Chakka, good idea. Thank you.
Khandro, I hope you don’t mind me bringing some of the points you made on the other thread into this one. As Chakka rightly said, my question was becoming somewhat lost among other issues, so could we carry the Turin Shroud issue on here please?
//why would anyone want to protect a blood-stained piece of linen if it belong to an anonymous person ?//
There are hundreds of so-called Christian relics in existence, some duplicated, but none authenticated. Why would anyone want to preserve those? Because people weep and wail over them – and as we know, in order to preserve its influence, religion depends heavily upon human guilt and sentimentality – and it’s a highly successful tactic.
//….. the Vatican doesn't want it's authenticity to be to be proven scientifically; the entire structure of Christianity is based on the fact that Jesus died on the cross.//
I see what you’re saying – that Jesus didn’t die on the cross – and I agree with you. However, I think the Vatican would love its authenticity to be proven – and not being averse to telling a fib or two here and there, they’d no doubt say that he was in the process of dying when the image was created – and the faithful would believe it and rejoice! However, the Vatican won’t allow sufficient testing because they’re not sure they’ll get the answer they want. If it turned out to be a medieval fake, it wouldn’t look too good.
I’ve seen the test results you’ve talked about, and whilst they may indicate that the cloth dates back to the period in question, they do not confirm the identity of the subject. It could be anyone. Personally, I would love it to be proven – not that I’d believe that man in question was God, or even the Son of God – but I’d like proof that Jesus the man existed. Sadly, we have none.
Chakka, //There is nothing that can persuade me that the anatomically correct image on the Shroud could have been produced IN NEGATIVE a thousand years ago when it was discovered to be a negative only after photography was invented.//
That makes no sense. How could anyone have realised it was a negative before photography was invented? The concept had never arisen.