As Christian theology took a new turn in Western Europe’s financial rise, so did anthropology. It is much easier to maintain a vertical power structure and a comfortable economic status quo when God is seen less as Father (in any generous Gospel sense) and more as a dispassionate Judge or Architect. A quite-content-thank-you-very-much ruling-class élite is far better served by a doctrine of a purely eschatalogical reward, not a noetic transcendence, and so the Bible was misunderstood and the Fathers all but forgotten, even monasticism supplanted by scholasticism. For intellectuals who are “all cerebrum” make for a considerably more reliable middle class to buffer the upper from the lower class (though arguably not vice-versa) than monks who are “all naval.” And then we went even further by exalting philosophy, then the natural sciences, eventually announcing to the common man that he was indeed just splendidly arranged inanimate particles, rendering his deeds meaningless, matriarchy superior to patriarchy, and death the only honest course of action. And thus did the leisurely cabal construct the ultimate empire mind-set. Interestingly, this was the view the leading sorcerers held all along, but not because they for one instant entertained Newtonism or Darwinism or any of the so-called “scientific theories” they were pleased to feed a by-design spiritually and then intellectually starved populace, whose dignity they regard as you might regard the livestock that is your deli meat.
Ron Paul Scares the GOP and 4 Reasons He Might Still Get the 2012 Republican Nomination
Why the GOP Is Scared of Ron Paul and 4 Reasons He Might Still Get the 2012 Republican Nomination
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No.
Why would the GOP be scared of Ron Paul but end up nominating him?
I’ll explain.
Romney and the GOP have demonstrated both poor judgment and poor sportsmanship that might cost them by damaging Romney’s electability among the Ron Paul supporters thus leading to a splitting of votes, which in turn, could cost the GOP the entire election.
Dr. Ron Paul is still in the race for president and is a strong contender for the 2012 GOP nomination.
To be on the GOP ballot Aug. 27, 2012 in Tampa and get a 15-minute speaking slot, a candidate must have won the plurality (majority) of delegates in at least 5 states.
Well, Ron Paul did win the plurality of delegates in 5 states, enough to be eligible for the nomination and a 15-minute speaking slot at the GOP convention. The states he won are Louisiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Maine and Nevada. Then Ron Paul went on to win the plurality in Massachusetts, Romney’s home state and half the delegates in Oregon. Dr. Ron Paul also has around 500 delegateswho support him. The exact number of delegates that Romney and Paul have is still a mystery but should be clarified at the convention.
So… Ron Paul won his 5-plus states, he’s on the ballot and writing his speech, right? Not exactly.
What happened next is what may cost the Republicans and Romney the entire election. Instead of accepting that Ron Paul, the GOP underdog, had won enough delegates in enough states to be allowed his rightful place on the ballot and his 15-minute speaking slot, the GOP and Romney’s people decided to try and take these legitimate wins away from Ron Paul and his supporters. Ron Paul supporters fought hard, played fair and won. Romney supporters didn’t play fair and still lost those 5-plus states. These Ron Paul pluralities were won in spite of shenanigans and tricks tried by Romney supporters and the GOP to prevent or undermine Ron Paul wins. The Ron Paul supporters were well prepared and won the needed amount of states anyway.
So, how did Romney and his supporters handle their losses of five measly states to Ron Paul? Honorably? Graciously? With dignity? Maturely?
No. Quite the opposite.
Romney’s people ran to Big Daddy GOP to rescue them from their defeats by trying to disqualify the valid Ron Paul delegates and to take away Ron Paul’s right to speak and be on the ballot by reducing his states won to fewer than the five needed.
So far, Romney and the GOP have contested the Ron Paul wins in Louisiana, Maine, Massachusettsand Oregon. They threw out the Massachusetts Ron Paul delegates after the GOP tried to force the delegates to sign a long legal document that required them to vote for Romney. This was not something that had ever been done before. The GOP allowed Romney, big lawyers and big bullying to invalidate Ron Paul’s solid win in Massachusetts.
As in the other states, the Ron Paul delegates in Maine played by the rules and won. Even Governor LePage of Maine, a Republican, is appalled with GOP efforts to throw out the duly-elected Ron Paul delegates.
