ACT OF FAITH
I was an atheist who set out to prove Shroud of Turin was fake – but probing it turned me CHRISTIAN & I know it’s REAL
Scientists recently made a shocking discovery which suggests the relic could be real
AN ATHEIST filmmaker who once set out to prove the Shroud of Turin was a hoax is now convinced that it's real.
David Rolfe was a sceptic when he began filming his documentary on the mysterious cloth, but ended up converting to Christianity.
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The famed Shroud of Turin - a piece of linen imprinted with the image of a bearded man covered in wounds - has been a mystery for centuries.
It was first displayed publicly in 1350 and since 1578 has been preserved in the royal chapel of the cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy - hence its name.
Believers claim Jesus was wrapped in the shroud before he was buried and that the image is him, while others have disagreed and branded it a hoax.
Mr Rolfe set out to find a run-of-the-mill explanation for the shroud.
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But while shooting The Silent Witness - which won the 1978 BAFTA award - the filmmaker claims he found astonishing evidence that forced him to believe it was real.
He told : "I started off as an atheist, and then became an agnostic.
"[But] I'm now a Christian because I cannot possibly understand anything else that could have produced that image.
"I am convinced [the Shroud of Turin] is authentic, I personally have no doubt."
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To prove his case, Mr Rolfe took two pictures of the cloth - both positive and negative prints - to Dr Robert Bucklin in 1997 to conduct an "autopsy".
He said the report found three straight lines on the imprint of the man.
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Interestingly, the Romans used a special kind of whip called a flagrum which had three leather bands with a ball of spikes attached at the end of each of them.
This also aligns with the Bible's chapter John 19:1, which reads: "Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged."
Mr Rolfe added: "[The Roman flagrum] made a straight line of three and left as scars and blood marks on the back.
"The detail is just amazing, you can actually calculate the height of the people who carried out flagellation by these marks on the cloth."
Since his first documentary, Mr Rolfe has produced over 90 short films that focus on the mysterious relic.
The filmmaker even offered a $1million prize to anyone who is able to reproduce the image on a cloth - but he says no one could.
He added: "It could only be done by a process that we can't possibly understand because it was the thing that created Christianity.
"It was the resurrection. It was a dead man who came to life, and it was a miracle."
SHOCKING DISCOVERY
It comes after scientists made a shocking new discovery which suggests the Shroud of Turin could be real.
New evidence suggests the cloth was made around 2,000 years ago - the same period when he was said to have lived and died.
Most estimates say Jesus was crucified in AD 33, based on the Julian calendar, Bible passages and gospels from the time - 1,991 years ago.
Researchers in 1988 claimed to have debunked the relic and proved it was from the Middle Ages - hundreds of years after Jesus.
Dr Liberato De Caro, lead author of the latest study, said the old research - which used carbon dating to estimate the shroud was made between the years 1260 and 1390 - was unreliable.
The Bible states Joseph of Arimathea was the man who wrapped Jesus' body in linen before placing it in the tomb.
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A passage from Matthew 27:59-60 reads: "Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a new linen cloth.
"He put Jesus’ body in a new tomb that he had dug in a wall of rock."
What is the Shroud of Turin?
THE Shroud of Turin is a mysterious piece of linen cloth which has left researchers debating its origins for centuries.
Many have suggested the cloth was used to wrap around Jesus before his burial following the crucifixion.
Others have said it was produced far too late to be used by Jesus.
The burial cloth has captivated the minds of historians, church chiefs and religious sceptics since it was first shown publicly in the 1350s.
Esteemed French knight Geoffroi de Charny gave it to the dean of a church in Lirey, France.
It was later dubbed the Holy Shroud when the suggestions that it was used for Jesus came about.
Many of these theories relate to how it features brown marks across it resembling a person's face and body.
Scientists have said the feint markings could possibly belong to the son of God.
It is 14ft 5in long and 3ft 7in in width and actually features some burn marks.
The shroud was damaged in a fire in 1532 in the chapel in Chambéry, France and was later repaired by nuns.
Scientists have long been studying the Shroud of Turin with hopes of solving the long-standing mystery.
More than 170 peer-reviewed academic papers have been published about the linen since the 1980s.
Despite a variation in findings, many do believe it was used to bury Jesus.
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