Sunday, July 6, 2008

Laminin: apparent evidence of God within our very cells



After doing research on Snopes and other sites, I found that laminin, though it has the 4 'arms' does not always take the shape of a perfect cross, because it bends and twists. Yet, it still has the cross basic shape. And it is still a foundational protein that holds things together.

Snopes and other sites also said that laminin looks like other objects to some people, and not just a cross.

To some people, laminin looks like a sword. OK, that's fine, because the Word of God is related in the Bible to a sword: the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). The Bible says that God's Word is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12).

One Atheist I saw on the Internet posted a sarcastic reply to that video, and said this:
"Y’know, I looked at that laminin protein for a while and I think you’ve got the wrong god. The protein looks a whole lot more like the caduceus wielded by Hermes, God of Travelers, in the way that the serpent-like chains wrap around the staff. While laminin is important for cell structure, DNA is the code that makes us what we are, and its structure is another double-helix, like the caduceus. It really makes you marvel at how the Hermes, the God of Boundaries, extends to the very boundaries of our cells!"
from: http://radicalruss.com/2008/05/laminin-gods-cross-shaped-glue/

Caduceus

So, to some people, laminin looks like a caduceus, which is a staff with two entwining serpents going up the staff, and wings at the top. Though the caduceus has ties with paganism (used as the symbol of the wand of Hermes, and also as an ancient astrological symbol of commerce), it has also has come to be used as a symbol for medicine. It is similar to the rod of Asclepius, which is a single snake wrapped around a staff, and which also symbolizes the healing arts. The caduceus is often also used as a symbol for medicine or doctors, in place of the rod of Asclepius, which is the usual symbol of medical professions.
Rod of Asclepius

A 1992 survey of American health organisations found that 62% of professional associations used the rod of Asclepius, whereas in commercial organizations, 76% used the caduceus.

According to Greek mythology, Asclepius was said to have learned the art of healing from Chiron. He is customarily represented as a surgeon on the ship Argo. According to some, Asclepius fought alongside the Achaeans in the Trojan War, and cured Philoctetes of his famous snake bite. Asclepius was so skilled in the medical arts that he was reputed to have brought patients back from the dead. For this, he was punished and placed in the heavens as the constellation Ophiuchus (meaning "serpent-bearer"). This constellation lies between Sagittarius and Libra.

In early Christianity, the constellation Ophiuchus was associated with Saint Paul holding the Maltese Viper.

Novidius changed the figure to that of Saint Paul with the Maltese Viper; Caesius gave it as Aaron, whose staff became a serpent, or as Moses, who lifted up the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness.

The EMS Star of Life, seen on ambulances, features a rod of Asclepius (a blue, six-pointed star, outlined with a white border which features the Rod of Asclepius in the center).

A similar orange star is used for search and rescue personnel and yet another version is used for Wilderness emergency medical technician.


I believe that both the caduceus (2 snakes around a pole with wings at the top) and the rod of Asclepius (1 snake around a pole), both which represent medicine, have their origins from the Bible, when Moses made a staff with a bronze serpent on it, to heal the Israelites.

A similar symbol, Nehushtan, is mentioned in the Bible in Numbers 21:4–9. Attacked by a plague of snakes in the wilderness, Moses holds up a serpent coiled around a staff, both made from bronze, so that the Israelites might recover from the bites. In the Gospel of John, Jesus compared himself to Nehushtan. Jesus taught: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life".


Another interpretation is the wooden rod encoiled by a snake to be representative of the Tree of Knowledge. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent/Satan tempted Eve to eat of the apple, which she also gave to Adam, and thereby brought the 'disease of sin' upon the entire human race, which can only be healed by faith and trust in Christ Jesus, the Messiah.

But the point is, whether you think laminin looks like a cross, a sword, a caduceus, or the rod of Asclepius, ALL of those have biblical symbolism and ties, and so the representation of Christianity and God remain! I can only assume that, since God is the One Who created laminin, He made it look that way intentionally, and the fact is, that no matter which of those items you think it looks like, it still does not detract from the fact that there is Christian and biblical symbolism involved, which apparently seems to be intentional evidence that God placed there!