The entire plot to reduce Ron Paul wins to under five states to take his name off the ballot and take away his 15-minute speaking slot is well under way. If Romney/Ryan are so great, why can’t they handle a little competition without whining and crying like sore losers?
Are they afraid of losing the 2012 nomination to Ron Paul if he speaks and is on the ballot?
Why not play fair and let the best man win?
Who cheats? The lazy, bratty, insecure and less-qualified people who can’t win honestly and fairly. Is that really presidential material?
I wonder if Romney and the GOP are worried that if Ron Paul speaks and gets the nomination, that Ron Paul will fire all of them. Is the GOP that terrified of change, even if it is for the betterment of the country?
Here is why I think that Ron Paul might still walk away with the nomination.
4. Lots of regular “little people”, like me, want Ron Paul to be the 2012 GOP presidential candidate. We, the little people, do not like being trod upon and when we join together, we are stronger than big money. Remember, “We the People”? Ron Paul’s donors areregular working people, many military men and women, not banks.
3. Ron Paul is the David to Romney’s Goliath Machine but the spirit, character and faith of we “little people” count more in America than just money. Romney has raised$152 million to Paul’s $39 million. Ron Paul has more passionate support from his supporters due to Ron Paul’s character and dedication to serving America and Americans based on our founding principles embodied in our Constitution. Money, media manipulation and bullying can’t buy this type of support. But, Romney and his lawyers couldn’t let Ron Paul keep 5-plus wins?
2. Ron Paul wants to serve his country, and has served in the military, and would end the wars. Ron Paul’s supporters and Americans want someone they can trust and believe in. Dr. Paul is that man.
1. Mitt Romney is much less qualified to be president than Ron Paul, who understands the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Watch this link where Romney is asked a basic Constitutional question and replies, “I’ll have to ask my lawyers”. Ron Paul tells Mitt Romney, “Read the Constitution.” Ron Paul is the only Republican Presidential candidate who is qualified, experienced and credible.
We, little people, similar to Ron Paul and his supporters, work hard, play fair and expect the same from others.
If Romney and his supporters had been gracious losers about Ron Paul’s 5-plus state wins and Ron Paul’s 15-minute speech, Romney had a chance to garner both the GOP 2012 nomination plus the support and votes of Ron Paul and his supporters. (I say “a chance” because many Ron Paul supporters do not see Romney as a fiscal conservative.)
Not anymore. It is hard to vote for someone who has acted so dishonorably, even for the sake of party loyalty.
The misguided Machiavellian advice Romney got and took to “win at all costs,” may cost him dearly in November due to the bad will generated with Ron Paul supporters. Too many people have lost too much respect for Romney to vote for him. To the contrary, even though Ron Paul’s campaign was repeatedly slighted and undermined by Romney and his supporters, Ron Paul stayed gracious and denounced mistreatment of Romney. He has told his delegates to “Make yourself heard but be respectful.”
By playing dirty and being greedy, Romney supporters may have lost Romney both the nomination and the election.
Romney and the national GOP are showing their ugly colors by attempting to take away Ron Paul state delegate wins that were earned fair and square.
In speaking with some Ron Paul supporters, here is their current plan. If Ron Paul doesn’t win the 2012 GOP nomination, many Ron Paul supporters will elect to vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian presidential candidate. Why wouldn’t Ron Paul supporters write in Ron Paul on ballots around the country? For those write-in votes to count, a write-in candidate must be listed in every state and some Ron Paul supporters do not know if their Ron Paul votes would count.
And, due to the shabby treatment Ron Paul and his supporters have received from the GOP and Romney’s people, many Ron Paul supporters may refuse to vote for Romney in 2012, even if it means Obama being re-elected for four more years. One supporter told me, “I want the GOP to see how many votes they lost by playing dirty. They will only be able to count all the lost votes if I vote for Gary Johnson.”
If you want to learn more about Gary Johnson click here. He stands for small government, government staying out of your business, liberty and fiscal responsibility. He is like Ron Paul without the Roe v Wade concern. Gary Johnson has had virtually no media coverage so you may not have heard of him.
