"The Passion" too violent? The "Shroud of Turin" shows it happened!

Shroud of Turin history presented in Upstate
Retired surgeon relays his nearly 40 years of research on the Shroud of Turin

GREENVILLE — Dr. William E. Rabil has no doubt that the Shroud of Turin is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. Rabil, a retired general surgeon from Winston-Salem, N.C., began studying the shroud in the late 1950s and has been lecturing about it for nearly 40 years. He made two slide presentations to parishioners at St. Mary Church on March 6.

Rabil began with a brief history of the shroud. After the crucifixion, the shroud was originally hidden in Jerusalem and was thought to have been moved to Edessa (Urfa, Turkey) after Jerusalem fell to the Romans in A.D. 70. In 944, the Byzantine Imperial Army invaded Edessa to recover the shroud and brought it to Constantinople (now Istanbul). Raiders from the Fourth Crusade invaded Istanbul in 1294 and took the shroud to Europe. It is believed to have been hidden by the Knights Templar until Geoffrey DeCharney exhibited it in Liren, France, in 1353. From that point forward, its history is fully documented. The shroud was moved to Turin, Italy, in 1578 and has remained there ever since. It is kept in a silver reliquary behind bullet-proof glass inside the Chapel of the Shroud.

The shroud was first photographed in 1898 by Italian photographer Secondo Pia. His first shot was a misfire, but his second shot caused him to fall to his knees. On the negative was the "positive image of Jesus Christ." The markings on the shroud are negative images, and it took the photographic reversal of light and dark to reveal the positive image of a man's body.

While the evidence cannot prove conclusively that the image on the shroud is Jesus, it is definitely the image of man between 5 feet 11 inches and 6 feet tall who weighed approximately 175 pounds. Forensic medical investigation confirms that the man died from crucifixion.

The body in the shroud was unclothed. All four books of the Gospel tell of Roman soldiers casting lots for Jesus' garments.

The shroud was not wrapped around the body, as one might expect. The body was placed on top of the shroud with the feet at one end. The other end of the shroud was brought over the head and spread on top of the body, ending at the feet.

Jesus' torture and crucifixion were much bloodier than most paintings have ever depicted. The back of the body in the shroud shows multiple scourge marks from the nape of the neck to the feet. The Romans used a flagrum for scourging. A flagrum was a whip with bone or metal-tipped leather thongs that was specifically designed to tear flesh. One-hundred twenty scourge marks were counted on the body.

Blood had not been washed from the body in the shroud. The Sabbath was fast approaching when Jesus was taken down from the cross, and he had to be buried before sundown. The doctor emphasized that Jesus' body would have gone into rigor mortis almost immediately after death because of the trauma of crucifixion, which would have made washing very difficult. Jewish burial practices also precluded washing blood that was flowing at the time of death.

The face shows bruising on the nose; Jesus was struck on the nose by a high priest. The body had a mustache and beard, and there is evidence that facial hair had been plucked.

There were no broken bones, but some bones were displaced. There is evidence of spike wounds to both wrists and the feet. Forensic investigators have proved that the spikes were not pounded into Jesus' palms because the weight of an adult would have torn completely through all tissues, and he would have fallen off the cross. The spikes were pounded into his wrists, and the bones separated. One foot was nailed over the other.

According to Dr. John Heller in his book, Report on the Shroud of Turin (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1983), "There is a swelling of both shoulders, with abrasions indicating something heavy and rough had been carried across the man's shoulders within hours of death."

There is no pigment on the linen cloth of the shroud. If paint had been used, the wound pattern would have become obliterated. The blood stains on the back of the skull demonstrate the unique cohesive properties of blood. No other substance behaves the same way. Scientific testing has confirmed that the stains are blood and body fluids.

The forensic examination shows that the crown of thorns was actually a cap over the entire scalp. A painting done from the shroud image shows a thorn above Jesus' right eye.

Some photos of the shroud show the image of coins placed over both eyes, a Jewish burial custom. The image exactly matches that of a coin minted during the reign of Pontius Pilate between A.D. 29 and 33.

Botanical experts have examined fragments of the shroud and found spores and seeds from 27 plants that are indigenous to Jerusalem. Geological analysis of particles showed limestone indigenous to caves surrounding Jerusalem and suggested that the shroud was placed in a damp tomb or cave.

