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33. The Silent Witness

5th October 1999 by Arthur Eedle

Everyone has heard of the Turin Shroud. Throughout this century it has continually been the source of academic in-fighting, religious bigotry, and intensive research. Having read widely on this subject, I should like to make a statement of belief based on what I have learned. I am aware that Evangelicals look askance at the Shroud simply because it is “A Romish Relic”, as they would say, and they will have no truck with relics of any kind. I am also aware that the Roman Church looks upon its “relic” with strange duplicity, sometimes doubting its authenticity, sometimes accepting it, but always ready to “venerate” it regardless. But I wish to approach this subject ONLY from the viewpoint of scientific evidence found thus far, and not from any religious bias. Why should one have a bias anyway, unless it is towards establishing truth?

What I should like to do is to present factual information determined by various scientists, each an expert in his or her own field, information that can be relied on, and which should form the basis for making a sensible conclusion as to the origin of the Shroud. It is as follows.

1. The Shroud is a piece of linen measuring 14 ft 3 inches by 3 ft 7 inches. An additional side strip just over 3 inches wide has been sewn onto this linen, but does not run the full length. The linen weave is a “three-to-one herringbone chevron twill”. This type of cloth would have been costly. Experts have shown that it was available at the time of Christ, but there is no definitive evidence from the cloth-type as to its age.

2. From the evidence of the image found on the linen, this cloth was used for burial. So why should it now be available AT ALL? Surely all such shrouds should have remained with their bodies. Why should anyone have stolen such a cloth from a dead body?

3. The image resembles the scorch marks found on a well-used ironing board cover. Solid particles, as used by an artist, are entirely absent. The image only becomes clear and lifelike as a photographic negative. From a careful and exhaustive examination of the cloth and the image the following facts emerge.

4. Blood flows present indicate that the body was not washed before being wrapped in the cloth. The body was laid on the cloth, which was then brought over the head and down to the feet without any further treatment. Evidence from other ancient burials suggest that in this case the procedure was only partially completed, in a hurry, before being left.

5. The jaw was brought up from hanging open, as it invariably does after death, by the use of a cloth (Soudarion) wrapped round the head, in addition to the main shroud.

6. The man’s image shows that he was 5 ft 11 inches tall, weighing probably 12 stone, of a powerful and well-proportioned physique. His face bears the image of that of a Sephardic Jew or a noble Arab of the time of Christ, aged between 30 and 40 years.

7. There are many wound-marks visible.

(a) Clear evidence of crucifixion. The nail mark found in the wrist is consistent with what is now known of crucifixion, that only by nailing within the small bones of the wrist, in the “space of Destot” is a man’s weight able to be supported. If the nail passed through the palm, it would result in the hand being torn apart under the weight. The effect of the nailing is to cause the median nerve to snap, so that the thumb contracts into the palm. The image shows this to have been the case. The mark of the nail through the man’s foot is also clearly visible, passing through the metatarsal bones at the base of the foot. The left foot was placed over the right.

(b) Head wounds. There are 8 separate blood flows from punctures at the back of the head, and 4 or 5 on the top of the forehead, as from a cap of thorns being forced on the man’s head.

(c) Over 100 marks on the body, mainly to the back and buttocks, each about 1 1/2 inches long and dumb-bell shaped. These marks were found to be in groups of three. This is clear evidence that the man had been scourged. The Roman scourge, the flagrum, consisted of a wooden handle with three leather thongs, into which were sewn small sharp lead pellets known as plumbatae, that would tear the flesh. The geography of these marks shows that the man was flogged repeatedly by two soldiers, the one on the right being a little taller than his companion, and showing a more sadistic tendency to lash the legs as well as the back. This type of scourge was unknown to any but the Roman culture.

(d) On the right shoulder there is a quadrangular shading as from abrasion due to carrying the cross-bar known as thePatibulum, which in Roman times would weigh about 100 pounds. Further down on the left side, in the scapular region, there is a rounded area of abrasion. Prisoners were required to carry this cross-beam over their shoulders, their wrists being tied to it. The upright beam of the cross, known as the Stipes, was already in place in its socket in the ground.

(e) Both knees show serious abrasions, which can only be due to the man falling headlong, and being unable to use his arms to save himself from injury. The knees would have taken the toll first, and possibly his nose, which shows signs of being broken.

