Life or Principle?

American religious-news columnist George R. Plagenz recently considered the refusal of Jehovah’s Witnesses to accept blood transfusions. He observed: “If we mean it when we say, ‘There are some things more precious than life itself’ (which we hear during wartime), why are we so shocked and upset when another person says he will die rather than betray his beliefs?”​—“Cleveland Press,” September 24, 1979.