That same Atheist who posted the sarcastic remark mentioned earlier, also said this:
"Then I spent a little more time and discovered the protein called porin. Porins are the proteins that allow for diffusion of molecules across cell membranes. They are the very mechanism by which our cells receive nourishment! Now wouldn’t you know it, but the porin looks just like the triquetta of Celtic paganism. Yet another expression in creation of how the power of three San Francisco witches feed all of us."

OK, so I looked up 'triquetta.' The triquetra (often, triqueta) is a tripartate symbol composed of three interlocked vesica pisces, marking the intersection of three circles. It is most commonly a symbol of the Holy Trinity (Father, son, Holy spirit) used by the Celtic Christian Church, sometimes stylized as three interlaced fish!

Triplicities were common symbols in Celtic myth and legend, one of the possible reasons Christian beliefs were so easily adopted by the Celtic people.

The triqueta makes an ideal Christian symbol. It is a perfect representation of the concept of "three in one" in Christian trinity beliefs, and incorporates another popular Christian symbol, the fish, in its original form of the vesica pisces. It is sometimes enclosed within a circle to emphasize the unity aspect. The triquetra of interlaced fishes is one of the very earliest of Christian symbols, predating the crucifix by hundreds of years.

So, rather than detracting from the idea that God has placed these evidences within our very cells, this Atheist has unwittingly added to it!

Oh, and by the way, that same Atheist that wrote those sarcastic remarks, writes this later on the same page:
"Do you pray for my soul? Are you saddened to know that I will burn in Hell, or do you think God has a special miraculous plan for me? And what of the billions on Earth who do not believe in the salvation through Christ? Do their damned souls make you weep at night?"

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you're missing the main point. Of course there will be objects in nature that look like a cross. So your speculation is really not that convincing. The real question is whether the sacred documents ever describe DNA and the foundations of life, foundations that are virtually used without change in all life forms.

Would God know of such things? I daresay your answer would be yes.

If so, then could he... would he provide that information to ancient man to encode in the sacred documents we have today?
WHY NOT??

Yes, that is indeed the question that we must ponder, not whether something in nature looks like an icon used to represent a religion.

The question is one that I've seen entertained in only one place, the "nonfiction" novel "Coils of the Serpent" by Raymond Lutz.

The cross to laminin connection is what you might call a "single point coincidence" and really is quite unconvincing unless there is other evidence that laminin was provided as a message to us to substantiate the story of Christ.

Jeff said...

Anonymous,

Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.

It's funny that you should mention DNA. DNA is the most efficient information storage system in the universe. DNA is a language which uses a 4-letter chemical alphabet, which contains the specific details of how to build all of the proteins in the human body. Nature, by itself, can produce patterns, but it can't produce information. A hurricane cannot create a dictionary. If you saw a paragraph of words painted onto a boulder, you would know that an intelligent person wrote that paragraph, and that nature did not put it there. If we read a book or see a computer program, we know there is an intelligence behind it that created that. Carl Sagan said, "The existence of a single message from space will show that it is possible to live through technological adolescence: the civilization transmitting the message, after all, has survived." So if, according to Carl Sagan, just a single message from space is evidence of intelligent life, then what must we say about the most efficient storage system of information we know of, which is DNA? When we look at DNA and see these 'written instructions' for the assembly of proteins in our bodies, then that is evidence that there is an intelligent Being behind the origin of life.

Humans have 100,000 genes. This amount of information is equivalent to a thousand 500-page books. Any single human could produce an incomprehensible number of different potential sperm or egg cells (10 with 2017 zeros). Now compare that to the fact that the number of atoms in the entire universe is estimated at 10 with only 80 zeros. And remember that these figures are only for the information potential in one human. Multiply that times all the different plant and animal kinds that have existed, and you have an insurmountable problem for atheistic evolutionists. (info for this paragraph from Dr. Jonathan Sarfati, "Refuting Evolution," 1999, Master Books).

So, DNA is great evidence for a Creator.

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

Interesting speculation, Jeff.