(f) Wounds to the face – a swelling of both eyebrows, a torn right eye-lid, a large swelling below the right eye, a swollen nose, which as mentioned above could indicate a breakage by falling, a triangular shaped wound on the right cheek, a swelling to the left cheek and to the left side of the chin.  All this is evidence, not of the crucifixion, but of severe buffeting beforehand.

(g) A wound to the right side, elliptical in shape, and measuring 1 3/4 inches by 7/16 inch, which would appear to have been made by a Roman lance. It entered between the 5th and the 6th ribs. From this wound there is evidence of a blood flow, also a watery plasma. This shows that the man died, not of crucifixion alone, but of a burst heart, where the blood from the heart flowed into the pericardium and separated into two parts, the crassamentum (red clots of blood) and the watery serum.

(h) The direction of the blood-flows on the man’s arms indicate the angle at which he was suspended from the cross-beam, thereby showing conclusively that he was crucified on a cross-shaped structure, rather than on a single upright pole.

8. Pollen grains taken from the shroud have been studied with great care by experts in this field. The results show the presence of 49 different types, including a certain species, found only in the region around Jerusalem in the months of March and April. This was named as the tumbleweed Gundelia Tournefortii.

9. The eyes appear to be rounded in the image, giving it a haunting expression. But this is due to the fact that in burials in ancient times, it was a custom to place small coins over the closed eyes. Recent careful analysis of the photographic image shows signs of these coins, and one researcher claims to have identified, almost positively, the marks of a coin minted during the reign of Pontius Pilate, over the man’s right eye.

– – – – – – – –oOo– – – – – – – –

So much for the evidence. History books tell us that in Roman times thousands of men were crucified. But there is only one reliable historical record of a crucifixion which fits all the above facts, namely the crucifixion of Jesus Christ under Pontius Pilate on April 3rd A.D 33.   But in 1988 three laboratories independently determined the date of the shroud by the radiocarbon method. Each of these laboratories was supplied with postage-stamp-sized pieces of cloth, and each came up with the same result,  1260 to 1390 A.D. Regardless of all the other incontrovertible evidence, the “experts” described the shroud as “a mediaeval fraud.”

But more recently, Dr.Garza-Valdes, former professor of microbiology at the University of Texas, has shown that the linen of the shroud is covered with a “bioplastic coating” of bacteria and fungi, which, because it is still living and growing, tend to skew the radiocarbon date, so that it reads centuries later than expected. Tests carried out on linen shrouds from mummies confirm this conclusion, because carbon dates from samples WITHIN the mummies are sometimes a whole millennium earlier than those of their shroud. Scientists are now awaiting permission to carry out further tests on the Turin shroud. The Roman authorities are dragging their feet.

Garza-Valdes also determined the blood type from the shroud as AB positive, common amongst Jewish people. Both X and Y chromosomes have been found, showing (if proof was necessary!!) that the blood belonged to a male.

– – – – – – – –oOo– – – – – – – –

My own conclusion is that the shroud is indeed the actual cloth which Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus used to cover our Lord’s body. The subsequent history of this cloth has been determined by Ian Wilson, and may be read in his exciting books “The Turin Shroud” (1979) and “The Blood and the Shroud” (1998). I believe that God has allowed this cloth to be preserved as a witness to the abominable torture His Son endured to bring us such great salvation. The words of Mrs C.F.Alexander’s famous hymn says, “We may not know, we cannot tell, what pains He had to bear, Butwe believe it was for us He hung and suffered there.” The shroud is a silent testimony to just how awful were the indignities, the abuse, and the physical punishment He endured for the men and women He had created. It gives us pause each time we take the Bread and the Wine, to remember, and to say a deeply felt “Thank you” to our God and Father who “So loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” and to the Lord Jesus Himself, who endured the cross that we might have “life in His name.”

