Frequently asked questions about the shroud.
Frequently asked questions about the shroud.
A list of frequently asked questions below, some with short answer, some being long but all will be qualified as much as possible.
This is actuall the primary reason used by many to reject the authenticity of the Shroud. However, the 1988 carbon-dating results are not conclusive for the age of the Shroud in its entirety.
Why It Is Now Considered Inconclusive
Subsequent studies have raised major issues:
Sampling Problem (Most Common Criticism) The single sample came from one corner of the Shroud. Multiple peer-reviewed analyses (including by STURP chemist Raymond Rogers and others) suggest this area may have been part of a medieval repair or "invisible reweaving" (using newer threads to patch damage). Chemical differences (cotton fibers, dyes, and coatings present in the sample but not in the main body of the Shroud) support this. LINK
Statistical Issues
2019 peer-reviewed study in Archaeometry (using raw data released after a legal request) found the results from the three labs were heterogeneous (not consistent enough to combine). The data lacked homogeneity, seriously affecting the reliability of the 1260–1390 range. LINK
Other statistical re-analyses (e.g., Walsh & Schwalbe, 2020) reached similar conclusions.
Recent Alternative Dating Techniques such as Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS) and mechanical/chemical tests have dated the Shroud to around the 1st century AD, aligning with the time of Jesus. HERE
The resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth stands as one of the best-attested events in ancient history, accepted by millions for nearly two thousand years. The wealth of eyewitness testimony and early historical records makes it difficult for honest scholars to simply dismiss.
A Testamony of love everlasting
John 15:13 [NKJV]
13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
The Shroud of Turin, also pushed to the limits of validity and unfailing in its account, remains a profound monument to God’s love — visible proof of His willingness to give humanity the greatest gift imaginable: eternal life by grace through faith. In its mysterious image we behold the receipt of the ultimate price paid on the cross. By the blood Christ shed and through His glorious resurrection, our sins are fully forgiven and we gain access to the everlasting grace of a holy and almighty God.
One of the best and most simplified ways to describe the shroud, is to view it as a receipt for the bill that needed to be paid. The sins of the world have come at cost, the Messiah came to pay that bill in full and this is the itemized evidence for that payment. Christ dying for the sins of the world, isn't just a story written on paper, but a story imprinted as a visual reminder that sin comes at a price, a price that He was willing to pay for each and everyone of us.
The Sin-Bearing Messiah
Isaiah 53 [nkjv] - written 700 to 740 years prior to the crucifiction.
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no [a]form or [b]comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no [c]beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and [d]rejected by men,
A Man of [e]sorrows and acquainted with [f]grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4Surely He has borne our [g]griefs
And carried our [h]sorrows;
Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken,
[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions,
He was [l]bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes[m] we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from [o]prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And [p]they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to [q]bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 [r]He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the [s]spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
Here is where you can write the answer to that question.
Here is where you can write the answer to that question.
Here is where you can write the answer to that question.