Watchtower – Blood – Natural Distinction?

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Watchtower wants Witnesses to think blood naturally separates into the four constituents known as plasma, red cells, white cells and platelets.

An example of Watchtower leading Witnesses to conclude blood settles out naturally into four components is the following:

If by natural process blood settles out as the components of plasma, red cells, white cells and platelets it would provide a potential rational basis for distinguishing those four named components from sub-components fractioned from the four.

But blood does not naturally separate into the components known as plasma, red cells, white cells and platelets.

When blood ceases to circulate it begins to coagulate. This is an important natural characteristic of blood because without blood’s vital coagulation factors we would bleed to death. But the coagulation of blood prevents it from separating into the four named components above. The natural result of blood in a static state is for two components to form; one is a liquid and the other is a solid. The liquid is properly termed “serum” and the solid is properly termed “clot”.

-- Serum is a natural byproduct of blood

Serum is the liquid part of the blood product we call plasma, but serum is not plasma. Serum is what is left of plasma after the coagulation process has purged clotting factors from the liquid part of blood.

-- A clot is a natural byproduct of blood

The resulting clot from coagulation is a constricted mass of red cells, white cells, platelets together with the clotting factors from the liquid part of blood. The clot is constructed of a part of plasma and all of red cells, white cells and platelets.

-- Plasma is not a natural byproduct of blood

The product known as plasma is the liquid part of blood that still contains coagulation factors. The coagulation process is one where plasma’s coagulation factors engage cellular constituents of blood to become part of the solid fibrous clot. Hence to render plasma from blood the natural coagulation has to be impeded so it does not lose its coagulation protein factors, and then by mechanical means plasma can be separated from the cellular components of blood.

Watchtower wants Witnesses to think of plasma as a natural product rendered from blood when nothing could be further from the truth. Serum is a substance naturally rendered from blood. But obtaining plasma as a product from blood is only attainable by a very unnatural chemical and mechanical process. First blood that is extracted must have an appropriate amount of anticoagulant added to it, and then force far beyond natural gravity must be induced to separate the plasma as a component from cellular constituents that would otherwise form a clot.

Conclusion

Because plasma, red cells, white cells and platelets do not naturally settle out as components of blood, and because the natural separation that occurs in blood is into two components and not these named four, then there is no natural basis for distinguishing plasma, red cells, white cells and platelets from sub-components of those four.

Marvin Shilmer