As I heard in grammar school and it remains true: “Cheat, Cheat Never Beat”.
Ron Paul is the only qualified person for the 2012 Republican Nomination who can unify conservative Republicans, Independents, Libertarians and stabilize the economy. If the GOP is smart and humble enough to do a mea culpa and nominate Ron Paul, Republicans stand a better chance of winning in November. If Ron Paul doesn’t get the nomination, many Ron Paul supporters will likely be voting for Gary Johnson. All Romney and the GOP had to do was play fair and win honorably, but I guess that was too much to ask.
But here is the GOP’s conflict: If the GOP nominates Ron Paul and he wins, many of the GOP cronies will be shown the door. There will be a big house cleaning of corrupt politicians, like turning on the lights and the cockroaches scatter. On the other hand, if they don’t nominate Ron Paul, they risk losing all the Ron Paul supporters, which would likely split the vote and lose the 2012 election entirely.
It is hard to make those type of decisions when choosing what is best for the country doesn’t figure in at all, but choosing what is best for their own selfish principles of self-preservation, greed and thirst for power rule the day.
Romney and the GOP need to leave Ron Paul’s five-plus states alone, place him on the ballot and allow Ron Paul to speak.
Follow Laura Trice on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LaurasWJF
I AM THE TEA PARTY! Thousands Will See Just How 1984ish You Really Are Towards Free Thought, Speech!

about an hour ago via mobile ·
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”Finding common ground is quite a bit different then compromise. We want to find common ground with those on the other side. We just will not bend on our principles and ignore the constitution!”- I AM THE TEA PARTY!
This is how I after my comment was deleted from the thread that I replied back to I AM THE TEA PARTY! So I re-posted this information and said the following:
All About Sovereign Silver The Good The Bad The Ugly!

Anti New World Order Party
By: Daniel J Leach
I recently started to use Sovereign Silver and I can say that I have noticed a positive difference. I would call it Natures Viagra or energy supplement! I also tried using it when I was sick with a sour throat and was better with in days not weeks! So I can say with my personal experience Yes to the Good for you in a short term! I did not use the recommended dose I would use far less. I used 1/2 a tea spoon twice a day, once in the morning and once at night before bed and that would be about it!
Now for the Bad news about Sovereign Silver it can Kill you if you do not know what your doing. I would say consult your doctor before using Silver products!
Colloidal silver’s proponents will often leave-out the reason why it’s no longer in use by doctors: silver can build-up in your body, make you sick and even kill you. There is a report available online of a 71 year old man who died after taking colloidal silver orally for four months. Here is an excerpt of the report: It seems that some important facts about the 71 year old man who died were left out. My understanding was that he was on pharmaceutical medications that he had just come off of to start taking the colloidal silver. His reactions were consistent for anyone coming off those types of medicines too quickly.
“Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The authors report a case of a 71-year-old man who developed myoclonic status epilepticus and coma after daily ingestion of colloidal silver for 4 months resulting in high levels of silver in plasma, erythrocytes, and CSF. Despite plasmapheresis, he remained in a persistent vegetative state until his death 5.5 months later. Silver products can cause irreversible neurologic toxicity associated with poor outcome.”.
The Ugly is can turn Blue like a smurf?
One of the most obvious signs of silver-poisoning is that your skin turns a blueish color. Oh, by the way, this change of color is usually permanent. This condition is called Argyria.
There is a Libertarian Party politician in Montana, named Stan Jones, who took homemade colloidal silver, out of fear that theYear 2000 “problem” that had panic-stricken dupes predicting the end of the modern world as we know it, would make modern antibiotics unavailable. So, he self-medicated himself with colloidal silver and it made his skin turn a blue-gray. Here’s a picture I found of him on the Internet. I swear I didn’t doctor it:

What most of the mainstream media conveniently fail to report is that Paul Karason took homemade colloidal silver which he contaminated with salt and drank over a quart a day for years. Despite that, he was given a clean bill of health from Mount Sinai hospital after he had a checkup at the request of the Today Show he appeared on.
Likely no one has consumed more silver, even in the wrong form, than Karason and despite his cosmetic skin condition his clean bill of health stands as a stark refutation to the charges that silver causes harm.
