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Update on the Movie, The Shroud Conspiracy
I reported on this back in May of last year in The Shroud–The Movie. The update is that the release date for the movie, “The Shroud Conspiracy,” is now Springtime of 2015. The movie is based on the novel "The Image and The Rose" by John C. Iannone (screenwriter: John C. Iannone, Producer: Nicole Abisinio – Gabriel Messenger Films – Florida).
The plot (some of it) according to the film company’s website:
Turin, Italy: Under cover of darkness, two figures elude security and break into the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, home of the ancient burial cloth of Jesus. They shoot a Custodian and approach the reliquary containing the Shroud planting an incendiary device. A few yards away In the adjacent Royal Palace, the Secretary General of the United Nations approaches the podium to address European dignitaries on the War in Albania.
Minutes later an intense explosion in the Cathedral lights up the night sky, destroying the reliquary housing the Holy Shroud. The blast blows out windows in the Royal Palace Dining Room, injuring the Secretary General. CIA Agent Rebecca Ross runs to his aid and takes charge of the scene. Across from the Cathedral, a mysterious man in dark robes lurks in the shadows watching. He bows his head and whispers, "It is done!"Archaeologist James Aiello, working a thousand miles away, explores the West Gate of the ancient walls of Edessa, Turkey, seeking the one-time 500 year home of the Holy Shroud. Suddenly his trusted aide Abdul rushes to him breathless: "Mr. James! Come! A bomb in the Cathedral. The Shroud is gone! May Allah forgive!"
James feels a sickening emptiness. A world scholar on the Shroud, he worked with the scientific team demonstrating the linen to be authentic – a priceless historical treasure to millions of people. He stands in disbelief…speechless. Suddenly, his cell phone rings. It is Brother Tom, a Monk and life-long friend in the Vatican Library in Rome. . . .
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
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