Evidence of the Resurrection of Christ: The Shroud of Turin
You are looking at the Shroud of Turin. I believe the shroud of Turin is the actual linen cloth that was wrapped around Jesus the Christ at the time of burial. Here is my assumption, when the resurrection of Jesus Christ occurred, a negative image was imaged on the cloth during resurrection. I would say this image on the shroud truly was the first photographic image ever made in the world. I believe this image on the shroud was made supernaturally by the risen Savior Jesus Christ. This photograph is displayed at the Eglise St. Sulpice, in Paris, France. This photograph on display at Eglise St. Sulpice was photographed by Thomas Sutton which I downloaded from his agent, ShutterPoint Photography. I sepia toned the image in Photoshop.
What is the Shroud of Turin?
The Shroud of Turin is believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. This cloth measures approximately 14 feet long by three feet wide. This linen cloth called the Shroud of Turin gets its name from the location of where this cloth is presently preserved in Turin, Italy. For over 400 years Turin, Italy has been the home for this burial shroud. Specifically, home is in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
What is unique about this cloth is there is an image shadow of a man on the cloth. I and many people believe that this image is the image that Jesus Christ left on the cloth at the very moment of resurrection. One other fact about this image is the image appears on the cloth as a negative image like on a photographic film negative. I believe this image is the result of an exposure from some type of electromagnetic radiation that was emitted at the time of resurrection, possibly from the body of Christ. During the resurrection of Christ this powerful surge of electromagnetic energy which we would call light, or some type of electromagnetic radiation exposed this negative image of Christ on the cloth.
Let me give you a clear example of this same phenomenon happening at another time in history. Towards the end of World War 2, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. One bomb went to Hiroshima, the other went to Nagasaki. From the nuclear discharge of the bomb many shadows of images were left of people and objects on walls of buildings. These images were referred to as nuclear shadows. The shroud of Turin could have been the very first photograph made by the resurrection of Jesus Christ over two millennia.
The Image on the Linen Cloth
You see both front and back images of a man which appears on a 14-foot-long linen cloth. The image is of a man nude and anatomically correct and at a possible age of 30 years old. His hair is long falling over the shoulders and parted in the middle. Other facial hair visible is a mustache, beard, and Jewish side locks. We can see injuries on the body and blood stains. This image clearly shows a man that was crucified on a Roman cross. 1
The image of the man on the cross is a faint sepia monochrome image. The ancient cloth by itself is also faded and no longer white. The color of the cloth is an off-white color closer to the sepia color of the image so there is no longer much visual contrast between the image on the cloth and the cloth itself. This is why it is so very important to hold on to the early photographs that were taken during previous showings of the shroud. The shroud will keep fading through time. The years of 1898, 1931, and 1978 are the years that the shroud has been photographed for study.
Joining the main image on the shroud are scorch and water marks from a fire that occurred on December 4, 1532, at Sainte-Chapelle at Chambery which would be in eastern France. The cloth was folded in a silver casket hidden in a wall. The cloth was saved to sustain minimal damage from the fire. Some of the silver melted from the silver casket container and the cloth suffered both water and scorch marks staining the cloth which clearly indicated how the cloth was folded in the silver casket.
Bloodstains are visible on the image heaviest at the wrist, feet, and wound marks from the Roman spear that pierced the side of Christ’s body. The image also indicates bloodstains from the head and face. Other bloodstains are visible that cover the entire back and front of Christ. These bloodstains indicate the presence of the crown of thorns and the whip marks from the Roman flagrum. Was it real human blood on the shroud? Dr. Baime Bollone took samples of the blood on the shroud with sticky tape. Dr. Bollone claims the blood on the Shroud of Turin is human blood of type AB.2
Images of twenty-eight plants have been identified on the cloth by both Dr. Whanger and Scheuermann. All these plants grow in Israel. Twenty of these plants are from the Judean Mountains near Jerusalem. The other plants come from the Judean desert or the Dead Sea.3 Most of these plants are flowering plants and bloom during the spring in March or April. That would be at the exact time of the Jewish Passover and the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.4 Swiss criminologist, Dr. Max Frei discovered and identified fifty-eight different types of pollen on the cloth that originated from Jerusalem, Eastern Turkey, and Europe.5 An image of an ancient Roman coin was seen over the right eye by Dr. Whanger. The coin was identified as the lituus lepta which is most known by Christians as the “widow’s mite.” coined by Pontius Pilate. This coin was struck in the years A.D. 30–32 by the governor, Pontius Pilate.6
The Earliest Photograph of the Shroud
The first photograph of the Shroud of Turin was first taken by Secondo Pia who was a 42-year-old lawyer who was also an amateur photographer. His 1898 photograph shows a considerable amount of detail and resolution because the image on the shroud had less time in history to fade. To his shock when the photographer pulled the glass negative out of the photographic processing chemicals, he discovered he was looking at a positive image of a man, not a negative. So, if you were to print this glass negative which he had in hand you would see a negative image on the photographic paper print.7
The Scientific Research Team
In 1978 there was a special scientific research team of 33 members with various specialties assigned to examine the Shroud of Turin and verify its authenticity. They would all come together in Turin, Italy at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. This team would be known as the Shroud of Turin Research Project or STURP. The questions that had to be answered were: Was it a painting? How was the image on the cloth made? What was the age of the cloth? This research team included 33 scientific investigators and experts in: Infrared Spectroscopy, Medical Forensics, Chemists, X-ray radiography, X-ray Fluorescence, Archaeology, Visible & UV Spectroscopy, Thermography, Biophysics. Photography played an important role in this project. Technical photography such as Scientific Photography, Microphotography, and Photomicroscopy was used.8
Everything for the project had to be documented. That was the job of documentary photographer, Barrie Schwortz. I met Barrie Schwortz in person at a talk he gave about the Shroud in a church, and I remember he said at first, he did not believe that this cloth was authentic and once they looked at the cloth and saw brush strokes, they would go home the next day. Evidently Barrie and the rest of the team saw what they could not explain. After the 1978 project Barrie Schwortz would take the responsibility of promoting the evidence of the authenticity of the Shroud. He started the website www.shroud.com. In January 1996 Barrie started the Shroud of Turin Education and Research Association known as STERA Inc. Barrie has traveled all over promoting and showing the evidence for the Shroud of Turin. One of his most famous quotes is: “We can tell you what it’s not, but we cannot tell you what it is.”9
It is not a Painting
No brush strokes on the cloth. Nothing is penetrating the fibers of the cloth. The cloth has no pigments, paint, dye or even stains that caused the coloration. An artist’s pigment can be identified through X-ray fluorescence analysis, ultraviolet spectrophotometry, visible reflectance spectroscopy, and infrared spectroscopy.10 The image is only on the surface of the linen. Thick paint would have attached to the fibers as a coating. Thin paint or dye would have bled through the other side of the cloth. An artist could not have used paint on the shroud.11 Raw or unprepared linen repels water, so it is difficult to paint on linen. If the Shroud was painted it would crack and flake because of the many folds on the shroud and through its age. The artist would also have to understand what a negative or inverted image would look like in various tones.
