Posted on 07/28/2019 6:02:04 AM PDT by Kaslin
In an imaginary “ranking” of Christian topics that elicit the most fervent discussions, Jesus Christ is No. 1. But near the top is the Shroud of Turin — believed by millions of Christians to be the authentic burial cloth of Jesus. This “ranking” was inspired by you — Townhall readers who wrote over 500 impassioned comments in response to my July 21 piece, “Shroud of Turin: New Test Concludes 1988 ‘Medieval Hoax’ Dating Was a Fraud.”
I purposely read all your comments to gain insight into my role as an adviser and fundraiser for a groundbreaking exhibition about the Shroud of Turin at the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. This spectacular museum, among the largest and highest rated in the city, is located only three blocks from the Capitol. And just prior to the January 20, 2021, presidential inauguration is when this high-tech Shroud exhibit is scheduled to open.
Threaded throughout hundreds of your responses about all aspects of the Shroud was one overarching theme summarized by these three comments:
“Anyone who requires physical evidence to underpin their faith doesn’t understand the concept of faith.”
“JESUS CHRIST died for all. HE is what is important. Making such a fuss about this piece of cloth is a distraction from HIS work of SALVATION.”
“I respectfully submit that the only ‘relic’ which really matters is the one which was left us on that first Easter morning: The tomb is empty! He is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Of course, “He is Risen” is also the foundation of my Christian faith, (made slightly more complicated by having been born Jewish). But I feel compelled to discuss and explore the comment that reads in part, “…such a fuss about this piece of cloth...”
And my response is simple: The Shroud of Turin exists because HE exists. An answer that echoes what God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14).
Thus, the existence of the Shroud of Turin raises two questions that I will attempt to address: First, what exactly is the Shroud? And second, a deeper dive into “Why does the cloth exist?”
The Shroud of Turin is a 14.5-by-3.5-foot linen cloth with a linear front to back mirror image of a crucified man. The Shroud has the distinction of being the most studied artifact in the world, yet the cloth’s numerous mysteries remained unexplained by modern science.
At this moment the Shroud lies in a fireproof box in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, as it has continuously since 1578. (But secretly relocated between 1939 and 1946 when Italian authorities feared Hitler was seeking possession.)
Dating the Shroud has been controversial and the subject of my July 21 piece.
Among Shroud historians, there is no dispute that in 1352, over 200 years before the Shroud was housed in Turin, Geoffrey DeCharney displayed the cloth in Lirey, France marking the beginning of the Shroud’s documented "modern" dating.
There is also much circumstantial Shroud evidence through art, artifacts, and coins that pre-dates 1352. Moreover, scientifically verified botanical evidence found on the cloth in the form of pollen, dust, flowers, and even the weave and type of linen traces the Shroud back to first-century Jerusalem.
The cloth with its mysterious properties has survived wars, invasions and the ravages of time including numerous fires — most recently in 1997 at its home cathedral in Turin.
Most harrowing was the 1532 fire in Chambéry, France. Miraculously the entire cloth was not destroyed but left those distinctive linear markings along both sides of the Shroud that we see today. Hard to imagine, but the linen cloth was stored in a silver box, folded in 48 layers, when drops of molten silver burned through the cloth’s outer folded edges.
The point is, against all the odds, the Shroud exists. And, as stated earlier, because He exists. There is also a significant Bible-based reason found in the Gospel of John known as “Doubting Thomas” (John 20:24-31).
But first, a “guest” who will explain this passage needs a proper introduction:
It turns out that the many Townhall readers who commented about not needing the Shroud’s “physical evidence to underpin their faith,” represent a large swath of Christian believers. I learned this when asking Russ Breault— my fellow Shroud exhibit team colleague, and a world-renowned Shroud expert and speaker — if he had experienced similar attitudes after over 30 years of hosting his popular “Shroud Encounters” to sell-out crowds.
