Q. Since the Bible says we should not eat blood, is it wrong to receive blood transfusions?
Many people are surprised just to learn the simple fact that in the Old and the New Testament, God's peopleboth of Jew and Gentileare clearly commanded not to eat blood. This still applies to Christians today.
Knowing this, how should Christians handle the issue of blood transfusions? Of course, some churches teach that a blood transfusion is no different than eating blood. I respectfully disagree, because I believe the admonition in the Bible is not to eat animal blood for food. Of course, you shouldn't eat human blood for food either!
This restriction of diet has both a spiritual and physical principle. Spiritually, the Bible says that the life is in the blood. And physically, we know that disease can be transferred from animal to animal by virtue of the blood.
When a person takes a blood transfusion, the purpose is to sustain that person's life. It's not for pleasure or to relieve hunger and it isn't taken orally for nourishment. It's a completely different processthe blood type even has to match. In Acts, the Bible says that God has made all nations one blood. So the entire human family is related in that special sense. Indeed, we are all saved by virtue of a blood transfusion from Jesus.
I like to remind people that the first miracle of Christ was turning water into pure grape juice, and He gave it to celebrate a wedding. One of the last things Jesus did before He died on the cross was to taste sour wine. He gave us pure grape juice, and He took our offering of sour wine. It's symbolic of a lifesaving blood transfusion that's what the blood of Christ does for us.