An interesting thing about the speculation that it is a forgery is this: To date, scientists (these were NASA scientists, BTW) cannot explain how the image got onto the linen. No other burial linens have been brought forth with such an image. Scientists cannot reproduce the 3D quality of the image to the clarity of the image on the shroud. The image does not permeate the entire cloth, but exists only on 1 side at the surface, eliminating pigmentations as the source. Finally - in order to produce this image as a fake, the person doing so would have to do it USING TECHNOLOGY OF AT LEAST LATE 1300's-EARLY 1400's. The guy would have to anticipate the advent of photography hundreds of years later, since the image details are only seen in photographic negative. Frankly, if it was faked, and I was the guy that did it - I'd SIGN the freakin' thing, cuz I want credit for it!!! I'd be hailed a genius!! And I'm not talkin' average every-day Einstein type genius..... I'm talkin'' WILY-E COYOTE.....SUPER-GENIUS!!!!
Back in the day, Jesus was pretty radical. He swung a club at the money-changers. He openly condemned the Pharisees as hypocrites - whitewashed sepulchers who spoke all, did little. He had a tax collector join his closest followers. He spoke to Romans, even healed one's child. In any society, those are dangerous teachings for The Powers That Be. Follow and recite him at your own peril..... As an atheist, maybe you can explain how the image got on the shroud using now-ancient technology (late 1300's-early1400's). Using science, of course. BTW - there are no atheists.
Times don't really change. The money-changers are still corrupt, the politicians still hypocrites who speak all and do little. There are more of the outcast of society that live truer lives than do the priests and politicians, and nationalism is ever present. Perhaps Jesus was on to something.
1. apparently there are very few materials from that point in time. (I read a small book shelf worth.) I am pretty sure most people were not writing back then. 2. they have been finding fragments of writings which are getting closer and closer to proximity in time. some not perhaps within a generation. 3. He was mentioned in Josephus (the historian of the times) in two passages. One passage has been questioned as authentic. One passage is not questioned as authentic by virtually all experts. so you have all the gospel accounts, mentions in josephus and then other manuscripts. we find fragments of munuscripts that probably date back to within a generation of Jesus. And we don't have all that many manuscripts from 2000 years ago. Not sure what else someone would be expecting from 2000 years ago.
A chariot license on microfiche , dental records on CD and a blood sample wouldn't be enough for whacked out atheists like stu{pid}, cheezwhiz arrow and futurecunts.
And yet, so much more left undone..... Ancient Roman scourge whips still exist from the time of Biblical Crucifixion. They were particularly nasty - with a main whip branch that subdivided into smaller branches - and each end-branch having a small metal ball so it would tear into the flesh. When placed against the scourge marks on the image in the shroud, the distinctive marks these flails make fit....perfectly.