Jesus died after about three hours on the cross, which was considered fast for a man of his age and physical condition. Medical experts theorize that he was severely weakened by the brutal scourging. Death by crucifixion is very painful. The muscles of the arms, chest, and legs quickly go into spasm, and the victim dies of asphyxiation.

The shroud has been studied and tested carefully by surgeons, forensic scientists, nuclear scientists, radiologists, Biblical scholars, botanists, and historians. Experts have disagreed with each other and challenged each other's theories and tests. Nobody will ever prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Shroud of Turin was the burial cloth of Jesus Christ — but nobody can prove it wasn't either.

Here is a link where you will see the face of Jesus on "The Shroud of Turin". It is so clear. But sadly, It is also an alarming link, as it tells what bad shape the Shroud is in right now. (Sorry if I PING anyone twice or more. I'm trying to ping anyone I think will be interested).

http://www.shroud.com/restored.htm#dreisbach

I found the link because someone tried to debunk the Shroud of Turin. That naysayer led to many more positive links than negative ones regarding the Shroud! There are always naysayers in life, but "good" can come from even their negativity. :o)

HOWEVER, there is VERY "recent" and "not very good" news on how "The Shroud of Turin" is being taken care of!!

I don't believe it's "intentional".... just horribly "misguided". It is however "heartbreaking" and even "SHOCKING". I think those who understand "preservation and restoration methods" will be as shocked as I am.

For those Christians who are interested in this "HOLY GARMENT" pay particular attention to "Comments on the Shroud "Restoration" by William Meacham". The other scientists in this link are equally alarmed regarding it's care. Meacham has links where you can go view clips of the Shroud being examined.

Look here: http://www.hku.hk/hkprehis/shrdvid2.htm CLICK ON THE PICTURES AFTER THEY LOAD (you will need DSL or CABLE) (The first picture shows them scraping away burns, when they should have cut them away and saved the clippings. The second video shows "bare hands" sewing. All the while mixing their DNA with that on the Shroud and spreading DNA everywhere. The Third video shows bright lights on, while a Priest talks. Lighting can be very damaging to old linen. And I guess this recent "restoration" took a month. They say the Shroud looks darker :o(

They vaccumed up stuff, were scraping material...and well, I guess you'll need to read the link. I'm pretty upset myself after reading this. We need to "pray" that the Shroud is taken care of better than this. Like I said, .. the caretakers were just terribly misguided. But we need for it to be cared for better than this! I was so disheartened while studying the links and watching the video's!!!

I'm extremely worried about the preservation of this Sacred Garment. Many PRAYERS are needed!!

LASTLY,.. LET ME ADD,.. I THINK THIS IS A TIME FOR ALL "CHRISTIANS" TO COME TOGETHER!!! It is NOT a time to blame the Catholic Church for their care of the Shroud, or anything like that. There is so much EVIL going on, that we TRULY MUST UNITE. (If that isn't OBVIOUS I honestly don't know what is). GAY MARRIAGES, BREASTS BEING EXPOSED, BABIES BEING MURDERED.. so please, lets keep this debate civil.. I implore everyone!

That so MANY Christians have UNITED AGAINST EVIL and for this movie "THE Passion of The Christ" is wonderful!! Let us continue in that vein! But also let us pray for this HOLY GARMENT!!

The Scientist on the above link state that this was all done to try to "preserve" the Shroud. The Church just treated it "Like an Antique Table Linen" (though a terribly misguided and un-educated decision, in all the Scientists opinions, I REPEAT it was NOT done in malice.. the Catholic Church would NOT do that! I'm NOT Catholic, but even I know that!!). The Scientists are not pleased as you will see. The intelligentsia in the Scientific Community are just sick over this!!

I must say, after reading this article, having a close friend with a PHD in Archeology, and having a deep interest in this field, watching documentary's and being hugely interested in all this (but admittedly having limited knowledge).. I am deeply concerned with the treatment the Shroud is getting. After all,.. IMO, this is the Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ!!

The Catholic Church must allow EXPERTS from the Scientific Community to have more input into the FUTURE of the Shroud. I am not saying we want OTHERS TO TOUCH IT OR TO TAKE CARE OF IT.. just to DECIDE HOW IT "IS" DONE!!

To lose this Garment, after it surviving for all these hundreds of decades would be a HUGE tragedy!! Here is the link again:

http://www.shroud.com/restored.htm#dreisbach

It is apparent there was a VAST Scientific community of Scholars that were "IN PLACE" available, waiting, and there to advise the Church on this "well in advance" and have been for MANY YEARS! In fact, they had all met just prior to this RECENT restoration!!