Breault replied:
“I get that statement all the time! When someone says, ‘I don't need the Shroud for my faith,’ I usually say, ‘That is fantastic! But that doesn't mean the Shroud was not meant for someone else.’ ”
Breault continued: “In the Doubting Thomas story, Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who ‘believe yet have not seen,’ but Jesus did not condemn Thomas for his unbelief. In fact, a week after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared a second time, and the first person he spoke to was Thomas, who was not there to witness Jesus’ first appearance. Jesus then quotes Thomas' words back to him, ‘Thomas, thrust your hand into my side and place your fingers into my nail wounds and be not faithless but believe.’
At this point, Thomas — forever known as "Doubting Thomas" — makes the strongest profession of faith in the New Testament saying, "My Lord and my God." Then Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who can believe without seeing. So we are blessed if we can believe without seeing, but we are not cursed if we can't get there without some additional evidence.
Therefore, perhaps the Shroud is a silent witness to the world offering all of humanity the same opportunity Jesus gave to Thomas. In some proverbial sense by looking at the Shroud, we too can thrust our hand into His side and place our fingers into His nail wound and find our faith in the process.”
Thank you, Russ! And now my final thoughts for Townhall commenters.
If blessed with great faith, you are free to ignore or downplay the image on the Shroud showing Christ’s great suffering and victory over death. Yet, take comfort in knowing that the Shroud is there to supplement or reinforce the faith of others while potentially witnessing to the ever-increasing number of Doubting Thomases found throughout the world.
In the end, I believe that the Shroud exists as proof of God’s greatest gift to mankind —the Lord Jesus Christ — who lives and reigns forever and ever. Alleluia!
(Now, let the comments begin!)
1: Scripture professes that Christ founded a Church to preach His Gospel and His commandments.
Answer: No it doesn’t. Or perhaps I should say, it certainly does not in the Roman Catholic idea of the word. The ekklesia has always been a body of people who belong to Christ, with Christ as her Head, not some organization.
If the Roman idea of the church is true, then every single person who Roman Catholicism claims to be part of them would be a firm believer in Christ. As we can tell from the current Pope and all the abusive priests who remain Catholic despite their unrepentant sins, they are not.
Otherwise there would be unrepentant sinners in the Body of Christ, which is nonsense.
B: Scripture itself professes a visible Church with a visible organization, not bound merely by invisible belief.
Answer: Give me chapter and verse from Scripture itself, not an unfounded assertion.
C: The Church gave us the Bible for our benefit, so long as we bind ourselves to her authoritative judgment of the inspired Scriptures
Answer: Then why does Roman Catholicism teach in contradiction to Scripture?
Also, that’s a load of nonsense; the Apostles wrote Scripture, not some nebulous body called ‘the Roman Catholic Church,’ and the letters were recognized as Scripture long before any councils declared anything.
D: (for as Peter attests in his epistle, there are many things of Scripture that the unwise and unlearned wrest to their own destruction. Do you count yourself among the wise?)
Answer: That’s an ad hominem and a logical fallacy.
E: The Church preceded the Bible (and this is a simple fact of history).
Answer: Only if you define ‘church’ as including the Old Testament saints. If not, that ‘simple fact’ is a great big load of nonsense because the Old Testament was compiled completely before Christ was incarnate and the entire New Testament had been written before 70 AD, long before any ‘councils’ had ‘determined’ the canon.
And that still doesn’t explain why Roman Catholicism teaches in contradiction to the words of the Apostles and Jesus himself.
F: The Church, by order of fact and by the profession of Scripture itself, is more important than the book you hold in your hands, for what use is it unless it be taught and explained to you, as we saw with Philip and the eunuch in Acts?
Answer: John the Apostle, in his Gospel, proclaims that simply reading the Gospel of John is enough to come to salvation through belief in Christ.
You’re making a very poor comparison to compare Mom MD to someone who didn’t even know who Christ is.
Taking bets on how many people will talk about my 1/A mixup than actually address my points.
But, as I judge the evidence, the people who form the chain of transmission of the Bible, are credible, and are guided every step of the way -— from First Century til now -— by the Holy Spirit. The chain of transmission is key, because without that, you don’t know whether a book is legit.
***
What chain of transmission?
