This is really just a lead in to quoting the Daily Mail on Lombatti
Author Jeri Westerson describes the shroud in her blog Getting Medieval:
But it just won’t stay out of the news. In 1988, carbon dating testing on the shroud proved it to be from the 1300s, a medieval artifact. But shroudies refuse to believe it. Even though this particular shroud only got its origin from around that time. Supposedly, this one was gifted to Geoffroy de Charny as a souviner from his crusade to Smyrna, Turkey in 1346. And the other knights only got a lousy t-shirt.
The shroud bounced from here to there and eventually ended up in Turin. It was just another burial shroud of Christ until it was photographed in the late 19th century and the negative showed up better the face and body. That seemed to capture the public’s imagination. And it’s been "studied" ever since.
Studied in quotes says it all.
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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
Oh wow!!! Eureka!!! How deep!!! I mean how deep your head must be in the sand…that carbon testing has long ago been debunked.Why do people keep referring to the 1988 carbon testing results when even those (scientist and experts) who initially believed the results were accurate as well have done a complete 360 on it.
I can only surmise that there are perhaps those who may be “afraid” that it is the actual burial cloth of Christ.So the bigger question might be.”Why” are people afraid of the Shroud of Turin ?
Haha love your opening line John, anyways…”In 1988, carbon dating testing on the Shroud PROVED it to be from the 1300s”…here in lies the problem, people are so unfamiliar with the science, procedures, protocols and limitations of radio-carbon dating, that they are willing (like sheep) to accept the C14 testing as being inapproachable and the last word on the subject…Yes they should get their heads out of the sand!.
R
We’ve seen specialists who know everything about nothing. Here’s a generalist who seems to know nothing about everything!
Ron and Dave…I couldn’t have said it better.Apart from the Shroud of Turin and it’s remarkable preservation and survival…what a precious and priceless treasure it is to have “the gift of faith”.
Is that a man or a woman?
Does she know that her information is out-dated, specifically the conclusions of the carbon dating?! How do you handle those who would so lightly consider and dismiss the world’s most studied artifact?
Joshua