The fact is that millions of people around the world use colloidal silver and yet there are precious few reports of any harm and the blue skin condition known as Argyria is quite rare. In virtually every instance where it is found the cause can be traced to heavy injestion of a product that is not true colloidal silver.
Properly prescribed and administered mainstream drugs, including antibiotics, kill as many as 120,000 people each year by the admission of the American Medical Association.
The main reason that silver fell out of favor was the advent of antibiotics which were patentable and thus much more highly profitable. Likewise, the main reason that colloidal silver is targeted by the trillion dollar a year world pharma empire, mainstream medicine and the media and agencies beholden to them is the threat it represents to the billions of dollars of profits they make from those antibiotics and treatment of conditions colloidal silver remedies.
Calling it a conspiracy would not be inaccurate.
Millions are estimated to use Silver products from top colloidal and ionic silver companies that I am familiar with. Still, where are all the smurfs and where is evidence of all the harm?
There are a grand total of 16 mentions of colloidal silver and argyria in all the voluminous PubMed references. When you remove the homemade ionic silver and the colloidal silver protein that is not really colloidal silver, then you end up with only a handful that might be colloidal silver.
When I tracked down rare reported incidents of Argyria due to ingestion of alleged colloidal silver I have invariably found that it turned out to be contaminated homemade ionic silver, so-called colloidal silver protein (which is particles to large to suspend without protein – and skin has an affinity for protein) or an ionic silver product with far too high ppm silver content.
Bad homemade CS is NOT ‘contaminated ionic silver suspended in protein’. (No-one makes MSP at home). Bad homemade CS is just colloidal silver made in impure water that has been ‘generated’ for too long. Put simply it causes argyria because its way too strong. Paul Karosan and Stan Jones both made that mistake. Paul Karosan continues to do so for some strange reason. (The other famous argyria victim and anti-colloidal silver campaigner, Rosemary Jacobs, actually never drank colloidal silver in her life. She took highly concentrated silver nitrate nose drops (probably around 30,000 ppm) every day for 3 or 4 years when she was about 11. Read her story and she admits this).
The reports at PubMed ranged from bluish fingernail cuticles to one report of death of a 71 year old man, which may or may not have been actual colloidal silver. Just for grins, do a search for “antibiotic side effect deaths”. That returns 675 reports.
Of course Natural News had ads for colloidal silver and colloidal silver makers – the ads are Google ads, which key in on words and phrases in each article the same way Google does with gmail accounts when you send and receive emails. If you went to an article about cancer, you would see ads for cancer treatments.
Now, if you want to say that some products which are labeled as colloidal silver might be dangerous or ineffective, I might agree. Otherwise, it is MY belief that some people make a practice of labeling anything that is not a mainstream approved drug as quackery.
i think the “conspiracy” angle is quite valid. except i’d put it another way. a large industry looking after it’s interests.
There is a general trend to have too much faith in modern medicine. people think its way more advanced then it is. Most people have adopted an attitude that science will save them, but for most people it’s really about healthy lifestyle choices.
There is not much to back up the toxic effects of silver. We use it in silverware, drinking pitchers, jewelry. sure anything can be toxic in huge does.
Iv tried it and found out for myself when I think of all the crap I’ve wasted money on over the years…$35 ain’t much. I really can’t remember the last time a doctor helped me and that wasn’t cheap. More People are killed at hospitals by bad medicine than anything natural.
The reason that deaths from approved drugs are well-known is that such incidents are documented in medical records and there are very real punishments meted-out if anyone tries to cover them up.
The so called Quacks always have an out by simply stating that their product is simply a supplement. The problem with alternative medicine is that most of the aftereffects upon its users are not documented by anyone. Their deaths or complications to their conditions resulting from foregoing standard medical treatment in favor of quacks is merely listed by the resulting condition (e.g. cancer spreads, poisoning, etc) so the effects of quackery aren’t as well-documented, beyond certain articles. Most people who sell these products sure as hell aren’t going to warn anyone about whatever side effects their product’s use might cause. That would be bad for sales and sales are all most company’s really care about.
If I’m cutting into some one’s pocketbook by publishing this, then that’s just too bad.
