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!)
You may be correct; but it only takes one foreign object in the punchbowl for me to suddenly lose my appetite at the buffet line.
Oh oh...
I may have just offended someone again with that 'old' snarkiness...
Oh; wait!
I said ‘few’; so I’ve got THAT going for me.
LOL!!!
True that.
If an apparition tells you, "Wear this and be saved from HELLFIRE"
THEN what is your response?
There is a certain irony in the fact that the infallible and inerrant Holy Scriptures, carefully compiled and handed down to us by God, would be looked upon as nothing more than something the Church put together. Oh, hum. Yet a dirty Shroud of dubious origins is venerated.
It shows what the Roman Catholic Church stands for and where its priority lies.
THEN what is your response?
The RC will reply "we don't have to believe this", but we do until we get called on it.
Are you implying Jews didn't become Christians??
Peter was the Apostle to the Jews. Paul is the Apostle to the non-Jews. Didn’t you know? And in fact Paul did convert some Jews to Christ.
Please note that "we don't have to believe this, but we do until we get called on it" was said by you, and not by me.
This seems to be a form of ventriloquism on your part, masquerading as dialogue.
Have fun and keep writing and reading all the parts in the script, back and forth, all by yourself; or shall we say, hopping from chair to chair, playing the pieces on both sides of the checkerboard. But leave me out of it.
May God grant you blessings as He knows best.
I have pondered your Scripture references. I don’t think people were being healed by those objects. They were being healed by the Apostles, who were given the Holy Spirit in the upper room during the Pentecost. People grasping for clothes and other objects were asserting their desire for Faith; and, were given tangible signs of Grace.
Sorry Mark.
You awake?
Yes, I am awake, cuz I had to get up to answer your post. 😁 It is now 7:12 AM in my neck of the woods.
407 posted on 7/30/2019, 7:14:47 AM by Mark17
This is what mine says. It’s 12 hours different, from what it shows when you see it. 😁
Then will you say this is a false doctrine that is being allowed by the Roman Catholic church as this has been endorsed by several popes?
Since apparitions are demonic, I would run, not walk away from it.
So this thing is lying, right?
Or rather, is this thing lying?
That would be a yes or no question.
When you play weasel word games like telling us Mary idolatry is not Catholic Org doctrine, while we can see literally millions worshipping Mary statuary/at Mary statuary and praying to this idol as if it has God-like power to answer their prayers.
Meanwhile the popcorn is cooking.
So am I (PhD in it), and observe that however and whenever this piece of linen cloth received the markings discernable on it, some of they may have been by blood-staining it (which would have been through and through), but widely and generally the visible differentiation must be due to the formation of either molecular color centers, and/or local carbonization of the cellulosic flaxen fibers.
Any shading perceived as depth of features must be studied to determine how the color centers were formed, and whether or not by radiation damage from an external source.
It is incredible to me that the markings do not display the variations due to folds in the cloth over raised features.
In analyzing the markings, any resulting from blood stains should be clearly localized and separated from other visible marking, and each studied as separate entities.
Regarding exposure to excessive heat in the silver container, was any of the cloth exposed to silver vapor or other to the effect of other metallic impurities in the molten (~1000 oC) state. And what about the vapors and particulate smoke generated by burnt natural fibers in the heating of the silver coffin?
Etc.
So far, I see the estimations and lines of attack being puerile, shallow, and not worthy of having been addressed by the true science method. Of course, the worshiping of this piece of cloth has prevented its submission for direct thorough examination, non-destructive or destructive, by thoughtful and experienced professionals.
What is patently obvious in this matter is that the superstition of Roman Catholicism proceeding from the papal oversight has so thoroughly ruled that impartial analysis and impassive conclusions have not been permitted.
Getting embroiled in argumentation over it is asinine. The essence to development of spiritual maturity is not even zero--it is negative, fit only for the natural soulish human who cannot receive the deep things of the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness to him/her. The Shroud of Turin has no spiritual significance. Engrossment with it is entirely carnal, not to be disregarded, but only fit for those whose perception and belief is limited by their lack of regeneration in the Spirit.
That a person is a state of grace is heaven-bound is true by definition.
The difference, as I understand it, is that an evangelical of the "Once Saved, Always Saved" variety, would say that once you're saved, you're good to go, no matter what you thoughts, words and deeds subsequently may be. You can stop believing, stop praying, and stop walking in the way of the Lord and still be saved: Blessed Assurance.
(Because if that is not your belief, then please explain what a person would have to do or fail to do, to lose their salvation.)
In contrast, a Catholic would say that in order to remain in the Lord, one should continually ask the Lord to increase their faith, their hope and their love. One should live more and more "in Christ," coming to more and more resemble Him, coming to think as He thinks, act as He acts, advancing in wisdom, age and favor before God and man, as He did.
That's going to include the other "conditions" connected with, e.g. being invested ("clothed") with a scapular. This is just an outward reminder of this process of clothing yourself in Christ:
(Galatians) For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ....(Colossians) put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
This is similar to another sacramental, which even you may use: a wedding ring. It does not produce or obtain marital fidelity. It is an outward sign. It symbolizes it and reminds you of it. It might even help you, in times of trial, to remain faithful to your wedded vows.
Do, or your wife, wear a wedding ring?
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