Just-Cos-You-Feel-It-Doesn't-Mean-It's-There

The extreme doctrine that determines life or death has been changed! So many wonderful, beautiful people have died because of the Watchtower Society’s policies against blood transfusions. Ten years ago, I wrote about a 27-year-old Canadian woman, Éloïse Dupuis, who had complications during childbirth and needed a cesarean section. Her doctors told her she had lost so much blood that she needed a transfusion or she would die, and her child would not have a mother to raise her. But she was a devoted Jehovah’s Witness who feared the phobia programming around blood transfusions. Her child has now been without a mother for ten years. When I first wrote Combating Cult Mind Control in 1988, I didn’t realize the Jehovah’s Witnesses were an authoritarian mind-control cult until former elders and members reached out to me and said, “How come you didn’t write about us? It fits your complete BITE Model.” Randy Waters was one of the former elders who educated me. The Watchtower took Biblical verses about Jewish dietary laws (don't eat shrimp, lobster, etc., and drain the blood of animals before you eat the meat) and used Jewish theology and twisted it to preach that receiving a blood transfusion was a sin against God. People could lose their standing and be disfellowshipped if they disobeyed, followed their own conscience, and lived. I’ve counseled countless people who left the group, including people who let their children and loved ones die because of this cult belief. There were even cases where children were kidnapped out of hospitals to stop doctors and judges from intervening by giving blood transfusions. Now the policy has changed, and I’m thrilled about that. I always want authoritarian cults to reform extreme policies. But there is also enormous tragedy and trauma in realizing that people lost loved ones because they were following a belief that the governing body has now changed. If you or someone you love was affected by the Watchtower’s blood transfusion policy, I’d really like to hear your experience in the comments.