Introduction
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The Watchtower Society, founded in 1881 in the United States, today represents all Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world. This organization was registered in 1884 as Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society (changed to: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania). In 1879, C. T. Russell (1852-1916), the founder of the Society, began publishing the magazine the Watchtower, which Jehovah’s Witnesses use until today. This semi-monthly (formerly a monthly magazine) contains and provides almost all of the teachings and guidelines for the publishers of this organization (published in over 300 languages!). The entire organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is now controlled by the so-called Governing Body, consisting of several people, whose legal and publishing tool is the aforementioned Society.
The Watchtower Society quite often changes its interpretation of the Bible, teachings and habits. Along with Szymon Matusiak, we have pointed them out in our book Zmienne nauki Świadków Jehowy (2012), in which we discussed hundreds of doctrinal changes made between 1879-2011 year (English electronic version Ever-changing teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The most important changes in the doctrine of the Watchtower Society in the years 1879-2015, Gdańsk 2016).
However, very few people realize that the Watchtower Society has repeatedly changed since the early 1920s its approach towards medicine and treatment. These changes introduced by Jehovah’s Witnesses shocked themselves, including their families which did not belong to the organization, as well as public opinion.
In our study, we will clearly point out that this variability in medical issues makes the Watchtower Society an incompetent organization in this field, and especially regarding its determination of refusing blood transfusions.
In this book we also discuss the problem of vaccinations, transplants and blood fractions. It is only after looking at these issues that everyone can judge whether Jehovah’s Witnesses are a reliable religious group in any medical matter and how much their medical habits are made on the basis of science. The Watchtower Society usually, as we will prove, first develops a new religious motive for its change and then tries to support it with medical authorities.
It is also worthwhile to introduce at this step a short extract from the Watchtower Society publications to illustrate how this organization reasoned its changes of beliefs (the so-called “new light”) and what happens to those who would not accept them:
Wrong attitudes, beliefs, and practices have gradually been cleared out, and any who have chosen to cling to these have gone with them. (Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom 1993 p. 641).
Why have there been changes over the years in the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses? (...) Increased knowledge often requires adjustments in one’s thinking. Jehovah’s Witnesses are willing humbly to make such adjustments. (Reasoning From the Scriptures 1989 p. 205).
We, then, must avoid the snare of jealously trying to protect our own cherished ideas or ways that are not solidly based on God’s Word. We do well to accept the fresh light shed on the Word of God through the channel that Jehovah is using today. (The Watchtower October 15, 2002 p. 30, emphasis added).
In our publication we skip the discussion of religious issues and arguments from the Bible, which Jehovah’s Witnesses invoke to justify their changes in the field of medicine. Our intention is to solely show their behavior, determination and unscriptural argumentation.
We want to help the medical community to learn more about the attitude of Jehovah’s Witnesses toward medical treatments to contrast this with what is being conveyed to them by the so-called Hospital Liaison Committees (established in 1979), along with the basic and new publications of the Watchtower Society.
We believe that our study will allow others to understand a bit a regular Jehovah’s Witness who is influenced by the changing teachings of the Watchtower Society and the Governing Body that oversees it.
Note: This book in the Polish edition is available for free in electronic form at the following address:
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