Thankfully you are not getting Blog Trolled on this issue.:)

I am not an expert on this issue, but from study, the Scripture is primarily religious history that should be taken contextually. Some of it should be taken plain literally, and some it with degrees of figurative and sometimes poetic language. Anything beyond this in Biblical Studies is quite tricky indeed.

Jeff said...

Anonymous,

So your speculation is really not that convincing.

Yes, that is indeed the question that we must ponder, not whether something in nature looks like an icon used to represent a religion.


This article was really meant for Christians, not as 'proof' to non-Christians. I would never base my faith simply on the idea that laminin looks like a cross. I supplied it only as an interesting tidbit. It is, as you said, and as thekingpin68 said after you, speculation. I have no proof that God intentionally designed laminin to look like a cross, nor do I know it to be absolute fact. But I would not be surprised if it was created to resemble a cross intentionally.

The real question is whether the sacred documents ever describe DNA and the foundations of life, foundations that are virtually used without change in all life forms.

Would God know of such things? I daresay your answer would be yes.

If so, then could he... would he provide that information to ancient man to encode in the sacred documents we have today?
WHY NOT??


Neither the term "laminin" nor the term "DNA" are mentioned in Scripture. The term "DNA" wasn't coined until 1930-35, so obviously you're not going to find that term in Scripture, just like you're not going to find the term "television" in Scripture.

The Bible merely says that God formed us in our mother's womb.

The question is one that I've seen entertained in only one place, the "nonfiction" novel "Coils of the Serpent" by Raymond Lutz.

I have not read that book, but I just now watched the video on http://www.coilsoftheserpent.com/
Now I see where you got your comments about DNA. The author says his book is fiction. The questions the author poses, "Does God know about DNA?" and "Does God understand this pattern?" are foolish questions, since God is the One Who created everything, and He is omniscient.

The cross to laminin connection is what you might call a "single point coincidence" and really is quite unconvincing unless there is other evidence that laminin was provided as a message to us to substantiate the story of Christ.

Again, I would never see laminin in and of itself as a reason to accept Christ, or a reason to believe in God or in Christianity. There are many historical and textual evidences supporting the biblical gospel of Christ, and I would not count laminin as one of them. Laminin could be an evidence of the crucifixion of Christ, or it could not be. Similarly, the more I hear about the Shroud of Turin, the more I think it is authentic. However, if it is proven to be a fake, it will not affect my faith one single bit, because I do not base my faith on the Shroud of Turin. If it is authentic, then I think it is incredible. If it is not authentic, then I say toss it in the garbage as worthless trash.

Jeff said...

I am not an expert on this issue, but from study, the Scripture is primarily religious history that should be taken contextually. Some of it should be taken plain literally, and some it with degrees of figurative and sometimes poetic language. Anything beyond this in Biblical Studies is quite tricky indeed.

Agreed, and you make a good point. See my response to 'Anonymous' as to how I feel about that. And again, this was not offered as solid proof of Christianity, but rather as an interesting tidbit that, if true, is amazing, and is something to praise God for; if not true, then it was a mistake of an overzealous imagination.

The idea of a secret hidden "code" in the Bible has become popular in the past couple or so decades. If it really exists, I consider it as something to praise God for, and I would consider it as an evidence God left. But I don't know whether it is really true or not, and to me, the truth or falsehood of the claim doesn't affect my faith, any more than the truth of the Shroud of Turin affects my faith (as I mentioned in my comment to 'Anonymous'). I find it interesting to examine the possibility, but I don't believe that anyone should base their faith on such speculation.

Jeff said...

Um, I forgot to mention that my last comment was address to thekingpin68.

Jeff said...

Note that the title of the article says Laminin: apparent evidence of God within our very cells.

Also note that, in the body of the article, I said, I can only assume that, since God is the One Who created laminin, He made it look that way intentionally, and the fact is, that no matter which of those items you think it looks like, it still does not detract from the fact that there is Christian and biblical symbolism involved, which apparently seems to be intentional evidence that God placed there!

So I just want to point out that, from the outset, I was admitting that this was speculation, rather than concrete facts.

