Since I can write about anything I want, I would like to weigh in on why I believe the Shroud of Turin is not the genuine burial cloth of Jesus. I keep seeing things lately on social media and in the news about the Shroud. So many people believe it is genuine. They've run tests and some of those tests came back with reasons to think the Shroud has merit. I remain unconvinced.
I probably should pause here and say - if someone believes this is Jesus' shroud, that's fine with me. It's not a sin to believe this is the genuine article and it's not a sin to disbelieve it. This is not a salvational issue in either direction. Let's agree to disagree in peace, and God's blessings be on you.
Please give me the chance to state my case.
THIRD DIMENSION
When I was younger, I used to do quite a bit of video game level design. Part of that was 3D modeling to make the characters. At first, I would make what I thought were great images to go on the 3D models, yet they looked horrible once applied. Everything was distorted, like a Picasso. It took me a while to grasp the idea that you cannot wrap a 2D skin around a 3D model without distorting it grotesquely. 2D and 3D are very different. To change between them requires alterations. If it looks great in 3D, it will look terrible flattened into 2D. And if it looks great in 2D, it will look terrible expanded into 3D. To wrap an image and have it come out right, you must distort it first.
Go ahead. Try it for yourself. Draw a picture on some paper of a face. Simple or beautiful, it doesn't matter. Now, take that paper and try to wrap it around a mannequin head or even a real head. It won't work. The eyes will not be far enough apart nor wide enough. The nose bridge will get in your way. The mouth and cheeks will be slightly off. The ears will be very far off. The farther you get from the center line, the worse it distorts. Almost nothing will look right.
The problem is, you drew it so that it looks proportional on paper, but to get that to look proportional on an actual head it must be stretched out. This isn't an option. It must be stretched out.
Or, try it the other way around. Put a blank sheet of paper around someone's head and mark where the ears, jawline, mouth, and eyes are. Now flatten it out. See how wide apart everything is? Go and buy a latex Halloween mask of a face. Now, cut it and try to flatten it out so that it's flat like a sheet of paper. What is going to happen? The nose will be ruined, the sides of the head will be far to the left and the right. You'll see the ears straight on like they were eyes. And generally, everything will look terrible. Things that look great in 3D will look terrible in 2D and vice versa.
Here is an image of a 3D head graphed out and then flayed out into 2D:
See what I mean? Does the Shroud look anything like that? No. Then it was created 2D to begin with.
When you look at the Shroud, it's a perfect 2D human form. This is why I believe it is fake. That sheet was made by a talented artist, but not one who was familiar with 3D forms.
SEE MUCH TOO MUCH
Take a look at this enhanced negative image of the face on the Shroud:
What do you notice? A face with a nose, eyes, cheeks, jaw, mouth, neck, moustache and beard, and hair. That's what I notice. Yet, we shouldn't be noticing all those things.
Think about it. If the Shroud draped across the face:
- The nose bridge would prevent it from touching the nostrils and cheeks.
- The full forehead would not be touched.
- The eyebrows and cheeks would prevent the eyelids from being touched.
- The moustache and beard would prevent the lips from being touched.
- The nose, cheek bones, and beard would prevent the cheeks and whole jaw from being touched.
- The jaw would prevent the neck from being touched.
- The hair should barely be visible at all, because it would have fallen back and away.
To mention but a few.
We should see none of those things. Yet, we do. And it happens throughout. That's not right.
This image shows what we might expect if we took a photo of a man standing, but not if a sheet lay across a body lying. Go ahead, Google "body under a sheet" and take a good look at any of those images. Notice anything? An almost complete lack of detail. You could never identify a body under a sheet. Yet, you could very well identify the body from the Shroud if you knew who that was. Shouldn't be possible.
And we only went over the head. The whole of the body displays these same things. Look at the belly where the arms cross. Should not see the belly there. The arms would prevent it. Same with the feet and ankles.
