Posted on 07/04/2012 2:07:42 PM PDT by NYer
The Holy Shroud
The results of a recent study - completed by Italian scientist, Giuseppe Baldacchini - on the theory of annihilation, are said to prove the authenticity of the Shroud according to the current laws of physics
Marco Tosatti
Rome
Giuseppe Baldacchini is a physician who has worked for Italian research centre ENEA for a number of years. He is also a passionate scholar of that mysterious object which is the Holy Shroud of Turin and in recent days he has published a book about his findings, which readers can access by clicking on the following link. Of particular interest is a fascinating theory he has come up with to try to respond to a series of questions about how the image on the Shroud was formed and how the body which lay wrapped inside the winding sheet could have disappeared. Baldacchini presents two theories: one, that the Shroud is a medieval fake which is useful in worship rituals and/or religious propaganda in the Catholic Church, like many other relics. And two, that it is the genuine article and really did contain Jesus Christs body, making it a witness of his Resurrection.
The Shroud is an old linen sheet, measuring 4,40x1, 10 sq m, which contains a number of marks including a front and back image of a body (IC) and organic and inorganic liquid stains. Over the past decades it was discovered that the IC is neither a drawing nor a picture created with known techniques. Indeed, some reddish stains were caused by human blood (Antonacci, 2000), (Wilson, 2010). Naturally we cannot yet exclude a fake so let us suppose that the Shroud is a medieval fake created by a brilliant forger who never existed on Earth and remains unknown today (Baldacchini, 2011). The supposed author/authors must have been familiar with some kind of technology or possessed certain information before these were even invented or published. Baldacchini lists eleven crucial scientific elements which lead him to the conclusion that the Shroud is not a fake. These are too many to list here so we ask you to refer to the original text.
The scholar recalls that The Shroud contains no traces of putrescent liquids or gases (these marks start to appear about 40 hours after the persons death, so the body had disappeared from the shroud before then, but not too long before that judging by the blood stains which would have needed some time to form as a result of the liquefaction of the clotted blood, the process of haemolysis), and that The body was not removed from the Shroud manually (there are no signs of dragging that correspond with the blood stains).
So how did the body disappear? Baldacchinis response is this: The only phenomenon in Physics that can lead to the complete disappearance of mass, producing an equivalent energy is the process known as matter-antimatter annihilation (AMA). Today, this can only be reproduced on a subatomic level in elementary particle laboratories but was a dominant occurrence straight after the Big Bang. That is, in the first instants of our universes existence. The annihilation theory also satisfies the criteria of previous theories: Indeed, only a small portion of the energy from the dead matter is released, while the body is completely annihilated and reappears almost exactly as it was before even outside the Shroud. Previous theories are based on radiant energy (MEB) and the idea of the body being mechanically transparent (REB). These were completed by the Consistent historical method (CHM) theory. Said theories were all conceived in order to explain the bodys disappearance as it was not mechanically removed from the winding sheet. Therefore, Jesus Christs body becomes transparent for the Shroud, which satisfies the MTB theory, whilst releasing a limited amount of radiant energy, a requirement of the REB theory, without the problems presented by the HCM theory.
Concluding his study, the physician states that: The AMA theory tells us nothing, except that the body dematerialised inside the Shroud and instantly materialised again somewhere else, either dead or alive. This makes no difference to the laws of Physics as this way they do not contradict the evangelical texts which describe it as resurrected and therefore alive. They also tally with the chemical and physical characteristics of the Holy Shroud. I pushed the boundaries of current scientific knowledge but tried to remain within the laws of physics we are familiar with today, mainly the preservation of energy and the non preservation of some parameters that are essential in the elementary processes which form the basis of our universes existence, the scholar concluded.
I prefer to believe.
That is all.
Does it surprise anyone He who created time and space should have complete mastery of physics?
In the case of the shroud, belief without basis is not necessary. The thing is basically a photographic negative created at a time prior to photography being invented on the planet...
“Schrodinger wept” ping
Things that make you say “Well, duh!”.
;]
72 hours? If He died at 12 noon on Friday and showed back up at 12 noon on Sunday, he would have been gone 48 hours. Thus “on the third day” rather than “after 3 days”.
As Christ Himself said, "With God, all things are possible."
From a late Friday afternoon or early evening (before sundown and the beginning of the Sabbath - they needed to rush to shroud the body and lay it into the tomb) to early Sunday morning is under 40 hours. The “third day” phrase does not imply a full 72 hour time span.
The body was in rigor mortis, but not putrefaction....the body of the man in the Shroud. He had, therefore, been dead for more than 24 hours but less than 72 hours. What an interesting...........coincidence. Ahem.
Also, it is a 3-D image - something that could not be faked.
To this day no one has ever been able to reproduce a similar relic with all of modern science at their disposal.
To paraphrase a StarTrek line....
“It’s real, Jim”
I’ve always said the inventor of the laws of physics would know how to work within them.
Even the parting of the Red Sea is physically possible as sometimes a storm will cause a draw back and then crash back together.
Years ago upon reading the Greek used to describe the empty tomb as told in the Bible, I concluded that Jesus simply left the wrappings, without unwrapping them, just as He left the seal tomb without rolling away the stone. My personal theory is that He did this by shifting the temporal location of His body, so that He was immeiately ‘out of phase’ with our planar present. As God He can walked anywhere along the time line, just as He appeared to Moses ont he Mountain, and visited the three boys int he furnace, and wrote on Belshazzar’s wall without bringing His entire body int the palace present. Our current state of sensing is limited by the processing of past events made sense of by the mind of ur soul. We process nothing int he present of the event because it takes time for data to reach us and be recorded for mental ‘assignment’. ... There is a realm of reality no further away than the length of a man’s arm, yet it is completely beyond our sensing as we exist now. But ‘when we see Him, we shall be like Him’
Forensic evidence such as spores, molds, seeds, flowers, all from area and time of the crucifixion. Human blood. A negative image made before photography was invented. No paint, or pigments used to make the image, a 3 dimensional image. Carbon dating (as accurate as Obama’s released birth certificate) samples taken from the most contaminated areas of the shroud (corners, edges) and from non original cloth used to make repairs to the shroud.
The period correct type of burial cloth. Not an article of clothing. It is a LONG sheet, laid down lengthwise. The body is placed on the sheet, and then the rest of the sheet is drawn back over top of the body. NOT WRAPPED, like a mummy.
Blood on the shroud at the head, (crown of thorns), at His side (They will look on the one they have pierced.), at his wrists and ankles (But he was pierced for our transgressions, ...... and by his wounds we are healed).
And on and on the evidence goes. Off the top of my head, this is the best I could do. It is a fascinating study.
To you skeptics I would say:
Isaiah 53:4-6 New International Version (NIV)
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Accept Jesus as your Savior, today. Ask any Christian how to go about it. Where you will spend your eternal life depends on it.
Shroud of Turin ping - nothing really new
The Holy Shroud is very moving and amazing when seen up close. And you can see a backlit, precise replica at the Catheral of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem in Rome. It is not well-known or crowded even though the relics on display are breathtaking. The main columns in the church date to AD 400.
St. Helen traveled to Jerusalem in AD 343 and brought back the relics on display.
A nail from the Holy Cross.
Two thorns from the Crown of Thorns
A piece of wood from the Holy Cross
A piece from the Cross of the Good Thief
Half of the inscribed board from the Holy Cross
What error? The scholar confirms Ps 16:10. No evidence of decay found.
You’re all right - my bad.
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