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An honest question here - not a troll - but an honest question.

Why does it matter? Will your faith be increased or decreased over the shroud? Do you need evidence that Christ was born, persecuted, and died on the Cross?

I've always had the same question. Mind you, I think it would be interesting if it actually was the burial shroud of Christ, but it doesn't change my faith in Him, that He was the Son of God, and that He lived, died, and arose three days later

"Why does it matter? Will your faith be increased or decreased over the shroud? Do you need evidence that Christ was born, persecuted, and died on the Cross? "

Just think what this could mean to those who do not believe and the future of humanity.

You pose a serious question, Bob.

The shroud itself proves nothing of who was wrapped in it... but it suggests much. Just as the Gospels prove nothing and are flawed by the very flaw that calls into question any eyewitness testimony... they are not the actual events! The Gospels are the recollections and anecdotes of many who claimed to have witnessed the things to which they are attesting... and as such they are incomplete, replete with frustrating disparities, contradictions and all. They do however SUGGEST something very extraordinary occurred in a backwater area of the Roman Empire 2000 years or so ago.

The shroud also suggests that something very extraordinary occurred to the person which it enwrapped; a person who apparently suffered the exact same mistreatment as did the Jesus of Nazareth of those Gospel stories. As such it stands as a Fifth Gospel... equally as questionable (and frustrating) as the first and second century second and third hand oral rememberances written down as the first Four.

There are many pieces of ancient cloth still extant today... and many of them encased dead bodies. NONE of them preserve an image of the person they enclosed except this one unique cloth that is associated with what to all reports enshrouded a unique person of extreme importance to one of the major religions of the world.

Does it enhance my faith? No more so than the Four Gospels and the letters and acts of the apostles who's authors I cannot cross examine nor look in their eyes to judge the truth of their assertions. The Shroud differs however in that it provides a possible witness that CAN be tested and cross examined (pun somewhat intended!). And except for this one scientific test, the Carbon-14 test, which challenges the authenticity of the shroud, the shroud testifies very well. Many of its "statements" about the time and customs of both Rome and Judea have been verified by independent investigation and examination of other similar "witness." Its inexplicable image cannot be duplicated in all of its details and nature even with today's technology... a challenge with an almost "Thumb in your eye" dare to those who are convinced it is a fraud.

Since the only physical evidence we have is the shroud itself, the carbon-14 test is particularly damning and seems to impeach the testimony of the shroud. As the only convincing testimony impeaching the shroud IS the carbon-14 test results it behooves us to assure that test is, itself, unimpeachable. It is not. In fact, the photographs and hypothesis presented in the above paper, by an expert witness, has most likely successfully impeached the impeachment witness against the Shroud and we have been returned to the state of uncertainty that existed before the test was done, only now we have more knowledge and more direction for our research.