New imaging analysis indicates Shroud of Turin image could not have come from Jesus' body, which would have made it wider and more distorted

 

 The Shroud of Turin was not laid on Jesus' body, scientists reveal

... the shroud is nothing more than a 'masterpiece of Christian art'.

Mr Moraes used digital modelling software to examine how cloth drapes over the human body compared to a low, flat sculpture of a body.

These results, published this week in the journal Archaeometry, show that the shroud's distinctive pattern could only have been produced by a sculpture. ... 

Imagine covering your own face with paint and pressing it into a paper napkin.

The image left on the napkin would not resemble a portrait of you, but rather appear stretched and warped.

For this reason, Mr Moraes believes that the images on the Shroud of Turin could not have been produced by laying it over the body of Jesus.

Mr Moraes told Live Science: 'The image on the Shroud of Turin is more consistent with a low-relief matrix.

'Such a matrix could have been made of wood, stone or metal and pigmented - or even heated - only in the areas of contact, producing the observed pattern.'

The first recorded mention of the Shroud of Turin dates back to the 14th century, and the relic was almost immediately accused of being a fake.

Modern carbon dating, a way of measuring the age of natural materials using radioactive isotopes of carbon, carried out in 1989, placed the Shroud's creation between 1260 and 1390 AD. ...

Pope Francis, 87, has geezer eruption, lets the cat out of the bag, UK Daily Mail publishes the Italian but not the English thinking we're too dumb to know what it means

 

  Pope Francis has allegedly shocked bishops in Italy by using an offensive slur when saying that homosexual men should not be admitted to church seminaries because there is already 'too much' gay sexual activity.

The pontiff told a closed-door meeting at an episcopal conference at the Vatican that homosexual men should not be allowed into colleges to train for the priesthood, Italian media reports.

Bishops at the meeting were reportedly taken aback by the language the 87-year-old used to make the statement - the derogatory word 'frociaggine', which roughly translates to f*****ry.

Italian news agency Adnkronos, citing sources, reported that the Pope said in the speech: 'Look: there is already an air of f*****ry around that is not good. There is today's culture of homosexuality with respect to those who have a homosexual orientation [who] are better off not being accepted [into the seminary].' 

More.

 

Everyone is blaming the slip on Italian being the pope's second language.

 

Meanwhile the eggheads for USA Today write yet another story speculating about why people are running away from church, not mentioning that the Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexuals are "born that way", but must not act that way.

 

The pope reportedly has no sympathy for that distinction anymore when it comes to seminary admissions. He's no dummy.

 

Meanwhile, according to that story, fellow Argentine Cardinal Victor Mánuel Fernandez, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, ten days ago when presenting the new rules on apparitions had let slip a similarly vulgar phrase "doing some bullshit".

 

He would know. Argentina is the world's 5th largest beef exporter.

Vladimir Putin says the West is Satanic for rejecting moral norms

Putin says U.S. created nuclear PRECEDENT by bombing Japan and vows to 'smash' the 'satanic' West

Exhibit A, which you would never have seen in the popular press even 20 years ago:

 

Filthy: 62% of men and 40% of women don't wash after using the loo

How perfect then is man? from head to foot

Defil'd with filth, and rotten at the root.

-- George Sandys

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2971931/Do-wash-hands-going-loo-62-men-40-women-admit-don-t-bother.html

I remember when thrice-married blab-it grab-it gospel grifter Kenneth Copeland was just getting started in the late 1970s, now he's worth over $700 million

Wild eyed televangelist Kenneth Copeland appears unhinged in interview where he defends his $760million fortune and says he needs to use THREE private jets because 'demonic environment on commercial flights are not good for a preacher'

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

-- Luke 14:33

New single dose vaccine cures pedophilia in priests

Paedophile was shot dead in Italy 'by hitman hired by father of 15-year-old victim who killed herself after the abuse'

Cultural enrichment from Shia Islam: Spare the burning hot coals on the feet, spoil the child

Father makes his little boy walk over HOT COALS while men whip themselves with blades in gory self-flagellation Shiite Muslim ceremony

Archaeology confirms that Spanish conquerors of Mexico had told the truth about the enormity of Aztec inhumanity

But no one wants to say so because it's politically incorrect to suggest that the Christian invaders told the truth and justly put an end to the incredibly barbaric Aztecs.

