Uncyclopedia.... (so it must be true) Shroud of Napkin The first photo of the Shroud of Napkin, taken in 2005. The Shroud of Napkin (or Napkin Shroud) is a paper napkin bearing the image of a being who appears to have been physically traumatized in a manner consistent with boiling pasta. It is presently kept in a secret location. Some believe it is the paper that covered the Flying Spaghetti Monster when he was placed in his tomb and that his image was somehow recorded on its fibers at or near the time of his imputed resurrection. Skeptics contend the shroud is a contemporary hoax or forgery. It is the subject of intense debate among some scientists, true believers, historians and writers regarding where, when, and how the shroud and its images were created. The negative shows proof of the Shroud's Divine origins The napkin is rectangular, measuring approximately 12 x 13 inches. The paper is imprinted with a herringbone pattern and is composed of low-grade paper fibers commonly found in fast-food napkins. It bears the image of a bilateral pastoid, featuring a meat-based skeletal structure from which extends numerous tentacles. Some number of the tentacles apparently bind the organism together. The image also clearly denotes two eyestalks, implying stereoscopic vision. Dark red stains, either blood or a tomatoey substance meant to be perceived as blood, were initially reported to be found on the napkin, but have since either faded or miraculously disappeared. Radiocarbon tests date the manufacture of the napkin to 21 August, 2005.
very interesting video. is this an update to the tests being done at the end of the video? http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/30/shroud-turin-display/2038295/ Many experts have stood by a 1988 carbon-14 dating of scraps of the cloth carried out by labs in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona that dated it from 1260 to 1390, which, of course, would rule out its used during the time of Christ. The new test, by scientists at the University of Padua in northern Italy, used the same fibers from the 1988 tests but disputes the findings. The new examination dates the shroud to between 300 BC and 400 AD, which would put it in the era of Christ.
I feel sorry for all of you. You are like small boys debating how many angels can sit on the head of a pin. I have a BS,MS and Ph.D. in a scientific field. That is my intellectual life. I also am a practicing Catholic and recently travelled to Rome for a chance to attend a mass said by the pope. It was a beautiful experience. That's my spiritual life. Without both you are living only half a life. When I was in grade school I went to a Catholic school and was an alter boy. For several years I served mass every morning at a catholic home for destitute children. I used to walk home, early in the morning after serving mass, sometimes through falling snow, and I would experience an unparalleled feeling of peace, love and safety. This is not something that can be debated, proved or otherwise intellectualized. It simply is. It's like saying there is no proof of the value of Beethoven's ninth symphony...or the beauty of the Pieta. If you think like that you are missing a dimension as a human being.
Who doesn't enjoy beethoven or the beauty of pieta? You can enjoy life and enjoy a good debate about whether the constants of the standard model of physics are extremely fine tuned. Besides I suspect Stu is a paid content provider. His job is to say the opposite of whatever science I present on these threads. So if I show video of a top cosmologist like Susskind stating that indeed God is one of the possible explanations for the fine tuning of the cosmological constant... Stu's job then makes hims say things like this: a. Susskind did not mean what he said. b. or lie about the science and say the cosmological constant is zero c. or call me names. its comedy in a way.
There is no conflict with what you are saying. I agree that you are only half a human being without a spiritual life. But there are people that will tell you that it is you and I that are living half a life. I can tell from your post that you see life as a warm, creative, joyful miracle. No one is trying to prove or disprove anything, at least I am not. Listen carefully, and maybe the point of this thread, at least as I meant it, make sense to people like you: The believe in God can bring a great deal of peace, awe, humbleness, belonging, comfort, support, etc. These are all positive things. What I object to is organized religion, especially when it is used as psychological weapon, or worse, as has been illustrated throughout history repeatedly. Worship, be at peace with your neighbor, feel the awesomeness of creation that may likely have had a supremely creative creator. But please, organized religion should be a private thing meant to be shared with like minded people, and not shoved down the throat of a general population. Imo, all references to God should be abolished from public life, starting with removing with "In God We Trust" from the back of US money. Religion should be a deeply personal experience, shared with like-minded people. When it becomes anything more than that, it becomes less. Nothing more. Read the original post. It makes a perfect example of how religion, like a virus, is used for usurpation.
Indeed. Like sex, religion should be a private thing, whether organized or not though. Coincidentally the very same things a belief in Alcohol can bring.
....yet so much more edifying to understand the garden is magnificent, without having to believe there's a Fairy at the bottom of it.