Organ transplants

Source: Josey Anthony

The Watchtower now permits organ transplants. But that permission came only after 13 years of forbidding them, labeling them “cannibalism,” and causing unnecessary deaths among loyal Jehovah’s Witnesses. This reversal is one of the clearest examples that independent thinking inside the organization is discouraged — and why unquestioning obedience can be dangerous.

1. The Original Watchtower Teaching (1967–1980):

Organ Transplants = Cannibalism

For over a decade, the Watchtower taught that receiving a human organ was equivalent to eating human flesh and therefore condemned by God.

“Those who submit to such operations are thus living off the flesh of another human. That is cannibalistic.” — Watchtower, November 15, 1967, pp. 702–704

Jehovah’s Witnesses were required to refuse:

• kidney transplants
• liver transplants
• cornea transplants
• bone marrow
• heart transplants

The belief was that God Himself forbade these procedures. As a result, Witnesses around the world died when lifesaving transplants could have kept them alive.

• Parents died and left children behind.
• Children died while parents obeyed the organization.
• Doctors pleaded, but Witnesses refused — fully convinced that accepting an organ would cost them eternal life.

2. The Silent Reversal (1980):

Organ Transplants Now “A Matter of Conscience”

In 1980, without any new scriptural reasoning, without admitting fault, and without addressing the many lives lost, the Governing Body overturned the doctrine.

“The transplant of human tissue is a matter for conscientious decision … It is not a violation of God’s law.” — Watchtower, March 15, 1980, p. 31

Just like that, a medical procedure once labeled “cannibalistic” and “sinful” suddenly became acceptable.

• No apology.
• No accountability.
• No acknowledgment of those who died.

A life-or-death doctrine changed with a sentence — and thousands of Witnesses never heard the full story behind it.

3. Why This Matters — And What It Reveals

When the organization forbids something as “pagan,” “sinful,” or “against Jehovah,” Witnesses obey — even when it costs health, freedom, or life itself. But when the organization changes its mind, suddenly the forbidden becomes acceptable.

This has happened with:

• Wedding rings (once banned as pagan, now allowed)
• Toasting (once forbidden as pagan, now permitted)
• Organ transplants (once cannibalistic, now a conscience matter)

So, regarding holidays:

If the Governing Body reversed its rulings tomorrow on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, or birthdays, Witnesses would immediately follow — not because of personal conscience, but because the organization told them to.

• That is not independent thinking.
• That is not spiritual freedom.
• That is obedience to a changing human authority whose decisions have already proven deadly.

The Core Question

Who decides what is “pagan,” “sinful,” or “permitted”?

Jehovah — or eight men in New York whose rulings change?

The organ transplant reversal shows that these decisions are not grounded in scripture, but in the Governing Body’s shifting interpretations — interpretations that have already cost precious lives.