by kjg132 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I had exactly the same thoughts, not one of my husbands family could answer this question. I played the dumb one saying, I reallyunsurewbether I should feed my baby because researching breastfeeding says that breast milk mainly contains white blood cells, but we are forbidden to take white blood cells I understand, or are there two types of white blood cells?
interestingly, I've still it got an answer, I may bring it up again soon!
Not only is this commonly known, (As some have pointed out) there is no way it could not have been known at Bethel. Milk produced for human comsumption in the U.S. must meet certain USDA standards.
One of those standards is somatic cell count. (SCC) Somatic cells are mostly neutrophils, a type of white blood cell. An elevated SCC is indicative of infection and the milk is either fed to calves (Who don't seem to care) or thrown out.
Watchtower farms was operated for years and they had their own dairy herd which produced milk and cheese for Bethel tables. One of the tests they would have been required by law to perform is the California Mastitis Test, which measures SCC.
Rattigan350
That is not the discrepancy.
Actually, it is a pretty big discrepancy in its own right, but not in the way that most people think.
One of the ways that JW's justify their policy on plasma fractions is through an appeal to, "Natural Law." Immune globulins are transferred between mother and fetus during gestation via an active transport mechanism. Jehovah obviously doesn't have a problem with that (Else He wouldn't have created it) and you shouldn't either goes the argument.
Well the "Natural Law" argument applies to breast milk as well, especially in the first few days of lactation. Neutrophils in colostrum are believed to keep the GI tract of neonates healthy. There are actually colostrum based supplements sold in health food stores and the JW parent organization does not seem to have a problem with them.
So by the very same argument with which plasma fractions are justified, cellular components of blood (Formed elements in the JW vernacular) should be justified as well. Jehovah obviously doesn't have a problem with it (Else He wouldn't have created it) and you shouldn't either. Right?
Wrong - LOL. In the JW world, logical arguments only apply when they're convenient.
TD, I didn't know about the SCC test either. But I do know about cows at bethel! My older brother was at the farm for a few years and I loved visiting the cows:) It would make sense that if its a standard test they would have used it there too. I wonder if the person doing the testing knew what they were testing for. Someone, possibly many, people had to know.
In WT's view, the symbol for life is more important than life!
Watchtower's blood doctrine is an instance of Watchtower treating a supposed symbol for life equivolent to life itself.
Yet when directly addressing the concept of whether a symbol should be held on par with the thing it symbolizes, Watchtower says something else.
It's an instance of Watchtower saying different things from different corners of its publishing mouth.
Here: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2012/05/blood-as-important-as-life.html
