Never heard this...that's cool!

Fascinating.

And before Christianity, that was obviously proof that we are held together by the philosophy of torturing runaway slaves to death.

 

me either.  God is cool!   He gives us so many hints and shows us what we need to know about him if we only have eyes to see. 

huh?  Can you elaborate Leauki?

 

Jesus was crucified because that was the common Roman method to torture criminals to death.

The same method was new to the middle east and was traditionally used in Rome to execute participants of slave revolts (and the odd runaway slave as well in extreme cases).

The Christians made the symbol their own.

Before Christianity it was simply the symbol for the execution of slaves, like today the "Electric Chair" is a metaphor for the punishment for murderers.

 

ok gotcha Leauki. Thanks for the explanation. I guess I'm a bit slow in the comprehension dept.....  

It was a natural symbol to call thier own after Jesus died on the cross. The writers to the NT often used the cross in their illustrations and we have used it ever since. Take up your cross and follow Christ is the Christian mantra.

Also on the slave and cross analogy....kind of interesting that we are called to be slaves to Christ after he cuts our bonds from being the slaves to sin.

"I am crucified with Christ and its no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." Gal 2:20a

Differences of opinion aside, KFC, do you not find this just a bit sensational?  I've seen the electron microscope pictures of the laminin, and while it is "cross-like" if you were to lay it out flat, that's hardly any kind of evidence for anything.  It just seems like a sensational way to get an emotional response from people.

 

Now if Jesus had been nailed to some really whackily shaped thing, and then that whackily shaped thing was found in every cell of our bodies - THAT would give me cause for some introspection.  But a cross is hardly a complex geometrical device.  Finding one in nature isn't exactly difficult. 

Seriously, you can't get much simpler and still use two dimensions.

I agree. It made perfect sense for the Christians to choose the symbol of their oppressors as their own. It was symbolic for Christianity's fight to liberate the oppressed.

However, it was chosen by man as a symbol, not by G-d. If it resembles something else, it's either coincidence or the connection is between slavery and creation, not Christianity and creation.

A question just occurred to me. KFC says this is a DVD sermon. Where do I get my free copy, KFC? Hmm...I bet this message isn't free. Anyone want to bet before I google it?

I dunno, looks more like Babylon 5 to me than a cross . . .

And the actual pictures of it (on the right) don't really look like anything cross-like at all.

Look, I found the video.



'I love laminin!'

Something about big-time preachers like this that just give me the willies. Going on 'tour' and all. Your sermon needing a 'hook'.

Like, bad, 'this is a scary man' chills, not good chills.

As a Christian I don't think there is anything wrong with seeing God in the details. That may not work for everyone else, and that's all good, but if I choose to see a cross in the thinga majiggy above, who does it hurt?

I doubt God is angered when we are reminded of His awesome-ness by things He's provided for us.

I believe God is a personal God, and I can talk to Him all day long, and He is listening and attentive, He can and will reach right down into my life to get my attention, to stop something He doesn't like, etc..How He chooses to do it is not written in stone, sometimes its pretty loud and gaudy...

For instance.....

One day I was taking a gal pal to the hospital. She was about 4 maybe 5 (I can't remember exactly) months pregnant, and having complications. I lived in Panama City Florida and she needed to be in Fort Walton Beach (about an hour away) for a special medical procedure or test..

As I was driving, I silently was talking to God. She was worried and crying off and on, I was afraid for her. She was tense and sweating...on the way along side the highway we saw three bill boards. They were spaced about 15 minutes apart.

One said, "God is with you." And the scripture reference.

The second said something else, something about laying your burden at Jesus' feet.

The third, was a psalm of encouragement.

I just glimpsed them. I was driving.

When we pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, we parked behind a car with a bumper sticker that read..."He's got the whole world in His hand. Don't worry. Be happy."

Ok, that day, to me it said nothing except...TACKY.

But my gal pal started laughing through tears and told me she was talking to God all the way there..(and she was, with head bowed most of the way)...and did I notice the bill boards? Because every time she lifted her head she saw a message from God.

I told her yeah, I did see them. She said each one of those came when she needed it, when she was spiraling into a mental hysteria of "what ifs."

They gave her comfort.

And then the last one made her laugh.

(She ended up carrying the baby another month or so and having it early, in perfect shape, if a little small. Then sharing this story with our Sunday school class...)

I can believe God is omniscient, and that he knew she was going to need those physical signs on that day in that situation. In fact, my faith allows me to believe He directed her attention to them, to be re-assured, to be comforted.

Did that mean she wasn't going to miscarry? No. I don't think she read them that way either. They just reminded her God loved her, and was with her and all the worry wasn't going to change the outcome.

That may sound like a load of crap to everyone else, but when you believe God is a present and loving father, ensuring one of His own is comforted in time of need is not so far fetched.

I do think this plays on the emotional side...and we should be careful about that because it sounds so nutty. I DO KNOW it sounds nutty.

As for the cross thing...just like names and numbers, certain symbols recur in my life...so it doesn't surprise me it can look like a cross....but I wouldn't be disappointed if it was a smiley face either.

It's a nice thought, but I don't think everyone needs to believe it.

It doesn't hurt anyone for you to notice it.  For him to assert that it means something hurts Christians because it's disingenuous.  This guy is a representative of Christianity with relatively high visibility.  Finding actual discussions/pictures of laminin when googling the word is difficult because there are so many hits on this guy. 

 

Why disingenuous?  Because it's clearly a sensational attempt on his part to make the assertion that because laminin is shaped like a cross it's a sign from God.  You know what that results in?  Converts?  Nope.  DVD sales?  Oh yeah. 

 

As I pointed out, a cross shape isn't very complex.  To find one or millions of cross shapes in nature isn't surprising at all.  I mean hey...let's just take it to the max shall we?  Did you know that the cross shape of laminin comes in 3 parts?  3 Parts!  Just like the Holy Trinity!  Coincidence?  Oh no no no.  I'm surprised he didn't take it to the next level.  As long as you're going to use science as a vehicle for making money, might as well go hog wild.

This reminded me of a similar story. 

I was walking down the streets of CT with a hurting fellow church member.  We were there for a Christian Conference.  She was going thru a painful divorce and had all sorts of questions.  I told her she need to pray to God and ask his direction for a purpose, a plan and a promise  for her life from him.  It just came out of my mouth.

Within a few seconds and I'm not kidding.  We walked by one of those little white two sided sandwich boards and on it it said something about a plan and a purpose.  She, being an ex-Catholic and very superstitous took this very seriously.  She laughed thru her tears when she saw it.  That afternoon in the car as we were leaving there was a very big painted area on the side of a building with the word "promise" in big letters.  She looked stunned and almost afraid when she saw it.  She knew God was there with her. 

I know God uses the little things in life to speak to us. Jesus used simple ordinary things of material life to teach spiritual truths.   Who said that he whispers to us in our good times and shouts to us in our pain?   Well he shouted that day to my friend like it sounds like he did yours T. 

God uses nature all the time to show us his wonderous ways.  There seems to be some commonality when we look at nature and for Christians we just say God's fingerprints are everywhere showing us there is indeed more than meets the eye here. 

More and more Scientists are beginning to know this but being able to express it in a public forum is still not acceptable. 

 

 

hahahaha..

Yeah I do see what you mean.

If he was giving the videos away free...would it bug ya then?