Question: Any thoughts on laminin?  The youtube video and email are making the rounds.  Some are claiming that this cross-shaped cross explains Colossians 1:17. 

Question: Any thoughts on laminin?  The youtube video and email are making the rounds.  That it is cruciform is, to me, coincidental.  Does it give you tingly feelings? Response: This molecule makes for a great preacher point, but that is about it.  This molecule makes for a great preacher point, but that is about it.   First of all, the actual cross Jesus was crucified does not even look like a laminin molecule.  Second of all, Colossians is not talking about the proteins which hold organs together.  I will admit I am not sure exactly what Jesus holding all things together means, but my interpretation is that Jesus holds the fabric of the universe and all existence together.  He upholds all things by his power.  That includes the molecules and the cells and the laminin.  However, it is sheer coincidence that the protein which does the job of holding, not all things, but animal organs together happens to have a sort of cross-shaped form. I will have to admit that if I let myself, I can get a tingly feeling from this presentation.  In fact, I did, but then I felt manipulated by the preacher. In fact, I think that the molecule is not really even cruciform when it is in action.  This is my guess.  When it is free floating, it is kind of Latin (as opposed to Greek) cross-like, but when it is actually holding things together, I am guessing (and this is speculation on my part) it takes the shape/geometry determined by the relative position of the things it is sticking to.  In other words, working laminin looks pretty much nothing like a cross. Still, this is a really cool protein.  I think that it can be used as an extremely obtuse application of the fact that God holds everything together.  Bottom line whether through direct fiat or through an evolutionary process, God created the DNA which holds the information which allows the cells of animals to make this absolutely essential protein which, like thousands of other absolutely essential proteins, holds us together and allows us to stay alive.  If God were to suddenly change even a single parameter of the many parameters which determine how our universe works by a tiny fraction, truly all things would fall apart, laminin would unwind and we would cease to live. I am guessing this is pretty much what you were thinking. John Oakes, PhD