Danusha Goska has posted a discussion about how Protestants view the shroud in Catholics, Protestants, and the Shroud of Turin:
I wrote to Barrie Schwortz, one of my personal heroes, and the Shroud spokesperson par excellence.
In spite of his pressing schedule, Barrie took the time to write back and gave me permission to quote him. Barrie wrote,
"I actually have a special introduction to my presentations for non-Catholic Christian venues which I call: ‘The Top 5 Reasons Why Some Christians Are Shroud Skeptics.’ It addresses the primary reasons why some Christians deny or ignore the Shroud (and I’ve probably heard them all over the past 20 years). Here are the issues I discuss in the form of a 20 slide PowerPoint presentation:
1.The Shroud is a "graven image.“
2.The Shroud is just another Catholic relic.
3.The Gospels state that Jesus was tied with linen strips, yet the Shroud is a single large cloth. It further states there were 2 cloths in the tomb.
4.The Man of the Shroud has long hair, which is forbidden in the Gospels.
5.The Prophecies say the Man’s beard was plucked, yet the Man of the Shroud has a full beard.
We’ve heard all of these many times; they are discussed on this blog every now and then. But I caution, these are not characteristic of “Protestant” beliefs about the shroud. Whereas, many Protestants have hang ups about relics (it goes back to the Reformation era) I don’t think the other four items are characteristic of what most Protestants think except those who embrace biblical literalism. Those who embrace biblical literalism are generally more likely to be Evangelical Christians even to the point of eschewing the term Protestant. And even then there are many exceptions; witness Stephen Jones.
To put it another way, I don’t think most mainline Protestants think differently than Catholics on these items. Some of the best scholars of the shroud and proponents of its authenticity are not Catholic. I’m not.
BTW: The picture is from Danusha’s blog. She writes: “If anyone can identify this picture, please write to me. I found it unattributed on the web and I’d love to know more about it.”
They both got it wrong, its a Jewish burial Cloth, and a Holy Cloth to.
The blood can still heal people, why don’t they see those things?
I just wonder????? Why do they not use this cloth?
“Why do they not use this cloth?” A utilitarian approach to a holy relic?? We have physicians to cure the illness of the body. Sufficient faith will cure an illness of the soul. Why do we need contagious magic?
@Daveb
There are allot of deseases they can’t cure Daveb, and poor people heardly can pay
voor a good doctor these days. And the soul is a matter of believing in Jesus.
Jesus himself would have said use the burial cloth, I am sure of it!!
http//:creation.com/shroud
Generally relics do not matter, there are other things to see and think about. See what happened to megachurch pastor Ulf Ekman, founder of Scandinavia’s biggest Bible school, who began as Protestant, then moved to the evangelical wing and is becoming Catholic this week:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/2014/04/24/megachurch-pastor-ulf-ekman-we-need-what-the-lord-has-given-to-the-catholic-church-to-live-fully-as-christians/
The picture is a photogravure from 1894 of “Luther at the Diet of Worms” by the Belgian artist Émile Delperée (1850 – 1896).
Barrie just covers all the bases. He and I have talked about these issues. The differences are interesting, I think. The term ‘Protestant’ is so wide there is no way to claim all Protestants think (fill in the blank).