Source: Museum of the Bible
Posted on 02/26/2022 4:18:52 AM PST by Kaslin
Source: Museum of the Bible
The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., will celebrate its fifth birthday on November 17. During the 2017 opening weekend, my husband and I toured the massive 430,000 square-foot museum. We were impressed by the gargantuan brick exterior, 40-foot tall bronze doors with Biblical inscriptions, and modern interior design. Moreover, there were interactive galleries, thoughtful and inspiring displays, and hundreds of artifacts that embodied the museum’s slogan: “Inviting all people to engage with the transformative power of the Bible.”
But we noted one glaring omission: The Shroud of Turin was not referenced or pictured anywhere in this extraordinary museum dedicated to the world’s most influential book.
Our antennas were sparked since three months earlier, together with two Shroud experts, we had launched SignFromGod.org — a ministry with a mission to educate people about the Shroud of Turin. And what is the Shroud of Turin? The mysterious linen cloth measuring 14.6 ft by 3.5 ft is the world’s most studied artifact because millions of Christians around the globe believe that it is the authentic burial shroud of Jesus Christ.
But starting this weekend — nearly five years after the Museum of the Bible opened and four years from SignFromGod’s first conference call with chief curatorial officer Dr. Jeff Kloha — is the exhibition “Mystery and Faith: The Shroud of Turin” that will run through July 31. Why should you see this exhibit? Here is Dr. Kloha’s answer:
“Throughout this high-tech, interactive exhibit, visitors will explore how this cloth connects to the Gospels and has become one of the most immediately recognizable images of any figure from the Bible. Though the Shroud itself does not leave Turin, it has been featured on magazine covers, in documentaries, and even in Hollywood films. This exhibition explores the fascination and faith inspired by this cloth.”
Further encouraging you to visit is the exhibition’s title words: “Mystery and Faith.”
Let’s start with “mystery,” reflecting how modern science has yet to determine the source of the cloth’s numerous unexplained properties. And for those who cast aside the Shroud as fake, the exhibition presents the history and scientific facts in state-of-the-art displays powered by the museum’s innovative technology. But if you are a skeptic, after touring the exhibit, there is a good chance that you will reevaluate your opinion or at least do more research. Please note that the museum does not take a stand on the cloth’s authenticity. Instead, the curators intentionally leave that centuries-old conundrum as an open question for you to ponder.
Chief among the mysteries is what caused the anatomically correct full-body, front-to-back detailed image of a naked crucified man to form on linen cloth with wounds mirroring specific, unique tortures inflicted upon Jesus as recorded in the Bible.
Other prominent and baffling cloth features include photographic-negative properties discovered in 1898 and 3D distance information revealed in the 1970s. There are also a wide array of substances found on the Shroud, such as rare, human Type AB blood that penetrates the cloth. However, the man’s image sits on top and does not penetrate the linen fibers. Pollen and dust have also been detected on the Shroud and traced to Jerusalem during the era of Christ. And there are many more unexplained phenomena. If you are not familiar with the Shroud, this exhibition will pique your interest because the more one knows, the more profound are the Shroud’s mysteries.
One of the Shroud experts who consulted on the exhibition is Dr. Cheryl White, a professor of history at Louisiana State University at Shreveport. When I asked Dr. White to address “mystery” in the exhibit title, she thoughtfully replied:
“Where mystery exists, there is always something at work that is beyond our human capacity. The Shroud of Turin exhibit at the Museum of the Bible issues an open invitation to contemplate such mystery on a profound level, but in an instructive and interactive way that engages both the heart and mind.”
Now let’s explore the word “faith” in the exhibition title. Brian Hyland, who curated the Shroud exhibition at Museum of the Bible, says:
“Two papal quotes frame the exhibition, which reveals how the Shroud mirrors the Gospels,” Pope John Paul II called the Shroud a ‘mirror of the Gospel’ and Pope Benedict XVI called it an ‘icon,’ suggesting that it is ‘best viewed with the eyes of faith.’”
But one does not need faith to visit. And those without faith should consider why a prestigious museum in Washington D.C. is hosting an exhibition about what some think is a controversial medieval forgery. One answer is displayed on the museum’s web page about the exhibit:
“Few artifacts in the world have stirred imagination, provoked controversy, raised hypotheses — and for some, fortified faith — like the Shroud of Turin. “
Today, four years after the SignFromGod board presented our Shroud exhibition vision to Dr. Jeff Kloha — three Shroud expert speakers’ events later, and a one-year COVID delay — the exhibition is opening along with a potential world war. Could the Man of the Shroud provide faith, hope, and comfort? Perhaps. And is the timing just coincidental?
