Why don’t people go to the original source? When it comes to the Shroud of Turin, the source for finding out this and that about the fabric is the Bible.
After all, the focus is on the cloth used to wrap Jesus’ corpse. So it would seem appropriate to go to the Bible detail first for that kind of matter.
When investigating the prime data in the Bible, one then realizes how much time and energy could have been saved. How many articles in magazines — even professional journals — have been written about the Shroud of Turin? How many scientists have performed experiments on it? How many theologians have given their opinions about first century specifics, authenticity of the cloth, and on and on?
The Shroud of Turin is not the cloth that wrapped the cold body of Jesus. It may have belonged to someone else, but not Jesus. The Bible precludes that conclusion.
Turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 4 through 7: "They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself." (Revised Standard Version).
There you have it. The fabric used to wrap Jesus’ corpse was of two parts, not one full piece. The Shroud is of one full piece. It can’t be the wrap-around for Jesus’ dead body.
Twice the word "cloths" is used — plural cloths, not one cloth. Then the reader is informed that a separate "napkin" was used to encase Jesus’ head upon burial. On the first day of the week, early dawn, the napkin was found separate from the other fabric.
As for two pieces of fabric used for a corpse, check out the Gospel of John, chapter 11, verse 44 regarding Lazarus. When Jesus called forth the name of Lazarus, the man came from his tomb, wobbling, dressed in gravecloths. They were plural, not singular. The Bible gives us detail in regard to the fabric: "And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin." (King James Version).
Again, "gravecloths" — plural cloths. Not one full piece for the corpse. Again, "napkin" for the head, separate from the full-length fabric.
Two dead bodies — both wrapped about with two separate pieces of fabric.
The Shroud of Turin is one full piece that wrapped a corpse of some era; but it can’t be the cloth used for the dead frame of Jesus. The Bible relates otherwise.
As far back as September 20, 1988, the BOSTON GLOBE reported a dispatch from London: "A London newspaper said Sunday the results of tests carried out in laboratories in England, Switzerland and Arizona would show that the Shroud of Turin depicting a shadowy image of Jesus Christ was a medieval fake.
"’Papal representatives in Italy will announce next month what religious skeptics have long suspected: That the Shroud of Turin is a medieval fake. . .forged between the years 1000 and 1500,’ the Sunday Times said. The shroud, last displayed in the public in 1978, is known in Italy as La Sacra Sindone. It has a shadowy image of a body with a bearded face bearing apparent bloodstains from a crown of thorns and a large wound to the chest. (UPI)."
But that "bearded face" on that particular cloth did not belong to Jesus of Nazareth.