Sadly, they church went ahead with this "ill advised" restoration anyway (They mis-interpreted the advice of a deceased scientist). We do need to write to the Vatican and voice our displeasure to them! We can't sit silent when it is of such great importance! (Is there anything MORE important to Christians?) I'm so hurt and dis-heartened!

Anyway.....

For those who didn't believe the Shroud was real, BESIDES reading the links above, here's something else to read.

Here's an excerpt from the CRC on the work the STURP team:

"Professor Morano, of the electronic Microscope Centre of Vercelli and of the Institute of Pathological Anatomy of Turin, is the first to have studied the ultrastructural aspects of a thread of the Shroud by means of an electronic scanning microscope. Progress on the classical electronic transmitting microscope has been considerable. This quite recent technique consists in exploring the sample by means of an electronic beam focused on a very limited point and scanning it according to a trajectory like that used for a television picture.

Now an examination, carried out in this three-dimensional perspective, on a thread of linen a hundred years old shows flattened and completely smooth fibres, whereas the fibres from a thread of the Shroud show a cylindrical and dirty ("sporco") aspect, encrusted with every sort of foreign body: spores, pollen grains.... exactly like the fibres of a two thousand year old cloth shrouding an Egyptian mummy in the Egyptian Museum of Turin. A further decisive proof of the Shroud's authenticity."

Also from the CRC: THE DATING OF THE IMAGE BY MEANS OF PALEOGRAPHY THE IMAGE DATED TO WITHIN TWO YEARS

Our historical investigation finds striking confirmation through paleography, which dates the image to within two years. Our late lamented friend, Father Filas, sent us the complete file of this discovery, which, to his credit, he brought to completion though not having initiated it himself. This fact needs to be recalled, for it all began with a consensus of American scientists, vouched for by the preliminary work of the STURP team at Albuquerque in 1977 and by Jumper's communication to the Congress of Turin in 1978. But it all ended in such a persecution of Father Filas starting from the meeting at Los Alamos in 1979, that to this day his file is as good as banned worldwide.

Why? For one reason only, which is totally alien to science: because we have here a dating of the image, and not just of the cloth, dating it to almost the actual year of the Event itself. It is the stamp or seal of Pontius Pilate, giving a date to which no scientist can raise any objection.

PILATE'S LEPTON It is the three-dimensional analysis which gave birth to this hypothesis, but even a look at an ordinary photograph will clearly reveal a kind of disc placed over each eyelid, dark on the positive and light on the negative. An enlargement of this imprint, on the right eyelid, enabled Father Filas to recognize the imprint of a coin struck under Pontius Pilate: the same size, same cut, the same effigy, the astrologer's staff, the same inscription recognizable, from four quite legible letters, as a certain coin duly catalogued for the years 16, 17 and 18 of Tiberius Caesar, which would be the years 29, 30 and 31 of our era.

AN ANOMALY THAT DOES NOT DECEIVE
Confirmed by three-dimensional analysis, the discovery was found to be definitively corroborated by its very fruitfulness, for it led to some unexpected progress in numismatic science. Four Greek letters, Y CAI, are in fact all that are needed to reconstruct the inscription TIBEPIO [Y KAI] CAPOC, "of Tiberius Caesar". But there is an anomaly: on the Holy Shroud a Latin C replaces the initial Greek K of KAICAPOC, which figures on all the coin collections known up to 1980.

Thereafter, to those who accused Father Filas of letting his imagination run away with him or of taking his desires for reality, he answered that, not being a numismatist, he had so little desire to see a coin of Pilate's that "before I accidentally stumbled on this, he wrote to me, I would not have known a Pilate coin from a hole in the wall".

He was obliged, therefore, to consult the numismatic specialists, and it was then that his discovery proved to be so little the work of his imagination that it was responsible for a positive progress in the study of numismatics itself. It revealed that the anomaly observed on the Holy Shroud and already recognized as being of common usage in inscriptions but hitherto unknown in numismatics, existed identically on other collection coins struck under Pontius Pilate, which no one had noticed before.

We have here a document dated within a year or two by the express Will of Him Who caused this Image to be imprinted on the cloth.

For one would have expected to see shards of broken pottery used for covering the eyes, as was the Jewish custom, but it would not have been possible to read a date from them.

Whereas the little coin proclaims: it is "under Pontius Pilate" that this Man suffered.

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