Shroud of Turin debate rekindled

[Xenia]

Twenty years after radiocarbon dating supposedly proved once and for all that the Shroud of Turin was a medieval hoax, scientists are revisiting their research to see if the tests were erroneous and the shroud really dates back to the time of Christ.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23742885/

What are your feelings about the shroud? It seems to me that if they were to make a determination that it was real people would start worshiping IT instead of Jesus. I mean... you see how folks act over a burnt piece of toast if it has an "image" on it.

[Phy]

Excellent! Now is a perfect time for everyone and their brother to go get a copy of Creature Tech (http://tinyurl.com/2q2msf) by Doug TenNapel, the twisted genius behind Earthworm Jim (http://www.geocities.com/rcm_ca/ewjsite/) and The Neverhood (http://www.neverhood.se/). Moriarty, from Ain't It Cool News loved it -- and he's not known as a paragon of Christian expression. The Shroud plays prominently into TenNapel's deeply weird, deeply funny, deeply moving story:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/12979

http://www.aintitcool.com/creaturetech3.jpg

Take the fine line he walks with his depiction of the Shroud Of Turin. He uses it as an artifact of power, the magical device that powers many of the story’s more outlandish moments. Turns out the blood on the shroud raises the dead. One of the most striking images is when Jameson falls hundreds of feet from the sky, wrapped in the Shroud, knowing he’ll die when he hits, and knowing he’ll get up and walk away afterwards. But TenNapel also brings in some smart and heartfelt debate about the value of something like the Shroud on a spiritual level. Dr. Ong is sure his father will be thrilled to learn that the Shroud is real, since this scientifically proves that his faith is right. Instead, his father is almost disappointed. He calls it a short cut and says that faith has no value when it’s given something concrete, something that “proves” God’s existence. Being able to write both sides of the idea so well is what marks TenNapel as a voice worth listening to. This isn’t just fun; it’s got something to say, something real and lasting and moral. Like THE IRON GIANT, this is a book that makes sure the action all counts for something. There are some amazing sequences as Jameson unleashes an army of demons on Turlock and Ong tries to stop them, but it’s a quiet panel on page 143, a single still image, that packs the hardest punch, as we come face to face with the depth of our feelings for these characters, as oddball as they are. And the absolutely barkingly funny pages that immediately follow elevate the material even further, as we get a glimpse at just how rich and free TenNapel’s imagination really is. And then we double back and around page 163, TenNapel takes us somewhere I would have never anticipated and does something of such incredible courage that I would recommend the book for the unusual grace of that leap alone.

[Ransom v. Unman]

I dunno... that image of Jesus on it doesn't look very Jewish.

[Lookin^Up]

John 11:44 - "The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen [not one strip], and a cloth ["napkin" in KJV] around his face. Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'"

John 19:40 - "Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs."

John 20:5-7 - "[John] bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth ["napkin" in KJV] that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen."

Forget the scientists and tests and so forth. The Final Authority has spoken. Is anyone listening?

If it is one long cloth draping over the head, why was there a separate napkin covering the face? How was the shroud moved, by whom, and why? The Jews would not touch anything that touched a dead body, and the Gentiles couldn't have cared less, especially the Romans. How did the shroud get all the way from Jerusalem to Turin in northern Italy, over rough mountains and/or waters?

These and other questions need to be addressed before I will consider the shroud anything more than a fancy piece of artwork, by an unknown Italian artist, using a technology only he knew, which died with him.

[Xenia]

Hey, thanks for the verses!