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New Evidence For The Shroud of Turin
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Photo negative of Shroud of Turin |
Scriptural Reference To The Shroud
John 19:38-42 After this Joseph of Arimathe'a, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. So he came and took away his body. Nicode'mus also, who had at first come to him by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight. They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
John 20:1-10 Now on the first day of the week Mary
Magdalene came
to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been
taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other
disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the
Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Peter
then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They
both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first;
and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not
go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw
the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not
lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the
other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and
believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from
the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
New Scientific Evidence
The Shroud of Turin has been venerated for centuries as the true burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth. A faint image of what appears to be a crucified man is present on the linen, but no evidence of the image being anything extraordinary could be seen with the naked eye. There was no way of understanding the image's uniqueness until 1898, when the Italian photographer, Secunda Pia, took the first photographs of the Shroud. During the development of the photographic print, Pia noticed the negative image on the Shroud looked like a photographic positive. This discovery raised scientific interest that has continued to the present day.
1988 the Shroud was subjected to radiocarbon analysis and showed the cloth to be 14th century in its origin. The reason for the erroneous radiocarbon dating is due to a rewoven backing or patch added to the Shroud. There is now conclusive evidence proving the sample used to date the Shroud was actually taken from an expertly done rewoven patch added in the middle ages. More data from Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico indicates the linen Shroud is actually much older than the published date from the 1988 carbon tests.
Much of the new scientific evidence has risen from the "Shroud of Turin Research Project" or STURP, a highly respected group of scientists who have dedicated themselves to uncovering the scientific mysteries of the Shroud. STURP members are from these organizations:
- Lockheed Corporation
- U.S. Air Force Weapons Laboratories
- Brooks Institute of Photography
- Texas, Medical Examiner's Office
- Oceanographic Services Inc
- University of Colorado
- Los Alamos National Scientific Laboratories
- IBM
- Western Connecticut State University
- Nuclear Technology Corporation
- Los Angeles County Museum
- St. Agnes Medical Center
- Oriel Corporation
- Rocky Mountain Thermograph
- New England Institute
- U.S. Air Force Academy
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Sandia Laboratories
- Santa Barbara Research Center
- Barrie Schwortz Studios
The STURP team has revealing astounding data that now has convinced many scientists of the miraculous origin of the image. No medieval artist or alchemist could have produced the results present in the Shroud. Research so far has proven that:
- The Shroud behaves as a photographic negative.
- The Shroud encodes three-dimensional (3-D) data which corresponds to a three-dimensional body.
- The image is without substance (not painted on), but rather is due to a chemical change within the linen itself.
- The image exhibits clear evidence of rigor mortis with no evidence of decomposition of the body, suggesting the body image occurred no later than 36 hours after death.
- The Shroud image exhibits anatomical structures clearly not in contact with the cloth and some skeletal structure, e.g., thus suggesting a type of autoradiograph (X-Ray image).
- Medical radiation imaging has, by far, come the closest to reproducing the totality of the image. Yet, the Shroud image remains an unduplicatable mystery.
Much of the recent research on the Shroud of Turin has been focused on the determination of "how the image could have formed on the linen" and of "what type of radiation could have formed the image"? The answer to the first question of how the image formed on the linen was fairly evident. In addressing the second question of "what type of radiation formed the image", there are various natural and supernatural theories that have risen in attempting to solve this scientific mystery. Research indicates the unknown radiation is "biophysical" in its nature. Knowledge of such "biophysical radiation" is currently beyond our scientific understanding.
The scientific evidence revealed in the image scorched on the Shroud of Turin certainly eludes to the miraculous resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth and provides a tremendous witness to Jew and Gentile alike of God's omnipotence and Jesus divine nature.
References
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