B. Life does not require blood.

Leviticus 17:11

For the life of the flesh <is> in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it <is> the blood <that> maketh an atonement for the soul.

Dr. Harold Sightler:

You can see my frame, you can see my flesh, you can hear my voice--but you cannot see my life. The life that I am is in five quarts of blood that circulate through my body ^...(63)

This verse may tell us where life is, but how does one know what life is? See Deuteronomy 20:19:

When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an ax against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field <is> man's <life>) to employ <them> in the siege:

If Leviticus says that Life is in the blood, then Deuteronomy says that our Life is a tree! That means that trees are in our blood!

The point is, the Bible uses these expressions regularly as figures of speech. To those of you who feel that is an heretical notion, explain how Deuteronomy 20:19 makes sense if it is fully literal. And, if life can be metaphorically symbolized by trees in Deuteronomy, why can't it be metaphorically symbolized by blood in Leviticus? Both passages have similar contexts, and make the most straightforward sense metaphorically. The Bible simply means that blood stands for life.

There are some beliefs that are held by all people of all religions. One such belief is the sanctity of blood. Every religion in the world has attached to blood a sense of awe. We may have an arm cut off, we may lose our legs, we may have almost any part of our body completely removed, and we may still live. Blood is different because an injury that otherwise would not be life-threatening suddenly is, because that injury allows too much loss of blood. A casual observer on any battlefield may see that. Perhaps that is why this is a universal belief; war is a universal fact.

However, this does not mean that blood is life, or that life is caused by blood, or that we have to have blood to live. It simply means that blood is so important to life, in the general sense, that it can be equated with life. Water is also life, because where there is no water, there is no life. This fact about water is even more true than about blood, or even air. There are forms of life that don't have blood, can't live exposed to the atmosphere, but nothing performs life's functions without water. Because water is so important to life, we may say that water is life.

Dr. Harold Sightler:

The Bible tells me the life of my flesh is not in my heartbeat, nor my pulse beat, nor my heart as an organ, nor my kidney, nor my liver, nor whatever it might be, but in the blood.⁽⁶⁴⁾

The blood is all-important here, and any mention of it triggers the strongest feelings of devotion from the Blood Indoctrinators. Yet, Dr. Sightler is wrong, because in Proverbs 14:30 the Bible says,

A sound heart <is> the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

The phrase in this verse has almost the exact wording that is found in Leviticus, except that instead of the life of the flesh being in blood, it is said to be the heart. So, not only are trees Life, but our hearts are Life, too. At no time does the Bible say that blood is Life, as it does for trees and hearts. The Bible says that life is in blood. Since Life is in the blood, and Life is trees and hearts, there must be trees and hearts in the blood! That is, of course, nonsense, because it is not that Life actually is trees or hearts, but that these are significant in supporting our life. Leviticus 17:11 is not meant to be taken literally when it says that life is in the blood.

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