The bottom line is that silver does work and work very well and there really is very little evidence of harm from properly made and ingested true colloidal silver.

If it did not work, why do you suppose NASA uses it to purify the astronauts drinking water? Its a fact that CS is used to sterilize water in Mir space vehicles and the International space station. http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10942&page=324 There’s perfectly credible science behind this. We are not talking about pyramids and crystals. Or Potters for Peace uses it purify drinking water in third world countries?

http://pottersforpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/colloidal-silver.pdf


The Sovereign Silver Difference
- Actively Charged
As corroborated by several universities, Sovereign Silver contains 96% positively charged silver particles [Ag(n)+], making it at least 34 times more powerful than other brands. - Easily Absorbed
Sovereign Silver’s unprecedented particle size of 0.8 nanometers (validated by Transmission Electron Microscopy) allows for easy absorption and excretion from the body. - Less Is More
The smaller the particle size, the greater the surface area and the higher the efficiency. That’s why even with a low concentration of 10 ppm, Sovereign Silver is still much more effective than brands which contain up to 500 ppm! - Perfectly Safe
Sovereign Silver is formulated to be safe for the whole family. Taken 7 times a day for 70 years, Sovereign Silver still falls below the EPA daily Oral Silver Reference Dose (RfD). - 99.999% Pure
Sovereign Silver has only two ingredients: pure silver and pharmaceutical grade purified water. It does not contain added salts or proteins that render other silver products less effective. Plus, It is packaged in non leaching glass bottles to guarantee purity throughout it’s shelf life.
For thousands of years, silver has played an essential role in safeguarding human health. In fact, until 1938, colloidal silver silver water the preferred choice of physicians for empowering the immune system and stimulating the body’s innate healing processes*
Today, as more people embrace natural ways to maintain their health and well being, silver is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. And Sovereign Silver is leading the way. By developing technologically advanced refinements in the production of silver colloids, Sovereign Silver Bio Active Silver Hydrosol delivers advantages no other manufacturer can match.
For details call 1-888-328-8840
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*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Directions
Adults: 1 teaspoon, hold under tongue for 30 seconds, then swallow.
Children 4 years & older: 1/2 teaspoon.
Guidelines:
- Maintenance: Once daily.
- Immune Building: 3 times daily.
- Long Term Immune Support: 5 times daily
- Short term immune support: 7 times daily.
*According to the EPA (CASRN7440-22-4) daily Oral Silver Reference Dose (RfD) applied to 10 ppm, one may ingest 178,850 servings safely over 70 years.
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Pharmaceutical Grade Purified Water (USP-NF)
![]() For more information about the truth about colloidal silver and how mainstream medicine has suppressed alernative and natural healing, see: “Colloidal Silver Has Mainstream Medicine Singling the Blues” “Healthcare for Dummies – or How the Rich Got Richer and the Sick Got Sicker” |
Absolutely know the the Truth about the Shroud of Turin
Many claim that The Shroud of Turin is Jesus Christ but the Knights Templar claim that this is Jacques de Molay. I myself would like to think that this is Jesus Christ but with my research and understanding of history tend to lead me to believe that this is indeed Jacques de Molay and not Jesus Christ.
Geoffroi de Charny (the French Knight who died at the 1356 battle of Poitiers) and his wife Jeanne de Vergy are the first reliably recorded owners of the Turin Shroud. This Geoffroi participated in a failed crusade under Humbert II of Viennois in the late 1340s.[26] He is sometimes confused with Templar Geoffroi de Charney.[27]
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This Section Copied from: http://blog.templarhistory.com/2010/03/the-templars-and-the-shroud-of-turin/
Any discussion of the Shroud of Turin is bound to be controversial. Those who view this sacred and holy relic fall into two camps, those that believe it to be the undisputed earthly evidence of a Christ risen and those who believe it to be a medieval forgery.
It is not the intention of this web site to cast doubt on or support the authenticity of the shroud, but rather to show its possible relationship to the Knights Templar. We receive many letters from angry people who wish to enter into lengthy debates about carbon 14 reliability. We are aware of new evidence that puts the reliability of carbon 14 dating in question, so please refrain from telling us of the findings or directing us to URLs that make the claims.
