Forensic Scientists reveal what Jesus may have looked like as a 12-year old

Rome, Feb. 11, 2005 (CNA) - Forensic scientists in Italy are working on a different kind of investigation—one that dates back 2000 years.

In an astounding announcement, the scientists think they may have re-created an image of Jesus Christ when He was a 12-year old boy.

Using the Shroud of Turin, a centuries-old linen cloth, which many believe bears the face of the crucified Christ, the investigators first created a computer-modeled, composite picture of the Christ’s face.

Dr. Carlo Bui, one of the scientists said that, “the face of the man on the shroud is the face of a suffering man. He has a deeply ruined nose. It was certainly struck."

Then, using techniques usually reserved for investigating missing persons, they back dated the image to create the closest thing many will ever see to a photograph of the young Christ.

“Without a doubt, the eyes... That is, the deepness of the eyes, the central part of the face in its complexity”, said forensic scientist Andrea Amore, one of the chief investigators who made the discovery.

The shroud itself, a 14-foot long by 3.5-foot wide woven cloth believed by many to be the burial shroud of Jesus, is receiving renewed attention lately.

A Los Alamos, New Mexico scientist has recently cast grave doubt that the carbon dating originally used to date the shroud was valid. This would suggest that the shroud may in fact be 2000 years old after all, placing it precisely in the period of Christ’s crucifixion.

I hope that the Roman rite is moving back towards Orthodoxy as well.

Whatever that is customary that is a stumbling block to unity, I am willing to part with, or to leave as an option.

Orthodoxy and Rome are both the Catholic Church. The labor for us to make it a unified Catholic Church, which will not be a Roman one, but rather, a constellation of rites, including the (large, Western) Roman Rite which all share the Lord's Table and the Sacraments again.

With Orthodoxy and Roman and Eastern Rite Catholicism, this is possible. To the extent that we or they have erred, neither has erred so far as to commit heresy. We are in schism, which with whom is an old debate. But schism is not heresy. We are not anathema to each other, and we are not heretics. We are for the most part not even squabbling any more. Our disunion is a birth defect left to us by our ancestors which we and our offspring are working with love to heal.
And of course we will one day, because both churches are the Catholic Church and always have been.

With the Protestants, such as our fellow Mathemagician, it is otherwise.

I remain curious as to which particular Protestant sect he belongs.
I don't see any indication from Jesus that Christianity may be practiced alone, but see, rather, that it is to be practiced communally.

Communities have their own dogmas, their approved translations of the Bible, etc. Thus far, there has been no willingness on his part to identify his spiritual community. I find this odd. Freelance Christianity: an interesting concept...just not one that seems to have occurred to Jesus, or Peter, or Paul, or Luke, or John, or James...

I gather, therefore, that you are using the full "Catholic/Orthodox" Bible, so that you have the complete Old Testament such as it was understood to be in the time of Jesus.

So, at least we are potentially working from the same, complete Scripture if we are going to be "Sola Scripturans".

Then our dispute is limited (thus far) to a narrow pair of issues:

(1) that the Catholic Church fell into apostasy and failed to follow the text of the Scriptures. What you said about the Scriptures that followed Isaiah has a basic truth to it: if some later tradition overtly refutes or attacks scripture, the later tradition is void according to Scripture. (This puts us in a pickle concerning Jesus' overturning of the explicit language of the Torah on the point of divorce, but we will let that pass for the moment).
Catholics (of the Roman, Eastern Rite or Orthodox variety), will of course tell you that the Catholic Church has not instituted traditions that contradict Scripture, and therefore the condemnations of Isaiah or Paul are not applicable. So our disagreement would repose on the content of the Catholic traditions, Eastern and Western, and not on the fact that they are traditions. Tradition is not bad unless it is bad tradition. Our dispute, then, is not over Scripture (in this case), but over Catholic practice.

Our other dispute would be over the adherence in a Sola Scriptura of your little church of students to the Scriptures itself. Have you ordained your bishops and presbyters by the laying on of hands (per Paul's letter to Timothy)? Do you baptize? Who does your baptisms? Do you share the bread and wine of the eucharist, per Jesus' admonitions? Do you permit your divorced members to remarry? Do you permit your little ones to approach the Lord and forbid them not? Do you confess your sins? Do you impart the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands (what the Romans call "Confirmation", and I believe our Orthodox brothers and sisters call "Chrismation")?

What is your holy day?
And why?

Wrt the MAr Thomite church check this link

The Christian Church in India was founded by St. Thomas, the Apostle of Christ, in A.D. 52. In those days, Arabs and Turks used to work as business men and merchants between India, the Middle East, and Europe. Europeans had no direct land or sea link with India. The merchants used to come to Kerala for trade - buying ivory, condiments such as pepper, cardamom, ginger, etc., and timber such as teak, rosewood, mahogany, sandalwood, black wood, etc. which were greatly appreciated, treasured, and sought after like gold by the Europeans and the Middle Easterners. Thus, along with these traders, St. Thomas came to Kerala in 52 A.D. on a merchant ship from the Middle East.

The present Kerala State (named Kerala in 1956; "Kerala" means "the land of coconut palms") includes most of the former Travancore, Cochin, & Malabar princely provinces. Then Kodungallore was the main sea port in Kerala. Upon his arrival, St. Thomas was received as a dignitary by the King of Cochin, a sea port in Kerala, India. Cochin was a powerful and prominent princely state at that time. St. Thomas explained his religion, Christianity, to the king. The king was impressed by his words and more by the prospects of expanding business by establishing new trade links. The King of Cochin, as well as the natives in Kerala, were very hospitable and accommodating towards Apostle Thomas and the visitors. Brahmins - the highest among the Hindu castes - were the only people who had any type of education. The communications of the king were carried out by the Brahmins. The legend has it that the King was so enamored with the new religion that he ordered sixty four well-to-do Brahmin families to join the new religion. The king gave prominence to the Christians in his palace and in his kingdom. The two dozen Christian families who had come with St. Thomas along with the local Brahmins constituted the first Church. St. Thomas converted many to Christianity, and eventually went to Madras State (now Tamil Nadu) to preach, and was later murdered by the natives at Mylapore near the city of Madras (now Chennai). He is buried at St. Thomas Mount, near Madras

Thus the first Church in India was established on the Kerala Coast and became known as the 'Malankara Church'. Kerala is bordered on its north and east by the mountains and on its west and south by the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The strip of land - Kerala - lying between these mountains, the sea, and the ocean [consisting of Travancore, Cochin, & Malabar (Calicut or Kozhikode)] was known as 'Malankara' in the old days (Mala = Mountain, Kara = Coast). After the British came, they started referring to the region as the 'Malabar Coast' instead of 'Malankara'. Thus the ancient Malankara Church in Kerala was also called the 'Malabar Church'. From the Sun worshipping Brahmins, the ancient church adopted some customs; namely facing to the East (rising sun) when praying, tying "Mangalyasutra" or "Minnu" (means a necklace with a special cross) and the giving of a Sari - "Pudavakoda" or "Manthrakodi" - (means wedding dress) to the bride by the bridegroom at the time of marriage, etc. As it was started with the Middle Eastern visitors and immigrants, a relationship to the Antioch Church was developed from the early centuries. From the second century onwards, the Churches in Kerala got their Bishops ordained by the Patriarch of Antioch. This system continued for a long period of time. Except for the ordination of Bishops, the Church was independent. For the first three centuries this church had no other contact with Churches outside. Middle easterners comprising of Christians, Jews, and Muslims kept migrating to the Kerala coast even into the early 20th centuary.

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