SHROUD OF TURIN, JESUS, GIULIO FANTI, RED BLOOD, CHRISTIAN, #SHROUD OF TURIN, #SHROUD #CHRISTIAN #BOOKS

THE SHROUD of TURIN

Hi guys! 

I first and foremost wanted to thank my readers out there who take the time to write comments. There has been some very interesting comments and questions which I try to answer as soon as possible. (Though sometimes it takes me a few weeks! lol!). To see what people have written I’m afraid you will have to scroll through the blogs looking at the comment section at the end. It will say how many comments are there then click on it to pull them up. So with that said, how are all you fine people out there? I do pray for you all and my hopes are that the blogs I write will bring you closer to our Lord Jesus and see how much of a wonderful Creator He is.

So speaking of the Creator, did He leave us an imprint of Himself in the cloths that wrapped him in the grave. There is controversy over a single shroud, the Shroud of Turin, in which that very thing may have happened. Let’s take a closer look…

Is the shroud real? Could the we really have a record of how Jesus looked in this simple cloth? There are several factors to consider:

1) What is the Shroud of Turin? The Shroud of Turin is a single cloth approximately 14.3 feet (4 m) long and 3.7 feet (1 m) wide that contains an image or imprint of a man, both the front and the back sides. The first known appearance of the shroud occurred in 1357 in France but did not receive world wide exposure until 1898 when it first was photographed. Along with the imprint there is blood stains around the head, wrists and feet, on the front in what would be the man’s side and on the imprint’s back supposedly from the scourging. 

2) How old is the cloth? Carbon dating in 1988 came to the conclusion that the material the shroud dated back to as early as 1260 AD. More recently however, a nondestructive vibrational spectroscopy along with several other tests identified the shroud’s fabric to be between 300 BC and 400 AD. Giulio Fanti, a professor from the University of Padua, ran the tests and states that in addition, his tests also confirmed the presence of pollen and dusts from a Middle Eastern origin. 

3) Is there really blood on the cloth?  “Believers in the Shroud’s authenticity have never adequately explained how the blood on the sheet has remained red for millennia or how the purported stigmata-on-fabric came to leave their marks. Fanti suggests some sort of ‘exceptional radiation’ rendered the marks indelible and red.”¹  Blood when it dries turns black. Could Christ have kept His blood red. Certainly by supernatural means. But the question is, is this what happen here?

4) Is the Shroud of Turin Jesus’ burial cloth?  The best place to get an answer is to look at scripture itself as it is the unaltered truth. “Scriptures says: ‘So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen’ (Mark 14:45-6). It would be grossly incorrect to think they would leave the body in the bloody cloth used on Him right away. First this was a Jewish culture that believed in cleanliness, and second, this was the Lord—care was going to be used from the moment the body was taken down…Looking at the Scriptures, it distinguished against strips of linen and single linen cloths. The Greek word (used for a single linen cloth as in Matthew 27:59) is sindon, whereas the strips of linen used on Jesus in the grave (as in John 20:7) is othonion. Othonion does not mean a single linen cloth—it is plural. If a single linen was being described, they would have used othone or sindon…Keep in mind the strictness of what Moses wrote: Numbers 19:11-13; He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him. Because of John’s account (John 19:40; 20:5-7), we are certain that strips of linen were used in the grave as well as a handkerchief, but nothing else is mentioned.”²

5) Head Imprint It seems to me like there is one major problem that has been overlooked in all the writings and inspections about the shroud: Where the imprint comes together at the top area of the head there is a just a small connection between the front and back of the head. Now if the shroud had been wrapped around the Lord’s head there would have been a wide imprint to include the sides of the head. I Just finished a quick experiment where I wet the front, side and back of my head then pressed a light linen cloth around my head. I patted all around to get an “image”. And an image I did get! One that is very broad on the sides with an elongated connection between the front and back as wide as the head itself. To me, it seems the imprint was taken from a flat object, hence the narrow connection between front and back head!

Conclusion: “Let Scripture speak. God reveals what He wants us to know, and since He does not mention a shroud in the grave with Christ, this should settle the issue for Christians.”³

Science should not be utilized to try to make a point or proof for God. If the Ark were found, or the covenant of the ark, those who do not want to listen would still not be convinced. "Neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead," Luke 16:31b.

I truly believe that scripture is God-breathed scientific and historical evidence. I believe the Bible word for word, cover to cover.

Until next time, God bless and take care!

Willow Dressel

Reference:

¹https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/shroud-of-turin-gets-own-app/

^2,3https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/testing-the-shroud-of-turin/