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New:
Tough Questions for Skeptics and Believers |
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can only do so much, and so far, it tells us that this
image is a wonder that remains unexplained.
Gilbert R.
Lavoie from his book Resurrected |
The simple fact of the
matter is that scientists do not know how the image was formed.
The clues are few:
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The image is made
up of lengths of dehydrated, oxidized and conjugated linen
fiber. It is not the result of any chemical on the cloth. The
image is in and of the cloth.
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The image is
present only within the very topmost fibers and there is no
evidence of capillary action. There is no image below any of
the blood stains.
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There only seems
to be image in areas that were close to or possibly touching
the cloth. Some areas of the image are clearly in areas of the
cloth that would not be touching the body, and up to about two
inches away, thus ruling out a
contact mechanism.
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The image is
clearly a chart of the proximity of the cloth to the body
rather than an image that could be produced by reflected light
or other reflected energy.
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As medical
forensics reveals, the body that left the blood stains was removed
without disturbing (pulling away) the stains. This, to
those same experts, seems physically impossible.
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The dorsal (back)
image is not denser as would be the case if the image were
formed by direct contact.
Speculation on how the
image was formed is focused in theoretical physics models which
for many implies (comfortably or uncomfortably) resurrection. For
example, as Kevin Moran writes:
It
is suggested that the image was formed when a high-energy particle
struck the fiber and released radiation within the fiber at a
speed greater that the local speed of light. Since the fiber acts
as a light pipe, this energy moved out through the fiber until it
encountered an optical discontinuity, then it slowed to the local
speed of light and dispersed.
The
fact that the pixels don’t fluoresce suggests that the
conversion to their now brittle dehydrated state occurred
instantly and completely so no partial products remain to be
activated by the ultraviolet light. This suggests a quantum event
where a finite amount of energy transferred abruptly.
The
fact that there are images front and back suggests the radiating
particles were released along the gravity vector.
The
radiation pressure may also help explain why the blood was
"lifted cleanly" from the body as it transformed to a
resurrected state.
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Over
the years a number of natural cause theories have been advanced
to try to explain how the image was created.
These included:
The body produced
a vapor or chemical gas that imprinted the image on the cloth:
This theory was first advanced by Paul Vignon who also
established the pattern of markings found on the Shroud and
early depictions of Jesus in art. Given the right mixture of sweat,
bodily vapors, and burial spices a brownish stain can be
produced on linen. Several other scientists pursued this theory
further. As was discovered, gases in such a scenario would
diffuse and run throughout the linen fibers. Any image would be
very distorted and fail to meet the criteria of 3
dimensionality.
The image is produced by some
contact
mechanism: As with a vapor theory, this mechanism
requires a chemical reaction to cause a chemical change in
the fabric. There are several problems, however. Even more
so than with a vapor mechanism, is the problem of
distortion because of the roundness of body parts,
especially the face. Nor can the resulting image satisfy
the 3-dimensionality criteria. The dorsal (backside) view
would be more saturated because of the weight of the body
and certain recessed parts of body would not be visible
because they would fail to touch the cloth.
The Volkinger Effect: One
contact theory that seemed to hold so promise was proposed
by Dr. Jean Volkinger, a member of
the French Academy of Science. He discovered that certain plant
leaves produce images when pressed between the pages of books for
over 100 years. The images are very detailed and do provide
3-dimension characteristics. The characteristic of the image is dehydration
and oxidation in the same way as the Shroud image was formed.
The process, however, is very slow and we know from the forensic
evidence that the image of the man on the Shroud shows no sign
of decay. It is, in fact, still in rigor mortis. There is no
known parallel for such an image of a person, even among
thousands of burial Shrouds from ancient tombs.
Heat Scorch: To many researchers, the
image seemed much like a scorch. Scorching produced by heat
results in dehydration and oxidation of linen fibers and
darkens the linen in very much the same way as the image
on the Shroud. But scorched linen fluoresces
under ultraviolet light (because of chemical by-products) and the image of the man on the Shroud does
not. (The burns from the 1532 fire do fluoresce as would be
expected.) Significantly, what can possibly explain a body
producing enough heat to scorch a piece of linen or a
statue producing the precise level of heat needed? Heat simply cannot
produce the level of detail found in the Shroud since it
disperses in all directions.
X-Ray: Giles
Carter, a Shroud researcher has suggested the possibility
that the body emitted x-rays. There is some indication of
x-ray imagery in the area of the mouth and the fingers on
the hands. Dr. Alan Whanger has identified teeth and
carpal bones in the hands. But as Dr. Alan Adler has
noted, whereas it makes sense chemically and physically,
it is biologically bizarre. Anyone with that much radiation in them
would have been dead long before being crucified,
according to Adler.
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