At the exhibition pre-opening event, I was especially encouraged by the last section called the “Reflect and Respond” room. On a big screen, there is a question often asked and associated with the Shroud of Turin: “Who Do You Say That I Am?” Visitors are encouraged to write their thoughts and display them for others to read. Here are a few:
“It [Shroud] shows Jesus is God!”
“I think that faith and science can coexist together and explain or provide an explanation for different phenomena like the Shroud.”
“The Shroud is a powerful reminder of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.”
“It [Shroud] reflects the extraordinary love Jesus has for His children.”
“The Shroud shows me Jesus’ love through his ultimate sacrifice.”
All those reasons are why you should visit the Museum of the Bible sometime between now and July 31.
“As for the Shroud of Turin..........possible........
..... but my faith does not stand or fall on it being authentic
My faith is sustainable by the Word and promises of God”
Of course not! Mine either, but...
“the Via Dolorosa is the same road Jesus was forced to walk carrying his cross through nine stations, all the way to the “Golgotha” – where he was crucified.”
Would you not be “moved” to walk the same path that your Savior walked on His way to make the sacrifice that saved YOU?
You read the bible to know about Jesus (especially the new testament) ? Word of God? Well, the shroud is (most likely) the burial cloth of God.
Why would He “create” it if not to inspire us in the future?
(Note: I was inspired to ask Jesus to forgive my sins and accept His “gift” of salvation by reading the “bible” in its entirety. No “person” other than the Person of Jesus Christ, “led me” to my Lord.)
Your link returns to the Townhall article.
The note for # 14 says “blood is still reddish. Blood normally turns dark brown/black within hours”. Wouldn’t that denote some sort of forgery in the blood, like a colorant has been added?
Yes, it did. Judas was the first Communist (see John 12:1-8).
That would be an excellent argument except for one obscure bit of forensic trivia. If there is enough bilirubin in blood it stays red forever! Its medically uncommon to achieve the needed level of bilirubin so our expectation is blood will turn dark. However, the kind of torture both the shroud image and the gospel stories report can produce that level and bilirubin has been identified in the shroud stains.
So this actually is one more argument against forgery. It is unlikely that any prospective forger in the hypothesized time frame would have known this trivia. So the best possible forgery then would have featured the 'expected' dark, not the observed red, blood stains.
Not necessarily for one thing; the other is that no kind of colorant of any sort (oil, etc) and, the image is on top of the fibers not in them.
Thanks, good to know.
Yeah, at the seminar I went to all the challenges to the authenticity of the Shroud were dealt with. Some pretty amusing.
Article is a very short summary of a linked online article, which is behind a paywall. Latter supposedly looked at blood and other fluids placed on mannequins and human volunteers in various positions to see whether they’d end up in positions like on the Shroud. The summary claims the results were not consistent. I recall reading past pro-Shroud articles, for free, doing similar kinds of analysis and stating their results were perfectly consistent with the Shroud’s stains. I recall the former seeming impressive when I’d read them but lack the expertise to compare them even if I would spend the paywall fee.
My link was correct but there is something wrong with FR. The Shroud has been proven a fake many, many times by forensic scientists. You need to stop your paganistic idol worship.
Exodus 20:4 - Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
You are like the people who insist, against all common sense and evidence, that climate change and cross-species evolution science is “settled”. If the Holy Shroud has been debunked, let’s make another one using natural means!
To the point about “graven image”, can God’s hand make a graven image?
Does a rainbow qualify?!
YOUR link, no matter how many times it is clicked on, points to
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4041672/posts?page=33Mine went to the brief article you’d named. Consider a little forensic http.
I think such a test would be inconclusive at best. Some of the blood could be fresh, some more congealed. We do not know how the body was removed; could have been inverted, could have been dropped, etc.
A biblical passage commanding the Israelites to not make idols to worship as deities...and you use it to say that the Shroud of Turin therefore can’t be real??
The Shroud is historical evidence of Jesus Christ. No one is suggesting that it be worshipped it as a graven image.
Come on, man.
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