While I would love to have the discussion with you I think I’ll use it as a way to connect with my uncle. I get to see him very rarely these days, and it often seems like we have nothing in common to talk about (as always happens when children grow up). This way I’ll have questions I can ask him, and I’ll get to learn something while he shares with me.

Ben: Thanks for your comment. It was a very hard week for us, and the only thing we could talk about was my uncle. And it’s not very polite to tell someone to stop telling you something they themselves don’t understand (i.e. the blood transfusions), so I had to listen to the same things over and over.

My uncle is doing better–I suppose. They’ve let him go home since the bleeding has stopped and there is nothing more they can do for him. My grandma is with him today, and he’s got a great support group in his church, so I’m sure that he’ll be forced to take it easy, even though he doesn’t want to. He was complaining about not being able to go camping this weekend, actually.

The first of which, and the most important, is because God considers blood very sacred. The second being the risks involved with blood transfussions (though I completely realize it is getting safer and safer as the methods get better).

If you’d like to have a discussion about this, I’d be more than happy to talk to you about it. I consider the Internet the worst possible means of communication on such topics.

Thanks for having an open mind, and for supporting your Uncle in his decision.

I understand it’s a personal choice for my uncle, and I accept it even if the rest of the family doesn’t. When I said it was a bit of “religious dogma,” I didn’t mean it in a derogetory way. I was just at a loss for words. What I ment was that everyone who talks about Witnesses, the only thing they can remember about the religion is that in general, they don’t take blood transfusions, and no one knows why. It’s just a random fact people can throw out there, like knowing that Mormons believe they’ll get their own planet when they die.

(And I don’t know if he wouldn’t have not taken a transfusion if he wasn’t a Witness, because he had had blood transfusions before he converted for a serious accident he’d had when younger. But, I know peoples values change as they grow, and his finding god later in life obviously changed his values.)

He’s doing better now. The bleeding has stopped, and as long as he starts producing more blood, he should do well. Although, there is always a chance it could take a turn for the worst, like any medical problems people have.

I am more than sure that, if asked, your Uncle would be more than willing to explain to you his reasoning for not accepting blood. I think that after only a few moments, you will realize that his decision is based on much meditation, prayerful study of God’s word, and research that he himself has done. I believe you will see that his decision in this matter is not rash, nor dogmatic in anyway. In fact, even if he was not a Jehovah’s Witness, I’m pretty sure his decision would remain the same.

Lovely writeup of this story. Oh, and welcome to 9rules. You are a great addition to our community.