A Good Review
Yellow Dog Patrol tells us in a posting, “History Channel and The Shroud of Turin: The Face of Jesus:"
The History Channel had an unbelievably fascinating special on the Shroud of Turin last night.
I’ve always marveled at the Shroud and what it could potentially mean, however with the Carbon-14 dating done some years back, I’ve been less enamored. This special changed all that for me.
The biggest findings for me were that:
- For multiple reasons, the Carbon-14 test was very likely flawed
- All of the best scientist still have no idea on how the image got there. It definitely was not printed or painted, and our current technology can’t replicate anything like it.
- The wounds of Jesus on the Shroud are remarkably detailed, and remarkably consistent with the crucifixion stories.
The show airs again on Saturday night. For believers and skeptics alike, I strongly encourage you to watch.
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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
It’s always safe to hide behind extremes of terms: this has been “proven” or that has “disproven”. Despite the intense heat and smoke generated by shrodists, little light exists.
Most of us seem to agree that it isn’t a painting. It’s a photograph. It’s either a pious piece of mummery or it’s a supernatural photograph. Good to go on that debate.
The dimensionality of the image either shows soft, 180 degree backlighting or supernaturally intended artistic preference. Done and done.
The original cloth presented was from the 13th century. It isn’t what was asked for it’s what was given. It’s the best we (are permitted by the owners) to have. The very people who first offered it as proof now denounce it as fraud. Guess whose fraud?
Other factors: hanging on two threads, an argument that might or might not prove anything except leaving the door open to date, some more. Flower pollens, cloth composition & weave, the same. It looks like a photograph of Leonardo DiVinci to mnay, many people – again, nothing proven – just another open door. A head too big, an arm too long – ok, maybe Jesus was a circus freak, too. I can see how his followers would forget to mention it. Maybe the cloth was stretched as much as the truth, and metersticks just don’t measure up when the presence or absence of God is at stake.
Most elements of the photograph have been faithfully reproduced by modern technology – technology DiVinci and his peers may be expected to have had the likes of. But not every element has been reproduced. We also cannot rebuild the Saturn V rocket. It is well known that much of that technology has been lost and can’t be simply back-engineered.
Or maybe the Saturn V was built by God. Yeah. That.
You know what Occam’s Razor says? It says Bigfoot and the little fairies came and danced a merry dance on MY back lawn last night, around 3:00 am. I have evidence to support this. More than two slender threads. Prove it couldn’t have happened. This is the will of God: Believe what you will, o’ ye of little faith!
One splinter of Christianity.
I am a Pagan Pantheist, and I approve of this “debate.” My laughter is loud and long. Keep me entertained.
Oh. And I seriously doubt the concession stand or the parking is free. If this is not generating money for Mother Church and other Christian agencies, I’ll just ask to see their OTHER set of books.
Which I can, with my puissant and condign powers of Witchcraft, can predict, they will be as unwilling to show as they were and still are to present a swatch of the Shroud that would end this debate FOREVER.
Thank you.