THE SHROUD OF TURIN FOR CHILDREN
Copyright 2014
Many thanks to the scientists, photographers, and other professionals who have brought the beauty of the Shroud to the world.
Special thanks to the Original Photographer, who took a picture of a Man and left it on the Shroud for us.
The Shroud of Turin is an ancient cloth which has been treasured and protected for hundreds--maybe even thousands--of years. It is kept in a special case in this church in Turin, Italy. The Church is called The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
What is a shroud? A shroud is a cloth used to wrap a body before burial. The Shroud of Turin is believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth, who lived and died 2000 years ago. It was draped over the body to cover the front and the back.
In the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible, it says, "When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth." Matt. 27:59.
And Mark wrote: "He bought fine linen, and took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen..." Mark 15:46.
But what is so special about this shroud? Well, the Shroud of Turin holds a mysterious picture of a man, front and back, and no one knows how this picture was made!
And although the picture is hard to see, you can tell where the man was wounded in his hands, feet, and side. He was crucified just like Jesus of Nazareth. Also, there are wounds all over his head, which could have been made from a crown or a cap of thorns.
This faint, light-brown image is what people saw for centuries--until the first photograph was taken in 1898 by a man named Secondo Pia.
He almost dropped the glass photographic plate in the darkroom when he saw the negative, because his photo of this:
Looked like this! (This is the negative image.)
Can you imagine how surprised he must have been? All the light and dark areas on the Shroud had been reversed in the negative, and the picture came alive!
Then, in 1976, some U.S. Air Force scientists got together and began studying the photos. More scientists became interested, and two years later they started the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP).
These scientists traveled to Turin, Italy, to study the Shroud for 5 days and nights. They used their most high-tech equipment. They ran every test they could think of on the Shroud.
One of the machines used to examine photos of the Shroud was called the VP-8 Image Analyzer. It was used even before the scientists traveled to Italy.
Unlike what most people believe, it was not used by NASA to map either the moon or other planets. No! It was used by weapons labs to analyze other types of photos.
This is Mr. Peter Schumacher, the VP-8 Production Engineer, with his machine at the Shroud of Turin Museum in Alamogordo, NM.
When a photo of the Shroud was analyzed with this machine, an amazing thing happened: the Shroud became a 3-D picture of a man! This never happened to any other photo.
The VP-8 is like this toy:
All the light areas on the photo are raised up, and all the dark areas of the photo are lowered. It is called a "brightness map."
And from this information, the Air Force scientists and cadets were able to make a life-size cardboard statue. It was kept for many years at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.
(These next photos were taken by Stephen "Pete" Peterson, who was the Cadet Chapel Public Relations Director at the Air Force Academy.)
Because of the Shroud of Turin Research Project, the scientists found out these things:
1) The Shroud is not a painting or a work of art.
2) The Shroud holds the image of a real person.
3) The person suffered just like Jesus of Nazareth.
But no one can find out how the picture of the man got on the cloth. That is the mystery which people are still studying today.
What happened to the man in the Shroud is exactly what happened to Jesus, as told by those who knew him and saw these things happen.
1) He was scourged.
2) He was beaten.
3) He wore a crown of thorns.
4) He was crucified.
5) He was pierced with a spear in his side, and blood and water came out of the wound.
6) None of his bones were broken.
7) He was wrapped in a fine linen cloth
Could this be the actual burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth? Yes. Other, much older, burial cloths have survived through thousands of years. So the scientists wondered: How old is the Shroud?
In 1988, a scientific method of dating was used--carbon dating. A small piece of the Shroud was dated to the 13th or 14th century. Many people thought this meant the whole Shroud was a fake, even after all of the other tests had proven it to be authentic. So what had happened?
Some medieval patchwork was included in the piece of the Shroud which had been dated. This was verified by Los Alamos chemist Ray Rogers, who had been part of the hands-on STURP team in Turin, Italy, in 1978. He found newer materials mixed with the original flax threads. To be accurate, only the original flax threads should have been dated.
Through the years, the Shroud had been damaged by fire and water, and various people had tried to repair the damaged places.
The Shroud could really be 2000 years old. In fact, it was mentioned as far back as the first century, when a king named Abgar was healed by touching the image on the cloth.
According to the traditional story, King Abgar V had asked Jesus of Nazareth to come and heal him. But Jesus replied that he could not come--his work on earth was not yet finished. So later, a disciple named Jude (or Thaddeus) brought the cloth to the king.
Other letters and ancient artwork also show that people knew about the Shroud long ago.
Is the image on the Shroud a picture of Jesus of Nazareth? Could it possibly have been made at the moment he rose from the dead?
The scientists cannot prove these things. But I believe.
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If you want to learn more about the amazing Shroud of Turin, go to www.shroudnm.com.
The most information you can find is on www.shroud.com .
(Parents: Every day there are more and more new videos, YouTubes, Tiktoks, and lectures by movie stars and other self-proclaimed "Shroud experts". Like the old game of telephone I used to play as a kid, where the first person tells something to the next and then that is passed on down the line, things are getting garbled the further away they get from the primary source material!
So I personally recommend only the 1976 proceedings and the 1978 researchers' conclusions. And of course---read the The Holy Bible.)
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