An ER doctor is presented with the victim of a knife fight — a Jehovah’s Witness who has affirmed his refusal of blood transfusions.
It was around that time that his parents showed up and informed us that the patient was a Jehovah’s Witness and would not accept blood products under any circumstances. Even if that meant his death. They were adamant on this point even after I explained that we were not in hypothetical territory any more — that his injuries were quite life-threatening and the blood loss might be the factor that caused him to die. They were firm and well-prepared and even showed us a piece of paper signed by the patient, fairly recently, expressly refusing blood transfusions.
He likens the parents’ behavior to that of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac, adding this:
The fact that it was God’s funny little joke and Isaac wasn’t murdered doesn’t really redeem the story.
I think this is so repugnant because it runs counter to humanity’s deepest instinct, to love and care for our children. It’s appalling to consider that abstract notions regarding the dictates of a probably nonexistent deity can over-ride this fundamental human impulse, to put the life and welfare of your child above all else.
Longtime readers will not be surprised to learn that I’m in total agreement. Recall, now, this passage from Jonathan Kirsch’s magisterial history of the Inquisition.
Confession was required before the sin of heresy could be forgiven, for example, and yet confession alone was never enough. The confession had to be abject, earnest, and complete, which meant that it had to include the betrayal of others, including spouses and children, friends and neighbors. That’s why the naming of names was rooted in both the theology and the psychology of the Inquisition — the will of the victim to resist had to be utterly crushed, his or her sense of self eradicated, and the authority of the interrogator acknowledged as absolute. The best evidence that an accused man or woman has been utterly defeated, then as now, is the willingness to betray a loved one or a trusting friend.
The entire aim of Christian teachings is to utterly destroy the normal human instincts. Y’all are no damn good, y’all were born that way — Remember?
I say again, then: Most people have too much sense and decency to be ‘good’ Christians; it’s the ones who don’t that you have to look out for.