When you look at the Shroud, it's a perfect 2D representation of a human form even in the places where we should see nothing at all. This is why I believe it is fake. That sheet was made by an artist, but not from a sheet draped over a lying form.
SOMETHING IS MISSING
In addition to what you should not see, there are some things missing that you should see.
You cannot take a flat sheet like the Shroud of Turin then wrap it around a human body without folding it in many strange ways. Yet, when you look at the Shroud, it's a perfect 2D representation of a human form. No folds. No wrinkles.
When was the last time you folded an article of clothing without having a single wrinkle? The image was created with the appearance of being folded, but folded in nice, crisp lines; perfectly straight and true. The amount of effort it would take to pull that off is simply more than the people had when they rushed to bury Jesus before sundown.
Some say the image was generated all at once with a sudden bright light. Fine and well. That does nothing to what I am saying. It should still be distorted because the sheet would have been folded and wrinkled in places. When it is unfolded and unwrinkled, laying nicely flat, the resulting image should not be so perfect as we see. It should look somewhat tie-dyed in places, or shattered. It does not.
Another thing that is missing - the top of the head. If it were folded around the head, where is the top?
We must ask, where is the top of the head? If it folded around the top, it should look as if you took a sheet of paper and rested it on your head. When you put a towel on your head, it touches the top of your head, no? If it were generated by a single miraculous flash of light, then it should look somewhat like a continuous, undivided head, no?. Yet, we get a distinct face and a distinct back of the head - complete with hair absolutely firmly in place and defying gravity - but no top of the head.
When you look at the shroud, it should display wrinkling like shattered glass in places, yet it does not. It should have a top of the head, yet it does not. This is why I believe it is fake. That sheet was made by an artist, but not from a sheet draped over a lying form.
JOHN 20
Similar to the last section, we get a verse in the Gospel of John that throws a wrench into the details we see in the Shroud.
(JON. 20: 6-7) 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.
Jesus' head was wrapped in a separate cloth. There is no hint of a separate cloth on the Shroud. No matter how you arrange it, a separate cloth wrapped around the head would change or entirely prevent the image on the Shroud. Whether this separate cloth were under the Shroud or over it, it doesn't matter. It would wrinkle the Shroud. It would distort the image.
Also, John says linen cloths, plural, not cloth, singular. There should be more than one part to the Shroud.
When you look at the Shroud, it's a fully recognizable human face. This is why I believe it is fake. That sheet was made by an artist, but not from several sheets from a Jewish burial with another cloth wrapped around its head.
HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR
The last point I will give you is that the image on the Shroud is a typical Germanic face of the type which was popular in Europe. It does not resemble the typical face of a Jewish man from the Middle East.
We do not know what Jesus looked like, but you can be certain He did not look like this:
Perhaps you think the Shroud looks more like a Spanish Conquistador than a Holy Roman Emperor. No matter. The point I am making is that the image on the Shroud is a European face if ever I've seen one, not a Jewish face.
And have you ever noticed the beard on the Shroud? It's forked. (Much like the statue above.) That style was particularly popular in kings and officials from the Carolingian and later eras (think Charlemagne and Holy Roman Empire). That would make it a symbol of royalty in the Medieval period. The first mention of the Shroud comes from the 1300s. If you do a search for medieval kings, you will see several in the target time period where kings have forked beards. The question is - were forked beards popular among wandering preachers in Judaea in the 30s AD? Highly doubtful. We can never know for certain, but chances are the popular style followed Greece.
When you look at the Shroud, it's a perfect 2D representation of a European form. This is why I believe it is fake. That sheet was made by a talented European artist, but not from sheets draped over a Jewish man lying on a slab.
CONCLUSION
As I said at the start, this is not a salvational issue. Disagree with me if you will. That's your right. But in my opinion, the Shroud of Turin is a very beautiful and clever piece of artwork but it is not authentic.
If I have not convinced you, that's find. Thank you for hearing me out. Go in peace. God bless you.
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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )
Acts 17:11
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