Although some would suggest that organ donation is a simple matter of following Christ’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), contemporary controversies like euthanasia and human cloning complicate the matter. What may first appear to be quite simple is made extremely complex once one enters into the maze of modern-day medical ethics.

While the issue of leaving your neighbor parts of your body is far more complex than leaving him your worldly possessions, some of the arguments against organ donation are spurious. For instance, some suggest that organ donation jeopardizes one’s resurrection. This argument, based on the erroneous notion that a total corruptible body must be available for an incorruptible resurrection, would exclude from the resurrection all amputees, not to mention everyone who has undergone an appendectomy. Obviously, such an argument against organ donation is absurd.

Due to their misinterpretation of Acts 15:29, Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to even donate blood or receive blood transfusions. The prohibition against blood in this passage is undoubtedly based on dietary laws (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 3:17; 7:26; 17:12-14; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23; 15;23; 1 Samuel 14:34; Ezekiel 33:25). It has nothing to do with blood transfusions, as is easily proven by the fact that the first century Council in Jerusalem would not have prohibited Gentile Christians from participating in a medical procedure first performed in the 17th century.

One cannot honestly condone nor condemn organ donations with biblical doctrine. Nevertheless, folks on both sides of the issue attempt to wield the Scripture in defense of their opinion. As an honest student of Holy Writ, however, I must avoid dogmatism and leave this subject as a matter of conscience.