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work. He immediately recognized the apparent presence of similar biologically derived contamination on the shroud fibers. Given this information, the carbon-dating people stated how they had cleaned the samples with acid and alkali but further tests using their technique demonstrated the contamination remained.
Garza-Valdes then arranged for further examination of the blood stains including DNA analysis using standard techniques. These are stated to show that the blood on the shroud is from a human male.
The catch with this work is that it was not officially authorized and is not recognized by the Vatican on the grounds that they are not in a position to guarantee that the samples were genuine.
However, the Garza-Valdes work appears to have gained peer group acceptance, and most probably consists in authentic findings. Opinion appears to be that the carbon dating work must now be re-done.
Whatever the results of new tests, problems will remain. Several scientists from nuclear establishments have pointed out that the biblical version of the resurrection claims the physical body of Jesus simply disappeared. Thus, those who accept that this was a supernatural event are quite right to claim that carbon dating cannot give conclusive proof. For example, there is a distinct possibility of conversion of carbon 13 to carbon 14 via neutron bombardment reactions that could feasibly have occurred during a supernatural dissolution of a material body.
So what does the Urantia Book say? Joseph of Aramathea and Nicodemus, both wealthy and influential Jews, went to Pilate with a large sum of money in order to get Pilate's permission to remove the body. The normal practice was that the bodies of such victims of crucifixion were left to be disposed of by wild animals. Pilate, to his credit, refused the money, but did give them written authority to do as they would with the body of Jesus.
As the two went to retrieve it, they took with them a large quantity of myrrh and aloes, cloths to be soaked with these embalming agents, and one or two large linen sheets. Obviously they were well prepared for the task, hence knew they would later have to carry the body, probably by themselves, to Joseph's new family tomb nearby. It appears likely that they must have had a stretcher-type of carrying device.
At Golgotha, they wrapped the body of Jesus in one of the large linen sheets. The disciple John and the Roman centurion then helped them carry the body. Limp bodies are notoriously difficult to carry and they also had the embalming ointments so the fact that four men were involved tends to support the use of a stretcher-like carrying device.
Once at the tomb, Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped the body in cloths saturated with the embalming ointments, after which they wrapped it in a linen sheet and placed it reverently on a shelf. The account reads as if this was a second linen sheet but it may not have been. If there were two sheets, the one used in carrying the body to the tomb would be the only one that could have the markings that are on the Turin shroud--the marks from scourging, etc. This is because the second sheet was wrapped over the top of the embalming cloths soaked in myrrh and aloes, hence would not directly contact the body.
If there were two sheets, possibly the first sheet would have been taken back to his home by Joseph of Arimathea, along with the stretcher and vessels used for the embalming fluids. If so, Joseph and his family were its initial custodians. The Urantia Papers inform us that permission to dispose of the body of Jesus was granted to superhuman beings present at the tomb site:
"The mortal remains of Jesus underwent the same natural process of elemental disintegration as characterizes all human bodies on earth except that, in point of time, this natural mode of dissolution was greatly accelerated, hastened to that point where it became well-nigh instantaneous." (2024)
It appears highly unlikely that any natural laws of physics were suspended during this flash dissolution of the material body of Jesus. Thus, enormous heat would have been generated. Perhaps that is why the body was taken outside of the tomb for dissolution.
Apparently the grave cloths were first removed. We are told that when Mary, and later Peter, went to the tomb, the napkin where Jesus' head had rested and the bandages were still in the tomb while the "covering sheet lay at the foot of the burial niche." (2026)
Conclusions: At the very least the Turin shroud corrects the impression that Jesus was a blue-eyed male Caucasian. He was a Semite. It also vividly reminds us of the pain and indignities that he actually suffered.
Despite the carbon dating debacle, it still appears to be possible that the Turin shroud is the actual sheet used by Joseph and Nicodemus during transport of Jesus' body to the tomb. One other possibility is that it is a sheet in which the original was routinely wrapped for storage, and the markings and blood stains have been transferred to it from the original. This may have occurred during one of the many disasters suffered by the original which are known to have included both fire and dousing with water.
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