A recent study uncovered shocking findings regarding the Shroud of Turin, a highly debated piece of linen cloth that was allegedly used to bury Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. A past study from the 80s concluded that the shroud was dated from the 14th Century, suggesting it had no connection to Christ. However, a more recent study of the cloth’s age dates it to around the time Jesus would have been on Earth.
The shroud was originally brought to public attention around the 1350s, where it was claimed to be the burial shroud that was used to wrap the body of Christ when he was buried after being crucified. Notably, the image on the cloth appears to show a bearded man which many claim to be the face of Jesus. However, testing in the 80s from several different labs concluded it to be about seven centuries old.
However, the recent study that employed an X-ray method concluded, “‘The data profiles were fully compatible with analogous measurements obtained on a linen sample whose dating, according to historical records, is 55-74 AD, found at Masada, Israel [Herod’s famous fortress built on a limestone bedrock overlooking the Dead Sea].”
“To make the present result compatible with that of the 1988 radiocarbon test, the Shroud of Turn should have been conserved during its hypothetical seven centuries of life at a secular room temperature very close to the maximum values registered on the earth,” the study added. “Fabric samples are usually subject to all kinds of contamination, which cannot be completely removed from the dated specimen…If the cleaning procedure of the sample is not thoroughly performed, carbon-14 dating is not reliable.”
Furthermore, the Bible mentions the use of a linen cloth to bury Christ, where Matthew 27:59-60 reads, ‘Then Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a new linen cloth. He put Jesus’ body in a new tomb that he had dug in a wall of rock. Then he closed the tomb by rolling a very large stone to cover the entrance. After he did this, he went away.”
Christian conservative commentator Michael Knowles addressed the findings from the latest study on the Shroud of Turin during a recent segment of “The Michael Knowles Show.” Knowles outlined the characteristics of the piece of cloth and its implications for biblical history.
“So skeptics don’t know how to explain this, this shroud. What’s odd about the shroud, though, is there is this faint image of a man on there, but it doesn’t appear to be paint. Doesn’t appear there does appear to be maybe a little bit of blood, but it’s not all blood. What’s even stranger is the image that’s on the shroud appears to be a photographic negative of the image of a man something somewhere between five foot seven and six feet tall, a man who appears to have been tortured, a man who appears to have a crown of thorns on his head, a man who appears to have been crucified, but it’s a photographic negative, as if it were produced by a spurt of light, rather than paints or anything like that. And no one’s known what this is,” he said.
Featured image credit: Dianelos Georgoudis, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turin_shroud_positive_and_negative_displaying_original_color_information_708_x_465_pixels_94_KB.jpg