Month: March 2011

The news that Christianity would soon die away in many places was all over the Internet recently, particularly on Atheist blogs that were glowing in the light of fallacious happiness. Peter Kirk over at Gentle Wisdom has put the story in perspective:

The BBC has a provocative link on its website “Physics predicts end of religion”. I think even they have realised how stupid that claim is, for the article at the end of the link seems to have been renamed, less controversially, Religion may become extinct in nine nations, study says. Well, at least the BBC is accurate there: that claim is being made, in a study “reported at the American Physical Society meeting”.

In all of the nine nations in the study:

Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland

the main religion is Christianity. So the claim is essentially that the church will become extinct in these nations. And most of these nations are similar enough to the UK that any results could probably be extrapolated here – although probably not to the USA where the religious scene is very different.

Read the full article. It is worth your time and reflection: Physics can say nothing about the end of religion – Gentle Wisdom

He begins his address during a pastoral visit to Turin:

With my gaze turned to the Shroud, I would like to extend a cordial greeting to you all, the faithful of the Church of Turin. I greet the pilgrims who have come from every part of the world at the time of this public exposition to look at one of the most unsettling signs of the Redeemer’s suffering love.

Full text: The Holy See – Vatican web site

He writes in The Church Mouse Blog: "New find" of 1st century texts?

Mouse read about this story a week or so ago, but now that the BBC have hit upon the story, it seems to have gone global.  The news is that 70 small lead tablets, bound together with wire, have been found and appear to be texts dating from the time of Jesus.

Just so Mouse’s views are clear early on, he is pretty skeptical about their authenticity.

It would be a bit difficult to doctor the Shroud of Turin at this point, or for that matter to inscribe it with anything ever, but the mouse’s point is nonetheless valid when he writes:

As for the tantalising quote asking ‘what are they a forgery of’, Mouse can only point out that one could apply that logic to any number of relics, from the Turin Shroud on.  The trick is often actually to take an artefact from the era and add an inscription which turns it into a Biblical artefact.  Since it is virtually impossible to tell when an engraving is made, it is very hard to tell whether it is genuine or not.

The website is called Above Top Secret. It is, so the site says, "the Internet’s largest and most popular discussion board community dedicated to the intelligent exchange of ideas and debate on a wide range of ‘alternative topics’ such as conspiracies, UFO’s, paranormal, secret societies, political scandals, new world order, terrorism, and dozens of related topics with a diverse mix of users from all over the world.”

Yes, I’m sure. “With 217,918 members generating 10,465,452 posts . . . that cover 649,759 topics in 162 different discussion forums, you could say ‘the truth is in here,’” the site reports. “678 members creating 52,897 new posts during the past seven days.”

Mostly, 678 people with too much time on their hands, documenting and debating fringe theories that have little or no basis, whatsoever. Among all of these, Vincent Ruello (Vinny Pop), has emerged to reveal his new methods for finding images of loose toes and toenails, presumably belonging to the man of the shroud. (Vinny and his so-called “science” has been discussed previously on this forum and in Wikipedia Talks).

The method seems to be to re-photograph over and over using a handheld video camera held at different angles. This, according to Vinny, will decode and reveal new images, convert some images to xrays and generate 3D images. Actually it creates a lot of visual and shaky noise that can be interpreted as just about anything you want to see.

It is most regrettable that this is getting so much attention on YouTube, Wikipedia, in the press and now in ATS. Legitimate shroud science is being ridiculed because some people equate it with this craziness.

Decoding Shroud Process Revealed For ATS Members Scientists, page 1

Topic started on 28-3-2011 @ 08:24 PM by shroudnews77

Thankyou for your interest in my research. Am saddened that I was not able to find at this stage a scientist or organisation to verify my work so now I will reveal the process as best as possible because I have faith this is now the right thing to do. The first part of the process is the correct negative to use. Secondo Pia’s was to grainy and the 1979/1988 were to high resolution. Use Guiseppe Enrie’s 1931 image. Click on link to my youtube page it’s called The Key. To see my discoveries search youtube Vincenzo Ruello or click on channel name in link below vinnypop to enter my channel thankyou

Continue reading “Above Top Secret Reveals Vinny Pop’s Methods for Decoding the Shroud of Turin”

Last Eastertide, the Guardian’s Andrew Brown blogged:

I’m not an admirer of [Archbishop of Canterbury] Rowan Williams as a prose stylist, but just for fun I tried to read the passage held up for ridicule by Terry Sanderson [president of U.K.’s National Secular Society]. It seems to make sense. Theology, says Rowan, is not the study of God, who can’t be pinned down for study ("his word is not bound"). It’s not even the study of what God has done. Instead theology is language to make us aware what a huge task that study would be, because the awareness of that immensity is the beginning of the work and study of some small details is as far as we can ever get into it. This, he says, is also the method of St John’s gospel.

That seems perfectly comprehensible, whether or not it is true. It also implies something important about the distinction between theology and science: the purpose of scientific investigation is to produce reliable third-party knowledge which would be true even if there were no one to know it. But the purpose of Christian theology is to change the theologians. The knowledge it results in would then be inward, personable, and as incommunicable as any other aspect of experience.

And thus, if Rowan++ (Cantaur) is right, and I think he is, the Shroud of Turin can never be fully acceptable to science, authenticity-wise or otherwise, unless we choose to ignore its meaning.

