Disturbing Changes to the Shroud of Turin (Part 3)

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Angie Breidenbach, PR Officer, ACFW here to introduce part 3 in Pamela Ewen’s research series.

Hello ACFW Friends – We’re on our way to Rome, with a stop at Santa Margherita just for fun. Our visit to the Shroud was very emotional. Afterwards our friend and guide, Barrie Schwortz, gave a lecture for about 80 pilgrims. If you’ve read the earlier blogs, you’ll remember that Barrie is one of the world’s greatest experts on the Shroud.

This is the first time that Barrie had seen the Shroud since it was restored in 2010 by Turin authorities.I was enthralled. But with his trained eye, he saw significant changes that were disturbing.

The linen has been  steam cleaned and folds that had historical significance were removed in the process. The image was more faint, and the linen had lost it’s pale gold hue. Worst – from my point of view, precious pollen has been vacuumed and no one knows if it was harmed in the process and if and how it was stored.  (Read Secret of The Shroud to find out why I care so much about that point!)

So controversy rages within the world scientific community over the effect of this restoration, and many in the crowd were visibly upset.

Barrie is Jewish, yet he has spent his life studying and photographing the Shroud. I asked him why, and what the Shroud means to him.

God doesn’t always tell us why he sets us on a path, he says. His family are Orthodox, but at the age of 14 he lost God. When he first began his work with the Shroud, it was out of curiosity. Many years later he realized that the facts he’d learned along the way led him to a conclusion that beyond a reasonable doubt the Shroud is real.

“The Shroud is the most important Christian relic,” he says. He believes that God set him on this path to be a messenger– to provide information to people who would not otherwise have access to it through his photographs and amazing website. www.shroud.com.

Jewish or Christian — the Shroud is received as a miraculous gift from God. It is not a substitute or even a ‘prop’ for Faith. Instead, believe that it’s a gift. Jesus said when he left his earthly home that he would not leave us alone. Today, in the turmoil of this world, to know that we have this gift is a great comfort.

In a few days we’ll see the crypt and actual bones of the first apostle, Peter. These were discovered not long ago in archeological digs under the Basilica at the Vatican. I’ll send a post on that and more in a few days.

Uh oh. Jimmy just heard an announcement. Our train arrival has been changed to another track!!  Gotta go – talk to you again next week!  Pamela

Pamela Ewen

Author Bio:
Pamela Binnings Ewen practiced law for twenty-five years with the international law firm of BakerBotts L.L.P. before exchanging her legal career in corporate finance for writing full time. She is the author of the novels The Moon in the Mango Tree, a Christy Award Finalist, and Walk Back The Cat, as well as a non-fiction book, Faith On Trial, all published by B&H Publishing Group. Secret of the Shroud (a reissuance of Walk Back The Cat with new content) will be released September 1, 2010. Her novel Dancing On Glass, a finalist for the William Faulkner-Judge Minor Wisdom Award, will be released by B&H in July, 2011. Pamela is also featured in the film Jesus: Fact or Fiction, produced by Campus Crusade for Christ.

Website – www.pamelaewen.com // also Facebook.

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