Blood Transfusion: Is It Allowed?
“It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.” Leviticus 3:17
On the basis of this text, some have taken a position against blood transfusions. But the position is entirely untenable in the light of these considerations:
- The prohibition applied only to animal blood and fowls (Leviticus 7:25-27). It does not
apply to humans because we don’t eat humans. - God gave proper instruction for slaughtering an animal or fowl so as not to eat any blood
(Leviticus 17: 13, 14). - God’s prohibition against eating blood also applies to Christians (Acts 15:20).
- That which is eaten goes through the digestion into the stomach (Matthew 15:17). Blood
transfusions go directly to the veins and thence to the cells. - If we love our neighbor as ourselves, can we watch him die for lack of life-giving blood
(Matthew 22:39)? - Jesus came to save men’s lives (Luke 9:56); why shouldn’t we?
- Since the life is in the blood (Deuteronomy 12:23), Christ condoned the giving of blood to
save a life (John 15:13).
— Text explained by Pastor Crews