Insight on the News
“Most Dangerous Substance”
Lawsuits filed by patients who have contracted a deadly disease via blood transfusions have introduced a new level of concern to many blood banks. By mid 1989 upwards of 300 lawsuits had reportedly been filed against blood banks in the United States. Gilbert Clark, executive director of the American Association of Blood Banks, acknowledged that “the public wants perfectly safe blood,” but he admitted that it cannot be guaranteed.
Similarly, The Boston Globe Magazine reports that blood specialist Dr. Charles Huggins admits that blood “must be considered unavoidably non-safe.” He describes blood as “the most dangerous substance we use in medicine.” Since early 1989 the number of infectious diseases blood banks typically test for has increased to five (HTLV-I, associated with adult T-cell leukemia, syphilis, hepatitis B, AIDS, and hepatitis C). However, according to American Red Cross authority S. Gerald Sandler, “it seems that it’s only a matter of time until we find another rare disease spread by blood transfusion.” Despite such lethal potential, about four million North Americans are expected to receive blood transfusions during 1990. According to newspaper columnist W. Gifford-Jones, the problem is that “except for Jehovah’s Witnesses, most patients never discuss the possibility of blood transfusion.”
For decades Jehovah’s Witnesses have faithfully ‘abstained from blood’ in any form as God’s Word commands at Acts 15:28, 29; 21:25. The protection this has afforded them from dreadful diseases transmitted through blood transfusions only exemplifies the correctness of their obedience to Jehovah God’s laws.
Disappear Unnoticed?
Joachim Cardinal Meisner, a controversial figure when he was installed last February as the new archbishop of Cologne, Germany, recently said that his greatest fear is that the church might one day “disappear—and perhaps go unnoticed by society.” According to the German newspaper Rheinische Post, Meisner said: “My soul is depressed that society has come to view the church as insignificant.” A possible reason, he noted, is that “we talk too much about the earth and not enough about heaven, too much about the present and too little about eternity.”
By allying themselves with the political and commercial elements of the earth instead of trusting in heavenly power to solve the world’s problems, the religions of Christendom have indeed belied their claim of representing God’s interests. This will have serious consequences. According to the Bible, all false religion will soon disappear—an event that will not go unnoticed by “the kings of the earth” and “the traveling merchants of the earth,” who will weep as a result of this development. Hence, lovers of righteousness need to heed the words: “Get out of [false religion] . . . if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.”—Revelation 18:4, 9, 11.
An End in Sight
“State slaughter” is how some newspapers describe murders committed by governments or organizations protected by them. In fact, in 1988, says Amnesty International spokesman Gerry O’Connel, “there was an escalation of violations of human rights, which has continued in 1989.” He then adds: “Killings in violation of universally recognized laws have reached an all-time high.”
According to Amnesty’s annual report, the figures are spine-chilling: During 1988 between 50,000 and 100,000 people in 29 nations were slaughtered under the complacent gaze of the State. Among these were children, old people, and women, whose only crime was that of belonging to political or ethnic minorities or living in areas contested by opposing factions. Those responsible for such killings include death squads, revolutionaries, traffickers in narcotics, and other groups using violence for political purposes. “Often the State itself hides behind armed groups in order to eliminate physically opponents and awkward elements,” states La Repubblica.
It is not without reason, therefore, that Jehovah’s inspired Word likens human government to a “wild beast.” (Revelation 13:2) However, such politically motivated ferocity will not last indefinitely. As Psalm 92:7 says: “When the wicked ones sprout as the vegetation and all the practicers of what is hurtful blossom forth, it is that they may be annihilated forever.” God’s heavenly Kingdom in the hands of Christ Jesus, the “Prince of Peace,” will do this.—Isaiah 9:6; Daniel 2:44.