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Transcript 230A — On Donating Human Organs
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I wonder if you could tell me if there's any place in the Bible that would say that it's against God's will for a person to donate his organs of the body for transplant.
HC: The question that's raised is: Does the Bible prohibit the donation of parts of our body in order to help somebody else?
Actually, the Bible does not prohibit the donation of parts of our body. The fact is, God says "Greater love hath no man than this, than that he lay down his life for his friends." And so if I want to give some blood to someone in a blood transfusion, or if I thought that I could help someone by donating a kidney or an eye, that would certainly be my privilege to do. There is nothing in the Bible that would indicate that this was contrary to the Word of God.
There are some warnings, however, that ought to be offered. One of the problems is that those who donate the organs of their bodies normally do so upon their death. In other words, they will their organs to medical science to help someone else, or whatever.
Now if this is done, frequently the doctors, after using our bodies, will burn our bodies, the remains that are left. And that I believe is a wrong practice. The Bible teaches that cremation is a figure of Judgment Day itself. And I would want my body to be buried. And so if I thought it would help someone to utilize my eyes or my organs, whatever they may be, upon my death, if I thought that in so doing I could also be assured that my body would be buried, that is, whatever is left, then certainly this would not be contrary in any way to the Word of God.
Another practice that has been utilized sometimes in connection with this is where a parent or a very close relative has sometimes donated a part of the organs of a child that has died. Now that kind of a practice should not be, I believe. Our bodies belong to ourselves, and we may not exercise control over someone else's body, even if it is a loved one, even if it is a child. Our task, if someone has died, is to tenderly bury that body. It's the last thing that we can do on behalf of this person who has died. That person's body belongs to that person, and nobody else can have any say about what ought to be done to that person's body. All that we can do is to commit that person to the earth, even as God indicates that we are to return to the earth.
Thank you for that call.