Shroud of Turin Ohio State University Lecture on Carbon Dating Problem
Shroud of Turin Ohio State University Villarreal Lecture Part 1 of 5 (Above)
Shroud of Turin Ohio State University Villarreal Lecture Part 2 of 5
Shroud of Turin Ohio State University Villarreal Lecture Part 3 of 5
Shroud of Turin Ohio State University Villarreal Lecture Part 4 of 5
Shroud of Turin Ohio State University Villarreal Lecture Part 5 of 5
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Is the Shroud real? Probably.
The Shroud of Turin may be the real burial cloth of Jesus. The carbon dating, once seemingly proving it was a medieval fake, is now widely thought of as suspect and meaningless. Even the famous Atheist Richard Dawkins admits it is controversial. Christopher Ramsey, the director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Laboratory, thinks more testing is needed. So do many other scientists and archeologists. This is because there are significant scientific and non-religious reasons to doubt the validity of the tests. Chemical analysis, all nicely peer-reviewed in scientific journals and subsequently confirmed by numerous chemists, shows that samples tested are chemically unlike the whole cloth. It was probably a mixture of older threads and newer threads woven into the cloth as part of a medieval repair. Recent robust statistical studies add weight to this theory. Philip Ball, the former physical science editor for Nature when the carbon dating results were published, recently wrote: “It’s fair to say that, despite the seemingly definitive tests in 1988, the status of the Shroud of Turin is murkier than ever.” If we wish to be scientific we must admit we do not know how old the cloth is. But if the newer thread is about half of what was tested – and some evidence suggests that – it is possible that the cloth is from the time of Christ.
No one has a good idea how front and back images of a crucified man came to be on the cloth. Yes, it is possible to create images that look similar. But no one has created images that match the chemistry, peculiar superficiality and profoundly mysterious three-dimensional information content of the images on the Shroud. Again, this is all published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
We simply do not have enough reliable information to arrive at a scientifically rigorous conclusion. Years ago, as a skeptic of the Shroud, I came to realize that while I might believe it was a fake, I could not know so from the facts. Now, as someone who believes it is the real burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth, I similarly realize that a leap of faith over unanswered questions is essential.
My name is Dan Porter. Please email me at DanielRobertPorter@gmail.com
for years I wondered why they carbon-dated the corner of the fabric. Any IDIOT would know that part had been handled, greased up, rubbed on, sweated into and otherwise contaminated for centuries.
And what about the spores? Aren’t there microscopic plant spores in the fabric that are only found in the mediterranean coastal region of Palestine? Isn’t there evidence the cloth comes from that area?
Some scientist really needs to explain the image. Is it a result of temperature over a short time? A flash? Some kind of radiation? Is it seeping chemicals from a body? If so, why is the image so THIN on the cloth?
And how would medieval types know the design of the Roman flail? or that we would later know how to prove human blood through analysis, so they needed to use real blood for the ‘fake’ stains?
it’s all SO hard to rationalize UNLESS you’re so psychologically wedded to it NOT being real that you just ignore all the unlikelihoods.
The fist article in Analytical Chemistry described the acrual sample testing by 3 different labaoratories aggreed on the results. It was dated somewhere 1350 or so. Look up the exact article to find their date. While Science tells us a story, interpretation is by humans. Faith is human. So, we have to decide who wins – science or faith. I would bet Faith because it is in us not wanting any verification by science. So, it does not matter what science tells us. Even if the shroud is not authentic, the belief is biology, again from modern science tells us. Let the faith exist and science do it’s job, unless an Avathaar tells us what is the truth behind this issue?
In sharing how to find the truth?