Open Letter #2 – What is The Biblically Acceptable Position on Vaccination?

This article is also available on YouTube.

2025-10-01

Hello dear friends of the truth,

This is part 2 of the Open Letter to the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses.
What do you think?

Is vaccination loving your neighbour? Or is vaccination sin?

Let's look at some Bible passages and then you will come to the answer yourself.
It's quite simple. And it will probably turn out differently than you expected.

Let's start by reading Romans chapter 14, verses 1 to 4:

1 Welcome the man having weaknesses in his faith,
but do not pass judgment on differing opinions.
2  One man has faith to eat everything,
but the man who is weak eats only vegetables.

3  Let the one eating not look down on the one not eating,
and let the one not eating not judge the one eating,
for God has welcomed him.

4  Who are you to judge the servant of another?
To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for the master can make him stand.

(Romans 14:1-4)

What was this all about? First of all, it was about food. Some brothers ate meat that had been sacrificed to idols, and other brothers found this unthinkable and repulsive, and this caused a lot of unrest in the congregations.

At the same time, this was about something else: How can we deal with different opinions in the right way? Different points of view are no reason to look down on someone or pass judgement on them!

The fact that this is the real issue (and not just the food) becomes clear from the next verses:

5 One man judges one day as above another; another judges one day the same as all others;
Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.

6 The one who observes the day observes it to the Lord.
Also, the one who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God;
and the one who does not eat does not eat to the Lord, and yet gives thanks to God.

(Romans 14:5, 6)

‘Let each one be convinced for himself’, namely “for the Lord”, i.e. out of a sincere desire to orientate himself towards God and Jesus. This is called ... conscience!

The next verses show how important it is that I respect the conscience of my fellow human beings:

10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you also look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God ...

12 So, then, each of us will render an account for himself to God.

13 Therefore, let us not judge one another any longer but, rather, be determined not to put a stumbling block or an obstacle before a brother.“

(Romans 14:10, 12, 13)

Stumbling block ... what does it remind you of? A stumbling block is a very serious thing.
Jesus himself said:

6 But whoever stumbles one of these little ones who have faith in me, it would be better for him to have hung around his neck a millstone that is turned by a donkey and to be sunk in the open sea.

7 … woe to the man through whom the stumbling block comes!

(Matthew 18: 6, 7b)

So far, Romans chapter 14 has shown us that we must respect the conscience of others.
Does this also apply to health issues?

In the Watchtower of 15 September 2015 we read the following (in extracts) :

Our Bible text from Romans 14 is therefore also applied here to medical treatments, and this is completely correct from a biblical perspective. Only in this way can we as a Christian community and as the body of Christ ‘be one’ (according to John 17:20, 21) and remain ‘one’ despite different points of view.

We can therefore apply Romans 14:3, 5 and 6 as follows:

So, now you can answer the question:

The biblically acceptable

PUBLIC position on vaccination

is ...

Everyone may and MUST! decide and act according to their own conscience. No Christian should be criticised by another because of their sincere decision of conscience - regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not.

The PUBLIC point of view is ... neutral.

Head as a symbol for the personal conscience

The PRIVATE point of view is a different matter, because it is determined by your personal level of knowledge and your conscience.

In Part 3 of this video series, we look at

"5 conscience reasons for Christians not to get vaccinated"