(PCM) The Shroud of Turin, which is a length of linen cloth that is said to mysteriously bear the image of man who many speculate as Jesus of Nazareth, has been an item that has created a huge debate among theologians and conspiracy theorists for years. The cloth is rumored to be the burial shroud that Jesus was wrapped in after his crucifixion. To this day the Catholic Church has neither rejected nor endorsed the Shroud of Turin, however in 1958 Pope Pius XII did approve the Shroud of Turin as an object of devotion to the Holy Face Of Jesus. Pope John Paul II also referred to the Shroud of Turin as “a mirror of the Gospel”.
It was not until 1988 that the Shroud of Turin was further studied using three radiocarbon dating tests, which placed the a sample of the cloth to have come from a time period during the Middle Ages between 1290 and 1360. We do have to note however that the Shroud of Turin has been repaired and it even managed to survive a fire over the last 2,000 (or 600) years. Many argue with the radiocardon dating tests, as there were levels of pollen discovered on the Shroud of Turin that do indeed date back to the time of Jesus of Nazareth.
To this day, the Shroud of Turin continues to strike up many debates, as many feel that another reason the radiocarbon dating is skewed because it was only based upon when the Shroud of Turin was first placed on public display during the Middle Ages in France in the year of 1357. There have been many other tests conducted on the Shroud of Turin and when you look at black and white negative photograph the Shroud, the image of the face of Jesus becomes strikingly clear, rather than in the materials natural sepia-toned color.
It continues to remain a mystery as to just how the image came into formation on the piece of linen and thus far there has been no concrete evidence supporting an actual method that that may have been used leading many to believe that the Shroud of Turin is truly the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. As recently as July of 2017, there has also been newly discovered evidence proving the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, as researchers from the Institute of Crystallography claimed to have discovered blood particles on the Shroud which would have belonged to the individual who was wrapped inside of it.
They claim that the blood particles discovered show that the person who was wrapped in it was suffering greatly before they died and go to say that it was most definitely the funeral fabric for a tortured man. According to CBN News, the blood particles were “nanoparticles” and were not typical of the blood type for a healthy individual. “They show high levels of substances called creatinine and ferritin. Both are found in patients who suffer severe and forceful traumas like torture.”
New technology involving electron microscopy has now allowed researchers to closely examine these blood particles to make this type of determination. They can now say with some level of certainty that there is strong evidence that a man was tortured there, but they can not necessarily say who, so that will seemingly forever remain a religious mystery. There are those that want to believe and others that still have doubt, but either way the Shroud of Turin has definitely earned it’s place in religious history.