There are two theories that relate to the Templars having been involved with the Shroud, one, which would support the authenticity of the Shroud and another, which would refute it.
In 1204 the Crusaders sacked the city of Constantinople. Among them were the Knights Templar, whom some scholars contend took the Burial shroud of Jesus from the city. To support this theory, author Ian Wilson who wrote the book “The Shroud of Turin: Burial Cloth Of Jesus?” makes the claim that the head that the Templars were accused of worshipping was none other than that of Jesus. His belief is that the Shroud when folded depicted the head of Christ and was referred to as the “Mandylion.” There is a painted panel at Templecombe in England that shows a bearded head like that, which is depicted on the Mandylion.
In their two books, “The Hiram Key” and “The Second Messiah,” authors Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas paint a contrasting picture to the Mandylion theory. The authors theorize that the image on the Shroud of Turin is in fact that of the last Grand Master of the order, Jacques de Molay, who was tortured some months before his execution in 1307. The image on the shroud certainly does fit the description of de Molay as depicted in medieval wood cuts, a long nose, hair shoulder length and parted in the center, a full beard that forked at its base, not to mention the six-foot frame. De Molay was said to be quite tall.
However, many have criticized the theory on the basis that the Templar rule of order forbade the Templars from growing their hair long. What critics of the theory overlook is that during DeMolay’s seven years in prison it is highly unlikely that he would have been afforded such luxuries as good grooming.
Knight and Lomas claim that the shroud figured in the Templars rituals of figurative resurrection and that DeMolay’s tortured body was wrapped in a shroud, which the Templars kept after his death. Lomas and Knight further believe that lactic acid and blood from DeMolay’s tortured body mixed with frankincense (used to whiten the cloth) etching his image into the shroud.
When the shroud was first put on display in 1357 (50 years after the disbanding of the order) by the family of Geoffrey de Charney who was also burned at the stake with de Molay, the first people viewing the shroud recognized the image to be that of Christ.
The authors theorize that Jacques de Molay may have been tortured in a manner similar to Christ as a mockery. Certainly then, the wounds suffered by de Molay where the same as those of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
Today it is commonly believed by many, through carbon dating, that the shroud dates to the late 13th century and not to the date of Christ’s supposed crucifixion. It is interesting that the church revealed these carbon dating results on October 13th, 1989, which is the same day the Templars were arrested by Church and State. According to the authors:
“Carbon dating has conclusively shown that the Shroud of Turin dates from between 1260 and 1380, precisely as we would expect if it were the image of Jacques de Molay. There is no other known theory that fits the scientifically established facts. Through experimentation, we know that the figure on the Shroud was on a soft bed of some kind, which strongly suggests that the victim was not dead and was expected to recover.”
The Second Messiah pg. 161 – Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas
Regardless of whether the findings of Ian Wilson or Knight and Lomas are correct, it is evident that this most holy and venerated relic has found its way into the Templar mythos.
Lynn Picknet and Clive Prince, authors of “Turin Shroud: In Whose Image?” present another theory of interest on the matter. Readers will recognize the authors from the book, “The Templar Revelation.” In the authors’ earlier book the duo claim that Leonardo Da Vinci who created an early photographic technique manufactured the image on the shroud of Turin.
A hoax or a miracle? The Shroud of Turin has inspired this question for centuries. Now, an art historian says this piece of cloth, said to bear the imprint of the crucified body of Jesus Christ, may be something in between.
According to Thomas de Wesselow, formerly of Cambridge University, the controversial shroud is no medieval forgery, as a 1989 attempt at radiocarbon dating suggests. Nor is the strange outline of the body on the fabric a miracle, de Wesselow writes in his new book, The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection (Dutton Adult, 2012). Instead, de Wesselow suggests, the shroud was created by natural chemical processes – and then interpreted by Jesus’ followers as a sign of his resurrection.
“People in the past did not view images as just the mundane things that we see them as today. They were potentially alive. They were seen as sources of power,” de Wesselow told LiveScience. The image of Jesus found on the shroud would have been seen as a “living double,” he said. “It seemed like they had a living double after his death and therefore it was seen as Jesus resurrected.”
