The Holy Shroud
From March 1977, The Phyllis Schlafly Report
The Holy Shroud
The single most impressive relic of Christianity is called the Holy Shroud. It is now and has been for 400 years in the Cathedral at Turin, Italy. It is a beautifully made linen cloth fourteen feet, three inches long and three feet, seven inches wide. It bears the front and back images of a muscular man six feet tall.
The image of the face and body on the Shroud is that of a handsome, very well-built, but much tortured man in his thirties. The face has a forked beard which was distinctive to Jewish men at the time of the Crucifixion.
The images on the Shroud are made by blood and perspiration. They show in clear detail the horrible effects of the Roman crucifixion. French surgeon Pierre Barbet found that more than 50 strokes with the Roman flagrum, a leather whip with balls of metal designed to tear the skin, were inflicted on the back.
The head shows a crown of thorns. Bruise marks are on the face including a fracture of the posterior of the nose cartilage. On both wrists there are nail marks which pierced the sensory nerve trunks. There is a spear thrust wound on the front side of the chest, and nail marks through the feet.
The Shroud images are negatives, similar to the negative image on photographic film. Before the discovery of photography in the 19th century, no one understood a negative image. The images on the Shroud are clearly natural and experts all agree that they could not have been painted.
Compare all the unique things that happened to the body of the man whose image is on the Shroud with the same things that happened to Jesus. The crown of thorns and the scourging in a crucifixion case were not customary Roman procedures. The Shroud conforms to the description of the garment furnished by Joseph of Arimethea.
A seven-year investigation by scientists that ended last year concluded that "we have not found anything to contradict the belief that the Shroud is the Shroud of Jesus." This evidence gives the lie to the current blasphemous book alleging that the death of Christ was a hoax to support a false claim of immorality.
The life of Jesus, His many miracles, His Resurrection from the dead, and His promise of everlasting life are beautifully described in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These separately written accounts provide historical evidence of the supernatural greatness of Jesus.
So, Christ's birth on Christmas, death by crucifixion on Good Friday, and Resurrection on Easter Sunday do not have to be taken on faith alone. We have, first, the prophecies in the Old Testament, then the eye-witness testimony in the New Testament, and now the scientific examination of the robe wrapped around Christ in His tomb. All this evidence confirms and corroborates; none of it contradicts.
