THUMBS UP— Nice blog posting: Pour a hot cup or pop open a cold one and sit back and carefully read Shrouded In Mystery on the OFloinn’s blog, The TOF Spot. The sad part is realizing you must wait for Part II.
John Walsh in The Shroud (Random House, 1963) wrote:
"The Shroud of Turin is either the most awesome and instructive relic of Jesus Christ in existence… or it is one of the most ingenious, most unbelievably clever, products of the human mind and hand on record."
But there are, of course, other logical possibilities.
- It is neither a relic nor a clever product, but simply a natural occurrence.
- It really is a first century burial cloth, but it is Yussuf Schmoe, crucified in AD 80, not Jesus Christ.
- It really is the burial cloth of Jesus, but it evidences only his death, not his resurrection.
And of course, that the Shroud may have a train of material causes that account for it does not preclude its being miraculous. The word for "miracle" is simply mirabilium, which means "marvel."
"We marvel at something when, seeing an effect, we do not know the cause. And since one and the same cause is at times known to certain people and not to others, it happens that some marvel and some do not." — St. Thomas Aquinas. Contra gentiles
Watch for Part II.
This is a fascinating blog by someone well versed in Catholic theology and history (or so it appears to me). It is amazing the number of good, dedicated people who study the Shroud. Then, there are some strange, not-so-well motivated. See the “da Vinci did it” advocates.
[It is also amazing that it took me a year or so to discover how the spell-checker works on this blog.]
THUMB DOWN!
O’Floinn keeps rehashing received ideas:
“RECALL too that in the gospel accounts, the body of Jesus was put away in great haste because it was a Great Sabbath (a Sabbath that fell on Passover) and the body was not washed or otherwise prepared.”
The true fact is Yeshua’s burial was NOT dispatched (in about half an hour). It DID last at least 2h30 once they had reached the tomb (most likely time-frame). In the koine Greek Gospels it is clearly said the buriers wounded/encircled, compressed/tightly wrapped up, bound/fastened his body in linen clothes with spices, as the manner of the Judeans is to bury. WHERE is it written his body was just draped over? NOWHERE!
He also wrote: “The women would need to get at the body to wash and anoint it come Sunday morning. Also in most burials, the deceased generally did not get up afterward and leave the shroud behind neatly folded up. ”
In the Gospels NOWHERE it is written either the women were to wash Yeshua(’s wrapped-up) body. It is just written they were to anoint it (most likely with oily spicy perfumes). NOWHERE it is written either “the shroud was left behind neatly folded up”! It’s patently false!
Besides, he most misleadingly also wrote: “some of the lettering on the coins, when examined, falls in the spaces between threads, so they’re clearly spurious.”
When the suspected right and left eye areas are CORRECTLY examined from 3D, digital squeeze and red paint brush images, this is not what one can observe at all as three printed letters are complete/not fragmented and five are pieces of letters.
How is it that this is the ONLY such cloth ever found?? Tens of thousands of people crucified, buried, but this is the only surviving cloth? How is “Yussuf Shmoe” has the exact same documented, down to the letter identical wounds and torture marks as Jesus, or was crowning with thorns a daily occurrence, maybe some sort of Hebrew custom we know nothing about?! BTW, How is it Y.S. is about a foot longer in the back than he is in the front, is that a common occurrence as well? The more “scientific” explanations people try to come up with, the more ridiculous they sound. If this is a natural phenomena, then reproduce it. Should be easy, right? Then do it. Or shut up, and get down on your knees with the rest of us.