 

Filed Under: The Wayside Pulpit

About Arthur Eedle

Arthur was born in 1931, and became a Christian in 1948. At London University he gained a 2nd honours degree in Physics. He went on to get a Teaching Diploma, and throughout his career life taught physics in England, Kenya, and Hong Kong. Coupled with his love of science, he was a keen student of Greek and Hebrew, and gave many lectures on Biblical subjects. Read more

The Wayside Pulpit

1. Introduction

11th May 1999 By Arthur Eedle

2. Rave Music

13th May 1999 By Arthur Eedle

3. “I know you”

13th June 1999 By Arthur Eedle

4. God of all men

15th June 1999 By Arthur Eedle

5. Truth and Error

21st June 1999 By Arthur Eedle

6. Ruth Prince

2nd July 1999 By Arthur Eedle

7. Talking Trees

3rd July 1999 By Arthur Eedle

8. Dangers of rock music

6th July 1999 By Arthur Eedle

9. True Worship

9th July 1999 By Arthur Eedle

10. A wonderful building

11th July 1999 By Arthur Eedle

11. Traits of the self-life

15th July 1999 By Arthur Eedle

12. 100 Pianos

28th July 1999 By Arthur Eedle

13. “Much more” & “No more”

5th August 1999 By Arthur Eedle

14. Evangelism and the second advent

8th August 1999 By Arthur Eedle

15. Tribute to Ron Wyatt

10th August 1999 By Arthur Eedle

16. The opening of the Kansas Senate in the USA

12th August 1999 By Arthur Eedle

17. The face of feminism

14th August 1999 By Arthur Eedle

18. The second coming of Elijah

19th August 1999 By Arthur Eedle

19. Mellowing with age

21st August 1999 By Arthur Eedle

20. The rationality of the Christian faith

24th August 1999 By Arthur Eedle

21. The first and the lost

28th August 1999 By Arthur Eedle

22. The coming of the Lord

2nd September 1999 By Arthur Eedle

23. “I am coming tomorrow!”

4th September 1999 By Arthur Eedle

24. Living stones for a spiritual temple

7th September 1999 By Arthur Eedle

25. Rosh Hashana – the feast of trumpets

10th September 1999 By Arthur Eedle

26. A Tribute to the Rock-Badger’s Family

14th September 1999 By Arthur Eedle

27. The Cursed Fig Tree

17th September 1999 By Arthur Eedle

28. “Tell me the old, old story”

19th September 1999 By Arthur Eedle

29. A Sovereign Work

22nd September 1999 By Arthur Eedle

30. Today is the Secret of Tomorrow

24th September 1999 By Arthur Eedle

31. Neatly Packaged Boxes and Illuminated Signposts

1st October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

32. “In danger of hell fire”

3rd October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

33. The Silent Witness

5th October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

34. The Lesson of Amos

8th October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

35. The Great Tribulation

11th October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

36. “Until”

14th October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

37. The Unnerving Power of Tradition

18th October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

37a. The Explorer

19th October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

38. The Dart Family

22nd October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

39. “Nothing new under the Sun”

31st October 1999 By Arthur Eedle

40. “When the Stars begin to fall”

1st November 1999 By Arthur Eedle

41. The Coming of the Christ

3rd November 1999 By Arthur Eedle

42. “Like unto Moses.”

6th November 1999 By Arthur Eedle

43. “Sweet Revenge!”

7th November 1999 By Arthur Eedle

44. The Second Coming

14th November 1999 By Arthur Eedle

45. Forgiveness & Punishment

23rd November 1999 By Arthur Eedle

47. The Pattern and Purpose of the Cherubim

2nd December 1999 By Arthur Eedle

48. The Unforgivable Sin

4th December 1999 By Arthur Eedle

49. Japhah, the Beautiful One

5th December 1999 By Arthur Eedle

50. Resurrection by Judgement

11th December 1999 By Arthur Eedle

51. “The Saviour of Mankind”

17th December 1999 By Arthur Eedle

52. “Bad Associations corrupt Good Customs”

29th December 1999 By Arthur Eedle

53. Fingerprints and Irises

2nd January 2000 By Arthur Eedle

54. Cats, Dogs and Philodendrons

4th January 2000 By Arthur Eedle

55. The Second Eve

15th January 2000 By Arthur Eedle

56. The Illuminati

22nd January 2000 By Arthur Eedle

57. The Dark Day of May 19th 1780

24th January 2000 By Arthur Eedle

58. Hidden Significances

26th January 2000 By Arthur Eedle

59. “Before”

5th February 2000 By Arthur Eedle

60. When “shall” becomes “will”

10th February 2000 By Arthur Eedle

61. The Death of the Husband

13th February 2000 By Arthur Eedle

63. St. Paul the Abortion

25th February 2000 By Arthur Eedle

64. The Moral Dilemma

27th February 2000 By Arthur Eedle

65. The Moral Dilemma. A Personal Answer

1st March 2000 By Arthur Eedle

66. The Moral Dilemma. A Second Answer

4th March 2000 By Arthur Eedle

67. The Joy of our Salvation

11th March 2000 By Arthur Eedle

68. The love of God

16th March 2000 By Arthur Eedle

69. The Windows of the Soul

28th March 2000 By Arthur Eedle

70. Vision & Prophecy

2nd April 2000 By Arthur Eedle

71. Confusion

12th April 2000 By Arthur Eedle

72. Creation’s Vanity

18th April 2000 By Arthur Eedle

73. “Friend, move up higher!”

