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The Shroud of Turin is a sheet of linen that bares the image of a crucified man with major wounds to the wrists, feet and top of the forehead. They have left blood stains on the cloth.
The early church knew this cloth as the Sudarium. In 1898 the first photograph was taken of it, revealing a much clearer image on the negative film rather than the positive.
Since 1578 it has been held in Turin Cathedral, however the cloth itself does not originate in Europe, but in the Middle East proven by the way its flax fibres are woven.
Carbon 14 dating tests done in 1988 were shown to be inconclusive because they were only done on a sample that has completely different chemical properties to the rest of the Shroud because it had been rewoven. This dating technique was fundamentally flawed consequently. Further tests made the 1st Century AD a plausible date.
Analysis of the blood stains
Dr Baima Ballone analysed samples taken from the cloth with adhesive tape. He reported that the blood on the shroud is type AB. It is significant that type AB is rare in Europe and most of the world, with an estimated 3.2% of the world's population having this type, but around 18% of Jews from the North have it. Apart from the Y sex chromosome, all of Jesus' genetic information would have come from his mother Mary. The gene for blood type is not on the Y chromosome. On that basis, it would come from his mother Mary, and not from Joseph, sitting comfortably with the doctrine of the Virgin birth. In 1995 Dr. Gaza-Valdes of the University of Texas published the results of a DNA analysis of blood samples of the shroud in his book "The DNA of God?".
Floral Evidence
The British Broadcast Company (BBC) reported on the 1999 conference of the Missouri Botanical Society:
"Professor Avinoam Danin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said an examination of pollen traces and floral imprints suggested that they could only have come from plants growing in a restricted area around Jerusalem and could date back to Jesus's time.
He said: "This combination of flowers can be found in only one region of the world. The evidence clearly points to a floral grouping from the area surrounding Jerusalem."
The pollen grains were collected from the shroud some years ago.
His researchers also said a type of pollen from a thistle visible near the shoulder of the man's image on the shroud was believed to have come from the plant used for Jesus's crown of thorns.
Two pollen grains of this same species were also found on the another relic, the Sudarium of Oviedo, which is widely believed to have been Jesus's face cloth at his burial.
That has been traced back to the 1st Century."
Evidence Of 1st Century Roman Coins
Enhanced photography has involved enlargements and computer analysis of shapes, colors, and shadows. A microdensitometer was used which measures very faint changes in lightness and darkness. In 1979, Jesuit Father Francis L. Filas of the Loyola University of Chicago observed on the right eyelid of the shroud image four letters "UCAI" which formed a crown around the crook of an augur’s staff. This image corresponds to the symbol on a small coin known as the dilepton lituus struck in 29 AD during the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate (26-36 AD). The coin covering the left eye was later identified by Professors Bollone and Balossino as the lepton simpulum, which also was struck in 29 AD. Jews in the 1st Century AD used coins to hold down the eyelids.
The Fabric Of Time
Grizzly Adams Productions have recently produced a DVD with fascinating fresh evidence confirming the authenticity of the Turin Shroud entitled "The Fabric Of Time." 3-D Holographic Images of the Face of Christ can be viewed with special 3-D glasses especially provided. Here is a sample of the DVD:
Objective analysis
It was concluded in the scientific Journal of Optics (April 14, 2004) of the Institute of Physics in London that the images on the Shroud are not man-made. Science does not know how the images were imprinted on the Shroud, pointing to the most glorious event in history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ being the sole cause of the images impacting the linen cloth.
1 John 3: 16 says "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us." God's standard is perfection. Any violation of His holy laws, however small, separates us from Him. Rather than punish us, God chose to send His only Son to die one of the cruellest forms of death imagineable to give us eternal life, if we choose to give our lives to Him, and repent from our sinful lifestyle, no longer living for ourselves.
