Earlier this year, just in time for Easter, the news came out that the Shroud of Turin may be authentic after all. It has been claimed to be a forgery by knowledgeable people since it's been in the West (~1390 CE). And it's been claimed to be authentic by relic apologists and the faithful just as long. In 1998 what was apparently a slam-dunk scientific examination proved it was a forgery.
But now, supposedly better testing techniques, better controlled for contamination have yielded results that make the Shroud possibly contemporaneous with Christ. Different dating technique, no fibrous contamination, and viola, what was not so, now may be so. To tell you the truth, I could care less. Nothing about my belief in Christ rests on the Shroud. I do admit, however, that it would be cool if it did turn out to be possibly authentic...
Jesus burial clothes were part of the Gospel account of the resurrection story. I can't imagine Mary, Mary, Peter or John leaving the empty cloth in the empty tomb.
But now, supposedly better testing techniques, better controlled for contamination have yielded results that make the Shroud possibly contemporaneous with Christ. Different dating technique, no fibrous contamination, and viola, what was not so, now may be so. To tell you the truth, I could care less. Nothing about my belief in Christ rests on the Shroud. I do admit, however, that it would be cool if it did turn out to be possibly authentic...
Jesus burial clothes were part of the Gospel account of the resurrection story. I can't imagine Mary, Mary, Peter or John leaving the empty cloth in the empty tomb.
3 comments:
Years ago an atheist friend introduced me to the shroud. He was fascinated with it from a scientific point of view. He told me that the image seemed to have been burned on the cloth from a strong light radiating from inside the shroud. Even though he was not a believer he felt that could have happened supernaturally.
Like you I find it interesting but of no consequence. It can, and has, become an object of superstition and deflect from the truth.
Grace and peace.
I am so surprised an atheist would find that interesting! I agree with you that it, like Moses' serpent in an earlier day, is more fodder for superstition and a distraction than anything else. If it is real, it would be nice if it induced greater fascination with the one who "wore" it than with the thing itself.
I too have read and studied about the image being impressed on the cloth from the inside out. It's not quite the same but sort of similar to the images found on the concrete in Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped. The intense light from the atomic blast burned shadows of the living into the facades of the buidlings. The image on the shroud was impressed into the material through some sort of light radiation as mentioned above by Pumice. As with you it doesn't make any difference to my faith in Jesus but sure is pretty cool were it to be the real thing.
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