VP-8 Image Analyzer
The VP-8 Analyzer is an analog machine computing what is known as a “brightness map.” The VP-8 analyzer is a technology that is outdated. Today we have modern digital computers and software, but in 1978 this was a remarkable tool for engineers for technical isometric projections. This machine images on a monitor creating a three-dimensional image from a brightness map. Dark areas appear lower in elevation. Light areas appear higher in elevation. The object scanned by the VP-8 Analyzer will show dark areas appearing lower and light areas higher. If you scan a two-dimensional chess board showing black and white squares, the VP-8 will show a three-dimensional image on the machine’s monitor because the black squares will appear lower and the white squares will be elevated. You will see a three-dimensional image of a two-dimensional chess board.12
This VP-8 Analyzer gave two scientists Dr. Eric Jumper and Dr John Jackson some excitement. In 1976 the two professors at the United States Air Force Academy were working at Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These professors had a theory that a photo of the Shroud of Turin could indicate three dimensionality. They wanted to use the VP-8 analyzer at the lab to test their theory. Normal photographs do not have this three-dimensional characteristic when scanned with the VP-8 analyzer. When a normal photograph is scanned with the VP-8 there is a deformed mixture of light and dark scrambled shapes. The professors scanned the 1931 photograph of the Shroud of Turin taken by Giuseppe Enrie into the VP-8 analyzer. It showed a three-dimensional image of the shroud. The closer the cloth was to the body on the shroud, the darker the tones. The further away the cloth was from the body the lighter the tones. These professors wanted to arrange a group of American scientists together to create a Shroud of Turin research project. Obtaining the permission from Pope Paul VI by 1978 the Shroud of Turin Research Project known as STURP became active with 33 members.13
The 1988 Carbon 14 Test
In 1988 a carbon 14 test was applied to the Shroud of Turin. The dates for the shroud came back from 1260 to 1380 AD. Several newspapers published the Shroud of Turin as a fake. With all the chemical tests that the STURP project did how could the dates be set so late? At the beginning seven labs were chosen by the STURP Team to do the carbon dating. The labs were supposed to consult with one another. Three labs took over control of the entire project and would not consult with other labs. They not only wanted to monopolize the research, but they told STURP to step down and let them handle it. The technicians from the lab did not have the expertise in where to take the samples on the cloth. The STURP project did all the research and knew how to take the samples. For instance, they knew of the 1532 fire. The STURP Project came up with five protocols in handling the samples for the testing.
The three labs that took over control rejected all protocols and only took one sample which was taken from a corner that was repaired from a 1532 fire which burned the shroud. It was found out later that the one piece that the technicians took was a repair which had cotton cloth mixed in with the linen.14 I will write part 2 of the Shroud of Turin in the next article explaining the carbon 14 dating in 1988. I will cover research from a documentary film specifically on the unscientific methods used in carbon dating of the shroud and link to it for you. I have just purchased a book by William Meacham called, The Rape of the Turin Shroud. I look forward to reading it and adding some data to the next article.
Evidence of the Resurrection of Christ: The Shroud of Turin: End Notes
1. John C. Iannone, The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin; Alba House; Staten Island, NY 10314 (1998) p 6.
2. Dr. Leoncio A. Garza-Valdez, The DNA of GOD? Doubleday; New York, NY 10036 (1999) p 38.
3. Ibid. The Mystery of the Shroud of Turin; p 28.
4. Ibid. p 28–29.
5. Ibid. p 20.
6. Mary & Alan Whanger. The Shroud of Turin; Providence House Publishers; Franklin, TN 37067 (1998) p27.
7. Robert K. Wilcox, The Truth About the Shroud of Turin; Regnery Publishing, Inc; Washington, DC 20001 (2010) pp 1–3.
8. http://www.shroud.com/78team.htm
9. Questar, Inc.; Jesus and the Shroud of Turin; DVD; Chicago, IL 60611-0345 (2003).
10. Ian Wilson & Vernon Miller, The Mysterious Shroud; Doubleday; New York, NY 10103 (1988) p 99.
11. Ibid. The Truth About the Shroud of Turin; p 199.
12. shroudnm.com/docs/SEAM-VP8-Presentation.pdf
13. https://www.grottonetwork.com/stories/reflective-narrative-about-the-shoud-of-turin
14. Ibid. The Truth About the Shroud of Turin; pp 195–198.