2nd May 2000 By Arthur Eedle

74. The Last Generation

25th May 2000 By Arthur Eedle

75. The House of the Soul

29th May 2000 By Arthur Eedle

76. The Opening of the Sheath

1st June 2000 By Arthur Eedle

77. Possession

2nd June 2000 By Arthur Eedle

78. Ancestral Bondage

5th June 2000 By Arthur Eedle

79. The State of the Dead

7th June 2000 By Arthur Eedle

80. Professor William Barclay

10th June 2000 By Arthur Eedle

81. The Unacceptable Face of Universalism

12th June 2000 By Arthur Eedle

82. No Escape from the Fire

21st June 2000 By Arthur Eedle

83. My Help

22nd June 2000 By Arthur Eedle

84. Our Stories

27th June 2000 By Arthur Eedle

85. Filling up that which is lacking

9th July 2000 By Arthur Eedle

86. Road Rage

15th July 2000 By Arthur Eedle

87. Immanuel

19th July 2000 By Arthur Eedle

88. Daughters of Thunder

27th July 2000 By Arthur Eedle

89. Casting off all Restraint

1st August 2000 By Arthur Eedle

90. Food, glorious Food!

3rd August 2000 By Arthur Eedle

91. The Kindly Laws of the Old Testament

7th August 2000 By Arthur Eedle

92. Resurrection

2nd September 2000 By Arthur Eedle

93. More about Resurrection

15th September 2000 By Arthur Eedle

94. “With what body do they come?”

22nd September 2000 By Arthur Eedle

95. One Helluva Hole

9th October 2000 By Arthur Eedle

96. A Whale of a Tale

10th October 2000 By Arthur Eedle

97. The Hallelujah Chorus

11th October 2000 By Arthur Eedle

98. “It never even entered my mind.”

16th October 2000 By Arthur Eedle

99. A Passionate Plea for Truth

18th October 2000 By Arthur Eedle

100. Warfare in the Heavenlies

20th October 2000 By Arthur Eedle

101. “The Lamb and Flag”

27th October 2000 By Arthur Eedle

102. Souls of men

1st November 2000 By Arthur Eedle

103. Sacrifice

4th November 2000 By Arthur Eedle

106. For whom did Christ die?

16th December 2000 By Arthur Eedle

107. “I cannot tell . . . but this I know.”

18th December 2000 By Arthur Eedle

108. The Great Cloud of Witnesses

19th December 2000 By Arthur Eedle

109. The law of circularity

10th January 2001 By Arthur Eedle

110. James Relly & John Murray

13th January 2001 By Arthur Eedle

Article Series

  • All our Yesterdays (30)
  • Before He comes (13)
  • God's Spoken Word (37)
  • Mysteries of Science & Faith (8)
  • New Series (101)
  • Newsletter (2)
  • Original Series (109)
  • Prophecy considerations (5)
  • Recognising the Hand of Judgment (33)
  • Resurrection and Change (16)
  • Seekers Corner (14)
  • Simple Statements on Serious Subjects (6)
  • The City of God (18)
  • The Millennial Octave (23)
  • The Restitution Times (22)
  • The Song of Solomon (6)
  • The Standard (19)
  • The Wayside Pulpit (107)
  • The Wayside Pulpit 2015 (96)
  • The Wellspring (101)
  • The Wellspring 2017 (55)

Index of Topics

Arthur & Rosalind Eedle's Personal Testimonies Discipleship Expository Items Good and Evil Human Pre-Existance Jane Leade. Philadelphian Numerology in the Bible Quotations from other Authors Resurrection and the Change Ron Wyatt. Archaeology Science Topics The Kingdom of God the Millennium and the Return of Christ The Sabbath Day Universal Reconcilliation

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