Shroud of Turin

Let's talk about the Shroud of Turin. This is one of those topics that gets brought up every now and again, and I've been meaning to share my thoughts on it for a while and I was thinking of it while writing another thing. Simply put, I think the whole thing is bunk. I mean, it's a cool idea, a piece of ancient cloth imprinted with the image of Jesus. But come on, let's be real, that just doesn't hold up to any scrutiny, especially when you start looking at the science. And, yes, I realize that a lot of Christians (and even some in the body of Christ) do believe the shroud is authentic. But honestly, that just goes to show how little they likely know about science (or, if they're aware of the science, just how much they have to ignore in order for what they want to believe to be true, but that's something I discuss elsewhere, so I’ll leave it at that for now).

I'm not a scientist myself, but that doesn't mean I can't tell when something smells fishy. It doesn’t take a PhD in physics to understand basic logic and evidence, and the evidence in this case just doesn’t support the supposed miraculous nature of the Shroud.

First, there's the radiocarbon dating. Back in 1988, three separate, highly respected labs dated samples of the shroud to the medieval period (1260-1390 AD). Now, that right there should be enough to put the whole thing to bed. Radiocarbon dating isn’t perfect, sure, but it's a well-established, reliable method. And it's not like all three labs magically made the same mistake, or that they were all somehow in on a vast conspiracy to hide the truth about Jesus, as some shroud enthusiasts claim.

But even if we ignore the science, which most shroud enthusiasts do, the historical evidence is just as damning. There's no clear record of the shroud's existence before the 14th century. It just… appears. And its first documented appearance is rather suspicious. In 1353, a French knight named Geoffrey de Charny displayed what he claimed to be the burial cloth of Jesus in a newly built church. Now, where did this shroud come from? Nobody knows. Geoffrey offered no provenance, no chain of custody, no explanation of how he acquired it. Sounds sketchy, doesn't it? And what happened when the local bishop demanded proof of its authenticity? Well, Geoffrey was unable to produce any. In fact, he was ordered to stop displaying the shroud since it was apparently a forgery based on the information available at the time (which has been conveniently forgotten by most Christians today). This "first" appearance of the shroud is highly problematic. If it were the genuine article, its sudden emergence with no historical record is very difficult to explain, not to mention what happened when its authenticity was officially questioned.

Honestly, the "evidence" for the Shroud of Turin boils down to:

1. We want to believe it.
2. It kinda looks like Jesus.