A Neutral Stance On The Shroud Of Turin
There are many different pieces of evidence concluding that the Shroud is or is not the real burial cloth of Jesus. For instance, back in 1983 Dr. Max Frei identified pollen spores of 58 different plants. The pollens were dated to be very old, pollens which come from different types of trees and flowers only to be found in and around areas in Jerusalem. Critics believe that the pollens could have been carried by winds or birds to France or Italy, and there they have settled on the surface.
Carbon-14 dating was another method used to define where this genuine cloth came from. In 1988 tiny samples of linen were extracted for radiocarbon dating by three reputable laboratories in Oxford, England, Zurich, Switzerland, and Arizona, United States. Using accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon, all the labs came up with 14th century dates. Which is not old enough to be in around in the times of Jesus. Very recently, Ray Rogers examined that the fibers from the 1988 carbon dating were medieval reweaving done because of the fire in 1532. Which are not part of the original cloth, which causes extra carbon to be injected and making the date appear to be more recent. Other people supportive of the Shroud believe that there was either bacteria or fungi built up on the Shroud, which caused the carbon dating to also be false.
Along with the image on the Shroud there are blood images. Supporters of the Shroud believe that it is actual human blood. Some scientists found clotting on the edges of the images and corpuscles, indicating that they were in fact human. Some scientists found the blood was type AB, which is very rare, in fact only 3.2% of the world's population consists of AB blood type, with the majority being in the Middle East. The skeptics deny it being real human blood but say that the substance consists vermilion and red ochre tempera paint. Concluding that the Shroud is just a "beautiful" painting.
Besides the just...
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