Witnessign to Jehovah's Witnesses on the Issues of Life and Death Research Paper

Witnessign to Jehovah's Witnesses on the Issues of Life and Death Decisions - Research Paper Example Modern civilization now puts its emphasis on the respect for individuals and this includes the ideas, beliefs and ideologies of a person. For a better world to exist, this would be an ideal notion that everyone might agree with and even advocate. However, there is also the fact to be considered that there are differences among individuals that usually make it difficult for an ideal world to be had. Individuals in a family have different perspectives which usually cause misunderstandings. Likewise, individuals in organizations, fraternities or even churches have this similar problem. No matter how similar people’s beliefs are, there are always points of differences where contradictions among members occur and these should be understood and respected to achieve the old adage, ‘Live and let live.’ This paper will look into the situation of a couple who are faced with a decision considering the medical condition of the young woman as dictated by their beliefs. The wom an suffers from severe pain and abdominal cramps and is found to have ectopic pregnancy. The doctor explains the situation and the remedy and warns the couple that if the woman does not undergo the operation, blood transfusion and other procedures needed to be done, she would die. Being members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the couple believe that the entire procedure is entirely against their beliefs. So, the question of whether they will push through with the procedure to save the young wife’s life or not receive medical attention at all and face the sting of death, is upon their shoulders. The following discussion will offer the possible result of this decision-making the couple is to make. Blood transfusion is one of the major concerns of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs and in fact to this day, the most debated among its beliefs. It is believed by critiques that such belief reflects their rejection of modern science and the extreme literalism of their exegesis (Horton, 2006). Witnesses prohibit members from receiving blood transfusions based on Acts 15:20 (Schmidt, 1993) so that in this view, the couple would most likely decline the idea of the operation to save the life of the woman. Spiritual beliefs could be difficult to debate about when such circumstances occur so that the medical team should be as well versed with different belief systems as they are with the technicalities of their profession. With such a weapon, they can try to convince patients to concede to whatever is needed to make an operation successful however; they should also know their limitations and boundaries so as not to desecrate what patients consider important for them. Most physicians with their educational training would desire to save a life and in the aforementioned situation, would like to save the life of the wife. A medical practitioner could probably try to convince the couple by looking closely at their basis for their belief found in Leviticus 1 7:11-14. It can be noted that the scripture prohibits men to eat blood and blood transfusion is not the same as eating. It is the desire of a loving God for His people to live in health and wellness and therefore would want the woman to live healthy and well. The same scripture claims that blood is life (NIV, 2005) that is why blood transfusion is a means of giving life to the patient. In addition, according to James Sire, the Witnesses’ argument about Acts 1520 is based on a false analogy. He agrees that blood transfusion is not the same as eating blood. He even claims that it is far different from intravenous feeding because the blood goes straight to the blood vessels and does not undergo the process food does, passing through the stomach to be processed before being distributed to the different parts of the body through the blood (Schmidt, 1993). One of the reasons that Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusion is the fact that there have been those who underwen t blood transfusion