Prince unexpectedly showed up last night at the Apollo Theater’s 75th Anniversary gala sporting a snazzy yellow suit and a diamond studded cane. Wait — no platforms?
We may not be seeing The Purple One in stacked shoes for a while, because he needs to have both hips replaced. Prince is a Jehovah’s Witness, and one of the things that his religion prohibits is blood transfusions. He’s been reportedly popping profuse amounts of pain pills and using a cane to manage his discomfort. I wonder if they make purple wheelchairs because that’s what he’ll be headed for if he doesn’t get this surgery.
I did some research on the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses because it’s not a topic I know much about. You can be shunned or “disfellowshipped” if you received a blood transfusion, even in an emergency situation. Apparently popping profuse amounts of pain pills is allowed, though. You know what else can get you the boot? Buying Girl Scout cookies. I don’t know why they are banned but I feel that scarfing down a box of Thin Mints would totally be worth the ostracization.
I’m not sure how, but the part of the Old Testament where God tells Jews not to eat the animals that have been sacrificed to God got turned into “no blood transfusions.”
The Girl Scout Cookie thing is totally beyond me.
Wait. Are you serious about the girl scout cookies?
Had to Google it… http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_can%27t_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_buy_girl_scout_cookies
It gives a couple of different views… long story short, you cannot get “defellowshipped” for it.
What the wiki article says is true to some extent, but it also depends on ~who~ gets wind of what you’re doing that could be looked down on and how much that’s spun until they actually confront you about it…usually more serious than buying girl scout cookies…but they discourage being sports fanatics or having your kids involved in school/organized sports, watching rated R movies, or being hooked on soap operas to name a few…nothing that you’d get disfellowshiped for, but definitely a finger shaken at you for.
First hand knowledge. It’s a holier than thou thing. There are *lots* of things I wonder where in the Bible they interpret their “rules” from… has something to do with ~man~ being imperfect, no doubt.
Can you bank your own blood? Wouldn’t that skirt the rule since your’s technically just redepositing something that is yours anyway? Kinda like when you are a religious Jew and you can’t touch a light switch during the Sabbath, so you put it on a timer? Don’t think that’s what God had in mind when he was thinking up rules, but whatever…
No, something about it being out of your body.
I think it still counts as “sacrificial blood” if you’re the one sacrificing it.
This whole debate shows how far from any genuine spirituality religious dogmas are capable of deviating. Prince and Michael Jackson are (or were, in MJ’s case?) two of the most famous JWs. Talk about worldly! I thought that JWs weren’t supposed to wear makeup, and how about Prince’s high heels?
And yes, why are addicting pain pills acceptable?
Once you loose track of what religion is supposed to accomplish and get into a hysteria of condemnation or approval over an ever-growing list of shoulds and should-nots, then we’ve lost the point of having a religion at all.
And who are the arbiters who decide all this? A bunch of men who are in love with their self-bestowed power over their fellow man, not who are in love with God.
Good post!
Can he use his own blood for the operation? Give blood and have it stored specifically for the surgery?
I had a friend in college who was a Jehovah’s Witness, and she didn’t celebrate birthdays or Christmas. Pretty effed up for a kid to grow up without birthday presents and parties. She was pretty strange, but that could’ve been true without the religion. Does anyone know a “normal”, happy Jehovah’s Witness?
Nope. I used to know only one, but I would def not call this guy “normal”. But whats normal anyways… *sigh* Maybe living a life full of pain – voluntary – isn’t. But thats just my two cents. Lalala.
Having been raised in a Jehovah’s Witness home I would just like to say, no you don’t get disfellowship for buying girl scout cookies, I recall my parents buying them a few times and they followed all the rules of the game. However, my brother was “publicly reproved” which is one step down from being disfellowshipped, several times when he was a teen for things like being in a room with a girl without supervision, and smoking a cigarette. It is a very strict religion, they pretty much lord over your whole life and meddle in a lot of family affairs. Not taking blood or transplants is something they pride themselves on. They believe they are the only people on the planet who will be “saved” so they actually don’t have much fear of death.
I grew up with no birthdays or holidays, and I was effected in a terrible way by my parents religion but it had little to do with missing out on presents. They call anyone who isn’t in their religion “worldly” and demonize everything having to do with living normally, even other Christan religions. I would go so far as to say it is a cult. My sister and I left it a long time ago and often talk about how messed up it is. My mom actually said in a public setting one time that she loved my brother more than us because he was still a Witness, if that gives you any clue as to how they think.
Im glad you got out of that bull shit.
Did you turn yourself out like my reformed catholic friends and just sex up everything in site after you left the “church”?
lol
I would! :p
wow, thanks so much for sharing, mila. i found your post very touching.
my mom is a super strict jehovah’s witness and she has had her hips replaced! She also likes girl scout cookies so i think someone is making things up!!!
Your mom probably was given erythropoietin a drug to cause the body to make more red blood cells.
Do you need blood for a hip replacement, or is it for a ‘just in case something goes horribly wrong’ scenario?
I know some jehovah’s and while they weren;t allowed to do anything with us in school (ie school trips, pageants and holiday parties), they were otherwise just like the rest of us. they weren’t socially weird or anything.
Major Orthopedic procedures of thr “open”kind(non endoscopic),often require blood replacement.