Here's the story, where the reference to "previously thought" refers only to thinking sanitized of contamination by Christian prejudice, which now turns out to have been unprejudiced, and correct:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5893933/The-horror-Aztec-tower-skulls-revealed.html

The full horror of the Aztec 'skull tower' revealed: Archaeologists say THOUSANDS of human sacrifices had their still-beating hearts cut out before their heads were severed and added to a monument the size of a basketball court

• Archaeologists previously found 650 skulls in Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, which became Mexico City
• New research shows find was just a small part of massive array of what was once thousands of skulls
• New details of the gory rituals have also been revealed, which include turning skulls into masks

Aztec human sacrifices were far more widespread and grisly that [sic] previously thought, archaeologists have revealed. ... Some Spanish conquistadors wrote about the tzompantli and its towers, estimating that the rack alone contained 130,000 skulls. The skull edifices were mentioned by Andres de Tapia, a Spanish soldier who accompanied Cortes in the 1521 conquest of Mexico. In his account of the campaign, de Tapia said he counted tens of thousands of skulls at what became known as the Huey Tzompantli.

The Gates of Vienna: Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz shuts 7 mosques, expels 40 imams

From the story here:

'Political Islam's parallel societies and radicalising tendencies have no place in our country,' Kurz told a news conference outlining the government's decisions, which were based on that law. ... 

'This is just the beginning,' far-right Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache told the news conference held by four cabinet members. The Freedom Party's leader said Friday's measures are 'a first significant and necessary step in the right direction. 'He added: 'If these measures aren't enough, we will if necessary evaluate the legal situation here or there.' The ministers said up to 60 imams belonging to ATIB, a Muslim group close to the Turkish government, could be expelled from the country or have visas denied on grounds of receiving foreign funding. A government handout put the number at 40, of whom 11 were under review and two had already received a negative ruling. Austria, a country of 8.8 million people, has roughly 600,000 Muslim inhabitants, most of whom are Turkish or have families of Turkish origin.

The Religion of Piece of Ass: Sex slaves permitted under Islam according to radical UK imam

Ali Hammuda, secretly recorded and quoted here:

‘One of the interpretations as to what this means is that towards the end of time there will be many wars like what we are seeing today, and because of these wars women will be taken as captives, as slaves, yeah, women will be taken as slaves. And then, er, her master has relations with her because this is permissible in Islam, it’s permissible to have relations with a woman who is your slave or your wife.’

Police close Santeria store in Compton, CA after finding 9 human skulls in pots

Omi Relekun is located at 1514 N. Long Beach Blvd. Compton CA

All religions are the same, right?

From the story, here:

'Nine human skulls and other possible human and animal bones were found in a Los Angeles County store that sells Santeria products on Friday. Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt Steve Katz says deputies responded to the Compton business Friday after a woman complained of animal cruelty. When investigators arrived, Katz says they found a skull inside a pot. He says the coroner's office collected the skull and eight other pots that may also contain skulls.'

Roman Catholic superstition is alive and well in the US Congress

Stories here and here.

God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

-- Acts 19:11f.

Muhammad the plagiarist: Age of Koran manuscript pre-dates his career by as many as forty-two years

The story is here (subscription required). The UK Daily Mail here had the money quotes:

Historian Tom Holland, told the Times: 'It destabilises, to put it mildly, the idea that we can know anything with certainty about how the Koran emerged - and that in turn has implications for the history of Muhammad and the Companions.'

Keith Small, from the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, added: 'This gives more ground to what have been peripheral views of the Koran's genesis, like that Muhammad and his early followers used a text that was already in existence and shaped it to fit their own political and theological agenda, rather than Muhammad receiving a revelation from heaven.'

Students of the Koran in the West have long doubted the story of the miraculous origin of the words of the Koran given to the illiterate prophet, based in part on Muhammad's version of Christianity in it, which is derivative of heretical Nestorianism, not revelation. Muhammad had contact with Nestorians according to various accounts, but it is thought that it was primarily through the family of his wife Khadija, from whom he must have learned much of what he knew about Christianity and Judaism. An anonymous philologist (who fears for his life) has even proposed that much of the Koran was originally a Christian Arabic lectionary translated from Syriac sources, which makes even more sense now that a manuscript of the Koran appears to be dated precisely to the period when the words were supposedly circulating only as oral tradition, as recitation.

It would seem that Muhammad and his companions raided more than caravans.

