Father faces off against Jehovah's Witnesses (ritual, followers, blood, bible)

[Feathers in Hair]

Thankfully, the Newsbot has been cancelled. (It was an automated process news-updater.) The reasons had to do with the the type of post that people are replying to. (Please also note the date: 10-20-2004, 02:00 AM)

[Karl R]

Originally Posted by Giovanni20

People dont seem to understand that it says clearly in the bible that we must not consume or take blood into our body. Thats the problem. People want to do whatever they want and only follow the rules that benefit them.

Jesus also clearly stated that nothing that goes into a man makes him unclean. It's what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.

The difference in beliefs come about because of which statements we feel are more important.

Like SoyLeche, I feel that people have the right to refuse transfusions. I don't believe a parent should be allowed to refuse a life-saving treatment on the behalf of a child who is capable of expressing an opinion, but I still feel that they have the right to persuade the child to refuse the treatment (even though I disagree with their beliefs).

[Runt]

There are several issues other than religion to be considered here. The girl who died was a child, only 16 years old. Who had the right to make medical decisions for her? Was she old enough to make them herself (which she did)? Should her mother AND father have had a say in her decision (which they didn't; her mother supported her choice, her father did not, and medical treatment was withheld)? Apparently the first court cases determined that the girl was NOT old enough to make the decision for herself. She was made a ward of the province and for a period of time she was forced to accept blood transfusions. However, when the transfusions proved unsuccessful, the court eventually reversed its decision. The girl was moved to an undisclosed location---WITHOUT THE FATHER'S KNOWLEDGE---where she continued a transfusion-less treatment and eventually died.

There are also questions of whether or not a religion is legally allowed to provide religious instruction to a child without his or her parents' consent. However, as far as I can tell, the man WAS a Jehovah Witness until this issue came up... so my guess is that, if parental permission is required for religious instruction in Canada, he probably gave his consent.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/726-_.html
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/archives/00000080.html
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/820-.html

[DeepShadow]

...all I know is I'm so glad the NewsBot has been redirected. I was so tired of "theologically, Jehovah's Witnesses (or Mormons, et al.) are a cult of Christianity."

I think I may just frubal the Newbot for that switch.

[Runt]

The anthropological or sociological use of the word "cult" is not actually a negative thing, but rather is nearly synonomous to "sect". However, I guess I have to admit that the article may not have been using the word in the academic sense... *grumbles*

[CaptainXeroid]

Originally Posted by FeathersinHair

Thankfully, the Newsbot has been cancelled. (It was an automated process news-updater.) The reasons had to do with the the type of post that people are replying to. (Please also note the date: 10-20-2004, 02:00 AM)

Thank you for this reminder as many people have signed up and stayed active since the NewsBot was de-activated. I think the biggest problem was that it would pull mulitple accounts of the same story and start a different thread for each one. I think it's much more productive and interesting when real people start threads and kinda steer the discussion/debate.