Pope Benedict XVI recently caused a minor stir by referring to the Shroud as a relic in his newest book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection. He wrote:

Equally important is the indication that Joseph bought a linen cloth in which he wrapped the corpse. Whereas the Synoptics speak simply of a linen sheet in the singular, John uses the plural "linen cloths" (cf: 19:40) in keeping with Jewish burial customs–the Resurrection account will return to this matter in greater detail. The question of matching this description to the Turin Shroud need not detain us here; in any case, the shape of that relic can in principle be harmonized with both accounts." (Emphasis mine)

Previously, he had used the term icon. Icon is less sure, bound up in interpretation and not in authenticity. Icon can mean a painting or work of art. Had the pope become more sure? Was that why he used the word relic? Was this, in a sense, a promotion in terminology?

I rather hope not. I hope he meant relic in a scientific sense and icon in theological sense. It can be both. Calling the Shroud a relic is comforting to those who believe it is authentic or want it to be. But does that really mean anything, theologically? If Rowan is right, then no; not as I see it. If the pope meant two things, then I agree with him.

Making sense of Rowan Williams | Andrew Brown | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Nazia Parveen in the Lancashire Telegraph is reporting:

FOR more than 200 years Stonyhurst College has cared for its most precious artefact — a thorn said to be from the crown forced onto Christ’s head at his crucifixion.

Now it is being loaned to the British Museum for a new exhibition for thousands of visitors to enjoy.

The Crown Of Thorns is said to have been seized from Constantinople, the imperial capital of the Roman Empire, in the Fourth Crusade and was later sold to King Louis IX of France whilst he was in Venice.

. . . Jan Graffius, curator at the Stonyhurst, said: “It is an incredible object and we are really delighted that it will form part of the British Museum exhibition. . . .

A story in the Daily Mail adds a short article on the Shroud of Turin. That is to be expected. Also, as is the case in such stories, the comments are filled criticisms, not of just the relic’s possible authenticity, but of Christianity and all religion. This, too, is to be expected in mainstream media on the Internet.

See: Ribble Valley college loans ‘thorn of Christ’ to British Museum (From Lancashire Telegraph)

It is called the Inner West Courier. It is a Sydney, Australia daily tabloid paper with “local news, council news, latest news, sports and weather.” It has picked up on the the Vincent Ruello claims about new things on the Shroud of Turin that no one has ever seen before. Ruello, to support his claim, is uploading tiny and shaky videos to YouTube to the Vinny Pop channel.

After I had discussed his claims in this blog, Mr. Ruello wrote to me, very upset because I did not believe him without some documentation. His videos make no sense. As far as I could tell from his emails and comments to me, he thought that he was discovering new information in a picture of the shroud by re-photographing it over and over with a handheld video camera at slightly different angles. He even thought he was creating xray images with this method.

He was so upset with me, he told me he would never contact me again and henceforth would only deal with the Vatican and its scientists. I figured that would be the end of it. Well, he wrote to me today about the article shown below. You couldn’t make it up. Really!

There is also a long discussion over at “Wikipedia Talk” where some anonymous individual (hmmm?) has written, “I consider [Mr. Ruello] the greatest scientific mind since Leonardo DaVinci and Albert Einstein.”

Let us hope this ridiculous series of claims does not make it into Wikipedia unless his technique (fourth paragraph from the bottom below) which manufactures visual noise actually creates images of real toes.

“[M]y discoveries could rewrite biblical history,” he tells us, “because they didn’t write in the bible that three toes had been ripped off . . . .”

Sorry, Mr. Ruello, I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. But I do think you should stop uploading all these videos to YouTube and trying to edit Wikipedia until you can get another scientist or two to agree with you. 

A reader of this blog reports that the Citizens Voice has a better story on two, not one, Shroud of Turin presentations in the Scranton area:

It has been both the subject of intense debate and a source of inspiration for centuries, and in April, a group of local Catholics will have a replica on view in Scranton.

A duplicate of the Shroud of Turin will be on display at two Catholic Churches as part of special programs featuring talks by Donald H. Nohs, one of the world’s leading authorities on the shroud. Several first class relics of St. Paul of the Cross, St. Vincent Strambi, St. Gemma Galgani, St. Maria Goretti, St. Francis of Assisi and other saints will also be on display, according to organizer Kathy Brezinski.

Since the actual shroud is kept permanently at a cathedral in Turin, northern Italy, what will be shown at Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary Parish in Jermyn and at St. Ann’s Basilica is a replica that has been viewed by Vatican authorities, who approved it as an accurate representation of the original, Brezinski said.

She and other organizers see the events as an opportunity to see what many believe is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.

"It is very powerful," Brezinski said. "Seeing the affect it has on people who see it, that’s the most beautiful thing to me."

In addition to speaking about Jesus and the crucifixion, Brezinski said Nohs will also talk about the controversy that has surrounded the Shroud of Turin.

The cloth, measuring about 14 feet by 3 feet, seems to show a naked man with his arms crossed over his groin. There are reddish-brown stains on the cloth that many believe are blood from the injuries Jesus sustained before and during the crucifixion, including wounds to the hands and feet, head, back and side.

The cloth itself and pollen found on it have been tested over the years in an attempt to ascertain how old the shroud actually is and where it might have originated. But regardless of anyone’s opinion on the authenticity, many Catholics said seeing a replica of the Shroud of Turin is a profound, inspirational experience.

Nohs will give a talk and the Shroud of Turin will be on display at 7 p.m. April 4 at Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary Parish, 624 Madison Ave., Jermyn. For information, call the parish at 876-1061.

He will speak again at 7:30 p.m. April 16 at St. Ann’s Basilica, 1229 St. Ann St., Scranton. Tickets are $5 and can be bought in advance by calling Brezinski at 335-6496.

Thanks. See Replica of the Shroud of Turin scheduled for display in Scranton – News – Citizens Voice