We can go right to the ancient texts; we don’t need some bunch of priests in the Vatican to tell us what Scripture is when it’s right in front of us.
I would *very* mildly agree with you in the sense that the best way to spread the Gospel is to tell people. But it is not the *only* way, because Scripture itself says that reading it can bring you to belief and life.
Or to put it more simply, we know that Scripture contains the direct words of the Prophets, Apostles, God the Father, and Christ himself.
It is the ultimate primary source for faith.
Why should I believe anything that contradicts it?
PS: You’re also making the unfounded assumption that the New Testament ekklesia is identical to the modern-day Roman Catholic church, which I know for a fact is false because of the many quotes I’ve read from church fathers that preach sola fide.
All the stuff in the world is nothing in comparison to the evidence of a changed heart and life in the believer.
Anyone's life that has been so touched by Christ does not need further *evidence*.
“All the stuff in the world is nothing in comparison to the evidence of a changed heart and life in the believer.”
A changed heart would be AFTER THE FACT. I said “to come to faith”. That would be BEFORE THE FACT. Please learn to read.
Christ didn’t leave a body behind. Other than He, Enoch and Elijah.... Otherwise, the rest of man had retired to the dust he is made from. Sorry, evidence is evidence.
The point had to be Christ paid for our sins, once for all,/all time, He lives and faith in His singular act of propitiation in exchange frees me from the laws of sin and death.... So, I have no need of any “thing”, but only Christ Himself, by whose faith I can cry,”Abba, Father, to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, the Creator .
I think brother of Sophie Scholl!
White Rose Resistance Group
There is no actual evidence that this artifact is associated with Jesus. It appears to be a burial cloth for a man that was crucified sometime around the time of Jesus and in the same area. Doesn’t mean it’s Jesus. Would be cool if it is - but it can’t be proven so it’s just conjecture.
There is no scriptural reason for Jesus’ burial cloth to still be with us - just as there’s no reason to expect to find Noah’s Ark or the Ark of the Covenant.
Same thing the older brother did in Home Alone.
Well argued.
Nowhere in Scripture do we see belief in a relic of any kind at all mentioned or encouraged in any way, shape, or form.
We believe God because He is who He is and He is trustworthy and true. It's because of His character that makes Him trustworthy that we have reason for faith and confidence in Him.
The tendency of people to make idols of anything is too great so they are not used of encouraged.
The Israelites made an idol of the bronze serpent that Moses made in the wilderness and so Hezekiah destroyed it.
Which is why I said I personally don’t think the shroud is authentic. I don’t think Christ would tempt people to idolatry.
Just because the church is to uphold the truth, does not mean it is the truth itself.
Christians are subordinate to Scripture, not a church, especially one that goes off the rails as far as Catholicism has.
Submit myself to the corrupt, immoral, homosexual infested, pedophile protecting, disobedient to God organization that Rome is? Not a chance.
Depends on your definition of *church*.
If you mean Catholicism, no, it's not a *fact of history*.
It's wishful thinking by Catholics.
A changed life is all the evidence an unbeliever needs to see in someone to know that the claims of Christ are true.
It doesn't have to be the changed heart and life of the believer. They can see it in their unbelieving friends and relatives.
Please learn to think.
Should be..... It doesn’t have to be the changed heart and life of the UNbeliever.
Are you a monk? Their humility would certainly lead them to agree that they are of no merit or importance.
From your second link...The traditional clothing for burying the dead are tachrichim, simple white garments or furnishings, including a winding sheet (sovev).
Sorry Charlie, no private interpretation involved...
oh 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
Joh 19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
They slathered a hundred pounds of greasy, sticky myrrh and aloes all over his body and wrapped him with strips of linen to keep the stuff from falling off, as was the Jewish custom for burial...
Joh 11:44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Private interpretation, eh??? You mean I don't believe the party line that your religion dishes out but instead believe the scriptures...
I heard the blood type of the Shroud and the Sudarium are both AB-. Then I was told that all “old blood” tests Rh neg because the Rhesus factor dissipates.
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