Believing the shroud
As de Wesselow is quick to admit, this idea is only a hypothesis. No one has tested whether a decomposing body could leave an imprint on shroud-style cloth like the one seen on the shroud. A 2003 paper published in the journal Melanoidins in Food and Health, however, posited that chemicals from the body could react with carbohydrates on the cloth, resulting in a browning reaction similar to the one seen on baked bread. (De Wesselow said he knows of no plans to conduct an experiment to discover if this idea really works.)
Perhaps more problematic is the authenticity of the shroud itself. Radiocarbon dating conducted in 1988 estimated the shroud to medieval times, between approximately A.D. 1260 and 1390. This is also the same time period when records of the shroud begin to appear, suggesting a forgery.
Critics have charged that the researchers who dated the shroud accidentally chose asample of fabric added to the shroud during repairs in the medieval era, skewing the results. That controversy still rages, but de Wesselow is convinced of the shroud’s authenticity from an art history approach.
“It’s nothing like any other medieval work of art,” de Wesselow said. “There’s just nothing like it.”
Among the anachronisms, de Wesselow said, is the realistic nature of the body outline. No one was painting that realistically in the 14th century, he said. Similarly, the body image is in negative (light areas are dark and vice versa), a style not seen until the advent of photography centuries later, he said.
“From an art historian’s point of view, it’s completely inexplicable as a work of art of this period,” de Wesselow said.
Resurrection: spiritual or physical?
If de Wesselow’s belief in the shroud’s legitimacy is likely to rub skeptics the wrong way, his mundane explanation of how the image of Jesus came to be is likely to ruffle religious feathers. According to de Wesselow, there’s no need to invoke a miracle when simple chemistry could explain the imprint. It’s likely, he says, that Jesus’ female followers returned to his tomb to finish anointing his body for burial three days after his death. When they lifted the shroud to complete their work, they would have seen the outline of the body and interpreted it as a sign of Jesus’ spiritual revival.
From there, de Wesselow suspects, the shroud went on tour around the Holy Land, providing physical proof of the resurrection to Jesus’ followers. When the Bible talks about people meeting Jesus post-resurrection, de Wesselow said, what it really means is that they saw the shroud. He cites the early writings of Saint Paul, which focus on a spiritual resurrection, over the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, which were written later and invoke physical resurrection.
“The original conception of the resurrection was that Jesus was resurrected in a spiritual body, not in his physical body,” de Wesselow said.
These ideas are already receiving pushback, though de Wesselow says he’s yet to get responses from people who have read his entire book. Noted skeptic Joe Nickell toldMSNBC’s Alan Boyle that de Wesselow’s ideas were “breathtakingly astonishing,” and not in a good way; Nickell has argued on multiple occasions that the shroud’s spotty historical record and too-perfect image strongly suggest a counterfeit.
On the other end of the religious spectrum, former high-school teacher and Catholic religious speaker David Roemer believes in Jesus’ resurrection, but not the shroud’s authenticity. The image is too clear and the markings said to be blood aren’t smeared as they would be if the cloth had covered a corpse, Roemer told LiveScience.
“When you get an image this detailed, it means it was done by some kind of a human being,” Roemer said.
Unlike many “shroudies,” as believers are deprecatingly called, Roemer suspects the shroud was deliberately created by Gnostic sects in the first or second century. A common religious explanation for the markings is that a flash of energy or radiation accompanied Christ’s resurrection, “burning” his image onto the cloth.
If anything is certain about de Wesselow’s hypothesis, it’s that it is not likely to settle the shroud controversy. Scientific examinations of the delicate cloth are few and far between – and so are disinterested parties. Roemer, for example, recently arrived at a scheduled talk at a Catholic church in New York only to find the talk had been canceled when the priest learned of Roemer’s shroud skepticism. (The Catholic Church has no official position on the shroud’s authenticity.)
Meanwhile, de Wesselow said, people who aren’t driven by faith to accept the cloth as real generally don’t care about the shroud at all.
“The intellectual establishment, if you like, is not interested in shroud science,” he said. “It regards it as fringe and it’s not interested.”