So Aaron stretched out his hand and the frogs covered the land of Egypt

A plague of toads erupts in China’s Liaoning Province 

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, "Let my people go, that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs; the Nile shall swarm with frogs which shall come up into your house, and into your bedchamber and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls; the frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants."'"And the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the canals, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come upon the land of Egypt!'" So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

-- Exodus 8:1ff.

Story here.

And Moses Smote The Waters, And They Were Turned To Blood

Rare red tide hits Sydney beaches

"And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that [were] in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that [were] in the river were turned to blood."

 -- Exodus 7:20

"There are some possible risks to human health including skin rashes and eye irritation and for this reason the beach will remain closed until the algae dissipates," according to a local spokesman, quoted here in a story about the rare phenomenon.

"So they took soot from a kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast."

-- Exodus 9:10

New York 'Conservatives' Help Pass Gay Marriage

From The UK Daily Mail here:

The Catholic Bishops of New York said the [new] law alters 'radically and forever humanity's historic understanding of marriage'.

'We always treat our homosexual brothers and sisters with respect, dignity and love,' the bishops said Friday.

That's the problem, isn't it? The West has become soft, effeminate, and maleable because of a distorted reductionism of its message to 'love.'

What's next? Respect, dignity and love for the practitioners of idolatry and witchcraft?

Why any self-respecting man would go to such a church is beyond me. That, of course, assumes there are any left.

Rome Still Pink As The Day Is Long

The UK Daily Mail reports here on yet another embarrassment for the Roman Catholic Church right in its own backyard:

Catholic sex scandal as undercover reporter 'films priests at gay clubs and having casual flings'

By Nick Pisa

23rd July 2010

A gay priest sex scandal has rocked the Catholic Church in Italy today after a weekly news magazine released details of a shock investigation it had carried out.

Using hidden cameras, a journalist from Panorama magazine - owned by Italian Prime Minister and media baron Silvio Berlusconi - filmed three priests as they attended gay nightspots and had casual sex.

Today there was no immediate comment from the Italian Bishops Conference and the Vatican - which has been rocked by a series of sex scandals involving paedophile priests since the start of the year.

A preview of the Panorama article sent out by email last night added that video footage from the investigation would be made available.

The article describes how the reporter was assisted by a gay 'accomplice' as they 'gate-crashed the wild nights of a number of priests in Rome who live a surprising double-life.'

In its preview, Panorama added: 'By day they are regular priests, complete with dog collar, but, at night it's off with the cassock as they take their place as perfectly integrated members of the Italian capital's gay scene.'

Panorama described its investigation as 'deeply disturbing' as it detailed how three priests - two Italians and a Frenchman - happily took part in gay events and had casual sex.

The Catholic Church forbids priests to have sex and homosexuality is also seen as a 'sin' .

In 2008 the Vatican issued guidelines which said that any would be trainees should not join if they had 'deep-seated homosexual tendencies'.

In one part of the investigation Panorama said that one priest, named as Carlo, willingly put on his cassock to have sex with the reporter's gay accomplice, adding 'all of which was filmed by the hidden camera'.

The magazine also described how they had attended a Mass which was celebrated by Carlo.

In its preview Panorama insisted that it had carried out through checks and established that all three priests were bona fide but would not reveal their real names or any other details.

Panorama editor Giorgio Mule said: 'This was a two week investigation and was not aimed at creating a scandal but showing that a certain section of the clergy behaves very differently.'

Babies Know The Difference Between Good And Evil

So says the headline to the story, here.

An astonishing series of experiments is challenging the views of many psychologists and social scientists that human beings are born as 'blank slates'--and that our morality is shaped by our parents and experiences. . . . [T]hey suggest that the difference between good and bad may be hardwired into the brain at birth, 

says the article for the UK Daily Mail by David Derbyshire.

Neither conclusion is inconsistent with the Bible's understanding of the human predicament, however, that notwithstanding our first ancestors' willingly made affirmative answer to the invitation of evil (Genesis 3:5), evil has been ever after "biologically" transmitted to their progeny:

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

 -- Psalm 51:5

The Bible holds these antonyms together in tension. Those who cut one or the other loose inevitably veer off into utopianism of one kind or another or into assorted determinisms as the case may be. In its way, the Bible is a pragmatic, realistic, dare we say conservative, reflection on human experience which people with much of it continue to find compelling for these reasons.