Many surgeons refuse to operate if they are not allowed to transfuse blood into the patient, in case blood loss turns out to be significant
Jehova’s Witnesses refuse the alternative of storing their own blood for transfusion in case of a planned procedure.As soon as the blood comes out of their body ,it’s considered just like blood from any other individual
I’ve seen people die because of this religious belief, and it’s usual that hospital employees practising the same religion do some sort of surveillance to make sure that the doctors do not infuse blood in the critically ill that are believers.
My husband’s father is one of the best surgeons in Argentina, and he saved the life of a Jehovah’s Witness by giving him a blood transfusion. When the witness recovered, he took my father-in-law to court to sue him for saving his life. My father-in-law cited the Hippocratic Oath – his first priority is to save life – and the judge found in his favour, thankfully! Imagine being sued for saving a life!
true
from time to time some of the JW also put their lives above their beliefs, although it’s seldom that it happens
I remember a husband that left his wife to die after childbirth haemorrhage
but I also remember the parents that allowed blood transfusion on their beloved son, asking us to do whatever we could to save their boy’s life, no matter the consequences they would face later on
I also remember pushing a stretcher into an operating room to transfuse a JW, just to make sure we could save a life and prevent the vigilants to come near.
Our Oath must prevail in such circumstances, and it’s a matter of humanity not letting someone to die when one can do something to prevent it.
I had no idea about any of this & find all the comments very interesting.
My 1st thought was the same as some of the others that maybe you could store some of your own just in case. Sucks that there’s no getting around this.
And the more I think about it the more I’m wondering (and I’m not judging, I’m just saying) hasn’t Prince done some pretty crazy (sex) shit in the past? Like in the 80’s? That didn’t get him disfellowshipped? But a blood transfusion would? hummmm? Because if he was disfellowshipped I’m assuming he would have the surgery, right?
he just got baptised not long ago.
I doubt he’s holding up hip replacement surgeries because he’s scared he’ll bleed to death. Must be something else. I read a few years back he needed hip replacements. I wonder what’s really up with the procrastination? I am a nurse who has several years of experience in inpatient physical rehab and have cared for JW patients before who have had joint replacements. Most likely these folks were in more precarious health because they were much older and heavier than Prince. There is more to this story that we do not know. Unless it is the same old thing with Prince, that he’s just damn weird. Great talent, but a fruitcake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_and_blood_transfusions
should be all you wanted to know and then some about the doctrine and that they don’t store their own blood either.
They don’t like Girl Guide Cookies because they view that as competition in their door-to-door business.
hahaha touché mike
Religion is so stupid. The world be a much better place without it.
The problem is stupid. The world would be much better off without them. *Kim Jong-il*
The problem is stupid people. The world would be much better off without them. *Kim Jong-il*
Gosh, this post made me smile as it reminded me of when I was a kid and we would flip coins to see who got to stab to death any Jehova’s Witnesses that knocked on our door on Sunday mornings, typically interrupting our sacrificing the neighbors cat or watching PeeWee Herman.
i grew up as a jw, and my parents still are. i don’t think you can get disfellowshipped for buying girl scout cookies, but you are looked down on. it has to do with the fact that girl scouts/boy scouts both have patriotism as core values within their practices and teachings.
jw’s consider themselves “neutral.” they don’t salute the flag, go to war, and a majority of them do not vote in any political election or get involved in the political process at all.
buying those cookies is, i guess to them, tantamount to saying you also pledge allegiance to the flag, or support those who do, and they believe that the only person/thing you should pledge your allegiance to is jehovah.
I feel sorry for you and anyone else who grew up with such ridiculous bullshit beliefs. Organized religion sucks dick.
The cookie thing was a silly thing to say. I’m a JW and I eat Girl Scout cookies and am in good standing with my congregation.
I would not take blood. Bible is clear: “Keep abstaining from blood.” This does not just mean the consumption of blood by eating it. If your doctor told you to abstain from alcohol, would you stop drinking it, but still run it through your veins in an IV?
it never occurs to you guys that the bible was written WAY before blood transfusions and other life-saving procedures and it’s possible that those things are not what god was referring to? you guys make god out to be a real asshole.
i mean, maybe he was just talking about vampires.
I have to agree with joan however she could have found a more respectful and sensitive way to word her opinion. Whether or not you believe in the bible’s laws and teachings or who wrote it/where it came from, I think we can all agree that is was written eons ago when health and sanitation concerns were very different from today’s but valid for their times. I happen to have been raised as a Jew but not in a home that follows the Kosher laws. Those laws were created and enforced for very good reasons at the time. They protected an otherwise ignorant population from food poisoning and contamination and they also served the purpose of keeping G-d in mind for all your activities, not just during worship. In other words, when putting together a meal a Jew would take into account the laws of Kashrut, thereby bringing the covenant with G-d into something as mundane as meal planning and preparation. For an Orthodox Jew or any other observant and dedicated Jew, every single activity of one’s life has a law or a blessing to recite and usually both. So, even though the laws seen very outdated, antiquated and downright silly at times, they serve a purpose other than the obvious health reason they were created for. Perhaps the way JW’s observe laws they mine from the Bible, even though they may seem useless by today’s standards, have a meaning similar to what I described for observant Jews. Or maybe I am totally wrong about that. That wouldn’t be the first time. :-)