Fascinating application of scientific method – even to sceptics

11 Responses to Fascinating application of scientific method – even to sceptics

1. C.L. says:

   22 April, 2022 at 11:21 pm

   Sorry – link corrected.
2. Entropy says:

   22 April, 2022 at 11:22 pm

   Suuure.
3. NoFixedAddress says:

   23 April, 2022 at 12:05 am

   Entropy says:
   22 April, 2022 at 11:22 pm

   Suuure.

   Oh ye of little faith!
4. cuckoo says:

   23 April, 2022 at 8:07 am

   Whatever it is, the Shroud is an intriguing object. Personally, I have no need of relics. And Italy is a wonderful country: you can always find a certified expert to support any conceivable scenario.

   I’m actually glad that covid has put an end to the expectation that we will kiss the feet of a plaster figure on Good Friday, though I respect those who do. At the Good Friday service in my church the priest, with fairly typical covid-era ‘logic’ decreed that only one person from each pew could advance to reverence the cross, although everyone was about to make the same trip up the aisle for the Eucharist a short time later. After the service, most of those who had followed the direction earlier then queued up to make their reverence.
5. cuckoo says:

   23 April, 2022 at 8:15 am

   John’s gospel clearly mentions two items of grave clothes.
   He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.

   To me, that has always been one of those compelling bits of circumstantial evidence for the accuracy of the gospel account. No-one who was just making this story up would invent that inessential and inexplicable detail about the headcloth being neatly folded and placed to one side.

   So if there was a separate cloth around the head, why would the face be imprinted on the main shroud? Again, it’s a fascinating object whatever it is.
6. C.L. says:

   23 April, 2022 at 9:03 am

   This may answer your question, cuckoo:

   Was the Sudarium of Oviedo really wrapped around Jesus’ head after his death?

   And Italy is a wonderful country: you can always find a certified expert to support any conceivable scenario.

   One of the reasons I posted the story is that there is far too much advanced science involved here to be dismissed as Italian piety.

   That said, no Catholic is required to believe the shroud is genuine – just as no Catholic is obliged to believe in, say, Fatima.

   Aa for reverencing the Cross, years ago my old parish started offering the proud and the germaphobic the alternative of genuflection rather than kissing.

   When you first receive Communion at altar rails, you immediately know this is the way it is supposed to be – not lining up like babushkas queuing for sausages in the Brezhnev era.
7. Entropy says:

   23 April, 2022 at 9:29 am

   I would prefer not bowing down before any kind of image.
8. C.L. says:

   23 April, 2022 at 9:36 am

   Catholics don’t bow to images but to the one they represent.
   Big difference.
9. rosie says:

   23 April, 2022 at 9:39 am

   We Catholics don’t bow down to mere images and we are truly blessed by Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.
   PS, I’ve visited the church that contains the shroud.
   Interested to note at the time muslims also entering the church for the same reason.
10. rosie says:

    23 April, 2022 at 9:42 am

    The shroud is definitely the sort of thing you can imagine Christ’s followers would have preserved in the immediate discovery of that empty tomb.
11. Chris M says:

    23 April, 2022 at 5:07 pm

    Catholics don’t bow to images but to the one they represent.

    Well each to their own I guess except it’s worth noting we Christians are not instructed in the Bible to do this, or to keep images. And just curious does it trouble you that the RCC deleted the second (no idolatry) of the ten commandments from their Bible? Altering the sacred text of Gods commandments would seem like a red flag. I realise not the only group to do this of course.

    I believe having ample proof and evidence to support one’s faith is very important, otherwise it would be blind faith. Just couldn’t get the necessity to have physical relics and objects on hand which may or may not be legit. Particularly with this shroud – it’s beyond question by all groups (except Islam) that Jesus died and the manner of which he died. The critical part is his resurrection three days later and the fact that he appeared to hundreds of witnesses 100% alive and human, forever changing human history.