Meanwhile, while the cotton wars were going on in this blog, Keith Witherup, over at ReligionForum.org was disputing some video clips that argued that the image on the shroud is not Jesus because:
- “Jesus’ body would have been washed and prepared according to Jewish burial law . . . This would then, supposedly, preclude blood stains from Jesus’ wounds appearing on the linen shroud, . . .”
- “the Shroud of Turin is a single rectangular piece of linen, which the video author(s) argue, would not have been the case.” . . .
- “the Bible makes no mention of an image appearing on Jesus’ shroud, . . . no such image therefore exists.”
- “that God would not allow a graven image to be made of himself.”
The video clips ignore the carbon dating making me wonder why? Were the clips creators of the clips young earth creationists who have problems with the technology because it tells us that some things are impossibly too old. Note that according to various Gallup polls, somewhere between 40% and 50% of adults in the United States believe that "God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years"
Guess the dinosaurs messed up their calendars. They probably didn’t have mobile devices to keep their schedules straight. As for the content…
1. “Jesus’ body would have been washed and prepared according to Jewish burial law . . . This would then, supposedly, preclude blood stains from Jesus’ wounds appearing on the linen shroud, . . .”
Yet is one reads the text of the Gospels, one learns there is not near enough time to do the complete Jewish burial ritual. The body was not completely cleaned, but I think the cloth itself shows the body was cleaned somewhat. I would expect from the beatings this man took that the Shroud would be full of blood without an image at all.
2. “the Shroud of Turin is a single rectangular piece of linen, which the video author(s) argue, would not have been the case.” . . .
I didn’t watch the video, yet according to Dr. Petrus Soons and others, burial cloths have been made this way for several thousands of years. Who are they?
3. “the Bible makes no mention of an image appearing on Jesus’ shroud, . . . no such image therefore exists.”
An argument from silence is no argument at all. This is just a failure to reason correctly.
4. “that God would not allow a graven image to be made of himself.”
The concept of graven images does not include every image. One can easily find a myriad of images commanded by God to be made. This iconoclasm was addressed and resolved by the Church over a millennium ago. I recommend some study of the history of images.