according to your beliefs.

I hope the differences are small enough not to matter in the great scheme of things in Christianity.

Starman

Thanks for your response:

I posted the question bercause I referred someone to the JWs site and the then irrelevant issue of blood transfusions came up. Since that issue deserved a post of its own I provided it for those who feel they must express their opinions in reference to it. Also, to show that we don't need to divert threads from topics but can simply place the subject under a thread of its own.

About the blood issue, my concept of God's personality is one which perhaps doesn't quite mesh on some fine points with the majority of those who attend religious services who tend to see him as being humorless and dictatorial. In fact, I haven't attended a religious service for most of the past thirty years. But I have gained certain valuable insights which I consider representative of God's personality and which I try to share with others. since it would be selfish to keep them to myself.

In short, I am not taking one side or the other on the blood issue but simply posting to see what the different opinions are. I always do learn something by listening. Thanx for the feedback.

BTW
I don't officially represent the WTBTS or JWs religious views on this forum. So those familar with the WTBTS will notice certain areas in which they might feel that I slightly diverge although I consider the divergeance a clarification but they might not. I also consider the JWS understanding of the Bible the most accurate.

Jonegy

Hi Starman

I notice that all your quotes come from the old testament and is where the Jews probably get their custom of eating only "kosher" food.

I could discuss this further but I'm fed up of posts my being pulled

Jesushelper76

Yes there is. Blood contains life. We are told never to eat anything that still has blood in it.

There are certain religions that take a certain quote from the bible out of context meaning that they refuse blood tranfusions which I think is a load of ----.

The context is for food. Not for medical purposes. Which God created very smart people, doctors and scientists to help with life medical emergencies. So Excepting blood for life threatnening situations is perfectly good. Excepting meat with blood in it is not.

Joe

magprob

Good eye Jonegy!

So do you mean to tell me that if I eat a big, rare T-bone, I am commiting a sin? Everyone that partakes in a rare steak is going to hell? Come on. Sorry, but I just can't hack them Matza balls! Carp in sour creme just aint gonna get it either. Cut off it's horns, hose it down alittle and send it out here. Oh, a little A-1 please...makes the blood spicey!

Jonegy

Bit off topic - but on that particular subject - I have about half of a "black pudding" (sausage made from blood fat and herbs) in the fridge atthis moment.

Jesushelper76

Yes, many people partake in the event of rare steak or medium steak. I do believe it was meant as a safety issue as well, because lets face it. Many diseases and illnesses are passed through blood. Look at mad cow disease which caused lots of deaths in the past years.

Joe