Nevertheless, one of the things that awed me was that, in my research concerning laminin looking like a cross, the other items that non-Christians said that laminin looks like---a sword or a caduceus---also have biblical symbolism. The secular sites I examined also talked about the Rod of Asclepius, the EMS and EMT Star of Life, the constellation Ophiuchus, and the Nehushtan. All of these have ties to biblical symbols! It was like, the further I researched about it, the more biblical symbolism I came across! The reason I began researching it was because I thought it was probably just coincidence. But, instead, I kept finding more and more biblical symbolism. Even when pagan symbols were mentioned, the research still led back to more biblical symbols. I couldn't escape it! I found that amazing.

Seven Star Hand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Seven Star Hand said...

Hi Jeff,

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is a truly ridiculous assertion. The crucifix is a Christian symbol that is based on the deceptive recasting of the ancient wisdom symbol, the cross. The cross, for thousands of years before Christianity, symbolized the four elements and that is something that Christian Rome has tried to obscure throughout most of its history. There is a very important reason for this. The proper understanding of the ancient wisdom symbology of North Africa (Egypt, Nubia, etc.) completely disproves the Christian fantasy and spin on ancient wisdom symbology. Besides, there were several other Christian symbols before the crucifix, are they in our DNA?

Are you finally ready to understand the truth? Follow these two URLs to truly understand the ancient lies and deceptions imposed on the world by Rome, hence those who killed the Saints, ethnically cleansed Judaea (of those bothersome darkies...) and continued their genocide as a Christian empire.

Who do you think people like the Conquistadors and Crusaders were, and who did they follow? Who massacred aboriginals everywhere they went? Certainly you don't believe mass murderers and child rapists are telling you the truth, do you? Ever heard of strong delusion (2Thessalonians 2:11...) ? Do you actually believe they are doing the Creator's work or could these just be the lies of greedy and evil deceivers? Time to get a clue...

The following links are both long "open letters," but I think that after reading both of them, you'll have a much better understanding of the truth.

The time for the removal of ignorance has arrived !!

Open Letter to Religious Leaders
Open Letter to Atheists and Skeptics

Peace and Wisdom...

Jeff said...

Seven Star Hand,

I visited a few of your websites, and the real "truly ridiculous assertion" is that you claim to be the Messiah. Your claim is a lie.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Laminin does not PROVE anything, but it does hold things together, and it is in the shape of the cross, and the Apostle Paul wrote the following (of Jesus Christ)...

"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created by Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Col 1:16-17 (NASB)

Jeff said...

Jim Jacobson,

Good verse! Thanks for stopping by and leaving that comment. Good point!

Anonymous said...

Jeff,

Seven Star Hand's comments should not come as a surprise...

Matt 24:10-11

10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

Not surprising to see so many people persecute your simple attempt to illustrate God's presence in everyone's life.

Jeff said...

Thanks, Anonymous.

Appropriate verse!

Yes, whether the shape of laminin is intentionally meant to represent or symbolize anything or not, God is the creator of mankind.

Libertarianlifeline said...

Hey Jeff,

If you believe that God created everything (including laminin) then you would be most reasonable to believe that the shape of laminin after folding is something that God probably had a chuckle about, sheerly because of the coincidence. Not because of anything to do with deciding to make it look like a cross.

Laminin folds that way because that is the conformation in which it is biophysically most stable. So it would be very unreasonable for you to believe that God actively decided to fold the protein in this way so that it might look like a cross; there was simply no other choice, or we'd all have congenital muscular dystrophy, severe skin blisters and a host of other nasty disorders caused by improperly folded or otherwise dysfunctional laminins.

Jeff said...

Libertarianlifeline,

It would not be unreasonable for me to believe that at all. God, being omnipotent, could easily make it a cross, and at the same time make it so that it is biophysically the most stable. After all, if God created everything, then God is the One Who sets the rules as to what is most stable, etc. Your thinking is too limited.

Mike Bull said...

Hey gents

The Bible itself is actually structured like DNA. The pattern in Genesis 1 is the basic form, the rest of the Bible follows it - just like a fractal. God knows about fractals... and DNA. Check out my book:

http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Matrix-Michael-Bull/dp/1449702635