Laminin and The Cross Is There A Connection?: Georgia Purdom, Keywords
Laminin and The Cross Is There A Connection?: Georgia Purdom, Keywords
Laminin and The Cross Is There A Connection?: Georgia Purdom, Keywords
https://assets.answersingenesis.org/doc/articles/aid/v3/laminin-cross.pdf
Keywords
Laminin, Scripture, microbiology
Over the past few months we have received numerous questions concerning a popular Christian icon—the
protein laminin. Laminin, interestingly, is in the shape of a cross (see here). In fact, a quick Internet search
turns up multiple websites selling T-shirts, mousepads, stickers, coffee mugs, and a host of other items with
a picture of the laminin protein. These items usually include a catch phrase such as “Great designers always
leave their mark” or “Fingerprint of The Creator.” As a molecular biologist, I can certainly appreciate excitement
concerning a protein (which really shows what a science nerd I am!), but a protein as an icon of Christianity?
any less true if laminin were not in the shape of a cross? No. If five years from now we discover that the laminin
protein actually has a different shape (in fact, some electron micrographs of the protein do not resemble a cross
at all)5 would that change the truth found in Colossians 1:17? No, because our belief in the truthfulness that
Christ holds all things together should start and end with God’s Word alone!
Conclusion
Romans 1:20 makes it clear that we can know God through what He has made. God certainly designed
the laminin protein and gave it a structure that allows it to perform the function He designated for it. In fact,
one of the early papers on the structure and function of laminin said this: “Globular and rodlike domains are
arranged in an extended four-armed, cruciform shape that is well suited for mediating between distant sites on
cells and other components of the extracellular matrix” (emphasis mine).6
The supremacy of Christ that is talked about in Colossians 1:15–20 is probably one of my favorite passages
in all of Scripture. Paul begins talking about Christ as Creator and moves to Christ as Redeemer. These are
truths not because they appeal to our unaided reasoning, but because they are revealed in God’s Word.
Footnotes
1. Retrieved from, http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=152b5103d741aca61093
2. Retrieved from, http://www.bartonpublishing.com/blog/2008/05/27/gods-pharmacy-foods-that-resemble-the-body-parts-they-
help
3. Lisle, J., 2007. Atheism: An irrational worldview. Answers in Depth 2:148–149.
4. Lisle, J., 2008. Evolution: The anti-science. Answers in Depth 3:16–18.
5. Beck, K., I. Hunter, and J. Engel, 1990. Structure and function of laminin: Anatomy of a multidomain glycoprotein. The
FASEB Journal 4:149. Retrieved, from http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/reprint/4/2/148.pdf.
6. Beck, Hunter, and Engel, Ref. 5, pp. 148–160.