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The Great Laminin Hoax

The Great Laminin Hoax

Last updated on: December 1, 2017 at 4:57 pm by Keith Giles

The Great Laminin Hoax 2017-12-01T16:57:14+00:00 Keith Giles

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I’m sad to say that I needed someone to point this out to me, but the very popular post and video going around from Christian speaker, Louie Giglio, regarding the cross-like shape of the Laminin molecule and how that is, supposedly, pointing to how Jesus is the one who “holds all things together” as referenced in Colossians 1:15-20, is totally false.

Sorry. It’s not true.

Image via Pixabay

The first problem is simply that the purportedly cross-shaped Laminin protein is not cross-shaped. Not even close.

Let’s back up and summarize the claims before we get going.

Here are the basic claims being made:

“Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue. Laminins are what hold us together, literally. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart.”

That part is true. No problem there.

The problem comes when people like Louie Giglio [and he is the originator of this growing myth these days] shows everyone a diagram of Laminin that looks like this:

laminin1

Wow. That probably reminds you of something, doesn’t it? Well, yes. It is sort of “cross-shaped”. But that’s an artist’s rendering designed to help students and scientists understand the component structure of the molecule.

Here’s what the actual Laminin molecule looks like under an electron microscope.

laminin2

Uhm…Err…uh…yeah. Well, that’s not very cross-like is it?

No. Not really.

Does that mean that Jesus doesn’t “hold all things together” the way Colossians claims?

Of course, Jesus holds all things together. But does he only do that through Laminin molecules? Does everything have to be cross-shaped to testify of Christ’s power or to point to Him?

No, that’s not how it works.

There’s no magic in the shape of a cross. The crucifix is not a totem or a talisman. It’s just a shape.

The blood of Jesus is what sets us free. The death of Jesus is what tore the veil in the Temple. It wasn’t the shape of the cross.

So, maybe we should stop sharing posts that make us look silly to actual scientists who know that we’re off-base and talking about things we really don’t understand?

That would be my suggestion, for what it’s worth.

-kg

NOTE: Special thanks to Grant Alford for pointing out this hoax to me.

For more see Snopes “Laminin Hoax”

Keith Giles is the author of several books, including “Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb”.

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