Jesus is God
Note: The primary purpose of this website is to guide you to heaven. It was written to provide evidence that there is a God interested in the salvation of your soul. Jesus Christ is that God and he established the Catholic Church to lead you to a moral life and heaven. This section provides compelling evidence that Jesus is God.
Posted: 1/29/2020 Updated: 4/5/2020
Table of Contents for this Section
The Bible in History
The Historicity of the Bible
Persons & Events from Extra-biblical Sources (OT & NT)
New Testament Dates
Biblical Prophesies
Signs in the Cosmos
Resurrection of Jesus
The NT and the Resurrection
The Shroud, the Sudarium and the Resurrection
To demonstrate that Jesus is God, it is important to address the historicity (historical authenticity) of the bible (Old and New Testaments), the biographical reliability of the Gospels, the miraculous predictions and coincidences concerning the life of Jesus, and the evidence for his resurrection.
The Bible in History
The bible is a collection of 73 books, 46 in the Old Testament (OT) or Hebrew Scriptures, and 27 in the New Testament (NT). It is primarily a religious text, written in a historical period spanning about 1300 years (approx. 1200 BC – 100 AD). Believers consider it to be the inspired word of God, who revealed his plan of redemption through what is known as Salvation History.
The bible is also a historical book. The protagonists and events are situated within the flow of ancient human history and the empires of the Mediterranean.
• Egypt (2000 – 900 BC); Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon
• Assyria (900 – 610 BC); kings of the Divided Kingdom & Assyrian captivity of Israel (Northern Kingdom)
• Babylon (610 – 540 BC); Babylonian captivity of Judah (Southern Kingdom)
• Persia (540 – 330 BC); Cyrus the Great frees the Hebrews
• Greece (330 – 150 BC); Maccabean revolt
• Rome (150 BC – 70 AD); John the Baptist, Jesus and the Apostles, destruction of the Temple
The Historicity of the Bible
It is an unfortunate fact that none of the original texts of ancient manuscripts has survived. This is due to the fragility of writing material, the lack of modern preservation techniques and the thousands of years that have passed between when the originals were written and the present day. So, the ancients were forced to make handwritten copies repeatedly over time. Modern-day historians of antiquity have developed ways to validate these copies. Three of these are antiquity, multiplicity and textual variance.
The technique of antiquity looks at the time interval between the writing of the earliest extant copies and the original. The shorter the time interval, the less likely changes from the original are added. Based on the metric of antiquity, the NT copies are much closer in time to the original than other well-known ancient works. (Note: Data for OT antiquity was not readily available.)
The technique of multiplicity evaluates the number of manuscripts, to better verify that the copies are faithful to the original wording. Based on the metric of multiplicity, the NT copies are far more numerous than other well-known ancient works. The original OT writings are difficult to date, but the estimated antiquity of the pertinent Dead Sea Scrolls is comparable to that of many secular works of that era.
Antiquity & Multiplicity of Ancient Works * (2014)
| Manuscript Writer (Works) | Approx. Original Date | Antiquity: Time Interval of Earliest Copies (yrs.) | Multiplicity: No. of Manuscripts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homer (Iliad) | 800 BC | 400 | 1800 |
| OT, all languages | 538 – 332 BC | 400 (est.) | 42000 |
| Plato (Tetralogies) | 380 BC | 1300 | 210 |
| Livy (Hist. of Rome) | 10 AD | 400 | 60 |
| NT Greek (all languages) | 60 AD | 100 | 5,800 (24,000) |
| Pliny the Elder (Nat. Hist.) | 80 AD | 400 | 200 |
| Josephus (Antiquities) | 90 AD | 1000 | 18 |
| Tacitus (Annals) | 120 AD | 750 – 950 | 31 |
* Additional references for Josephus manuscripts, the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Textual variance refers to discrepancies of wording in the copies of NT manuscripts. Skeptics claim that the hundreds of thousands of examples of wording discrepancies cast doubt on NT reliability. However, the sheer number of gospel manuscripts (5,800) and NT Greek words (138,000) suggests that the discrepancy rate is low. In fact, trivial errors, minor alterations and non-viable (unimportant) word changes make up 95-99% of the variants. As one scholar wrote, “The verbal agreement between various New Testament manuscripts is closer than between many English translations of the New Testament.”
Therefore, the results of these and other techniques lend credence to the conclusion that both the OT and NT texts are faithful to the original documents, and useful for understanding Salvation History.
Persons & Events from Extra-Biblical Sources (OT & NT)
Another method used to validate biblical texts is verification of names and events from extra-biblical sources. Using this methodology, researchers have validated 87 people, 28 of whom were Hebrews, from 880 BC to 60 AD. These 87 references and others include some figures that are well known today.
1. The Tel Dan inscription references the “House of David,” [from the ninth century BC] stela which still recognized David as the founder of the kingdom of Judah.
2. John the Baptist was the Jewish preacher who, the bible claims, baptized Jesus and later was beheaded by Herod Antipas. Josephus, a late first-century Jewish historian, wrote in Jewish Antiquities (93 AD), in reference to John: “Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s [Antipas’s] army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist …”
3. James the Just, sometimes called James, the brother* of Jesus, was an early leader of the Church in Jerusalem. Josephus records that he was condemned by the Sanhedrin and stoned to death in 62 AD. This reference has “the highest level of authenticity among the references of Josephus to Christianity.”
* Not the biological brother, but a step-brother, cousin or disciple
4. Pontius Pilate was the governor (prefect) responsible for representing Rome in Judea from 26 – 36 AD. He is well known to have condemned Christ to death by crucifixion. The Pilate Stone mentions Pilate and his title. Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher, and Josephus also mention Pilate in their writings.
5. The historicity of Jesus, the central figure in Salvation History, is well-established. “Virtually all New Testament scholars and Near East historians, applying the standard criteria of historical-critical investigation, find that the historicity of Jesus is effectively certain …” There are several extra-biblical sources that firmly establish Jesus as an important historical figure in the early first century. These include:
• Mara bar Serapion, a stoic philosopher, wrote a letter to his son ca. 73 AD. He states, “What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? It was just after that their kingdom was abolished. But … the wise king [is not dead], because of the “new law” he laid down.” Most scholars see this as an allusion to Christ and the religion he founded, which lives on after the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD.
• Josephus, from his aforementioned Jewish Antiquities: “Now there was about this time Jesus …”
• Tacitus, a Roman historian, referred to both Pilate and Christ in his Annals (116 AD): “Christus [Christ] … suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus …”
• Lucian was a satirist and critic of Christianity. In his The Death of Peregrinus, he wrote in 165 AD, “The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day, the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.”
New Testament Dates
There are four historical biographies of Jesus Christ written in the first century – the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. According to historians, the dating of these is important in lending credence to their authenticity, because earlier dates leave less time for development of myths. Traditionally, most biblical scholars agreed that the gospels were written between 70 & 100 AD.
However, recent scholarship (2018) has assigned much earlier dates of authorship. Jimmy Akin, a Catholic convert from Protestantism, has analyzed internal (within the biblical text) and external (non-biblical sources) evidence, leading to the following NT dates:
• Mark: 55 AD
• Matthew: 59 AD
• Luke: 60 AD
• John: 65 AD
• Paul’s epistles (letters): 50 – 67 AD
Akin bases his estimates on several factors, two of which relate to external evidence. First, the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple (70 AD), the very center of Jewish life, are not mentioned in the synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew & Luke). This is in spite of the fact that the destruction of the temple was predicted by Jesus. Second, John states “there is in Jerusalem” a Sheep Gate pool with five porticoes. If he was writing after 70 AD, those structures would have already been destroyed, according to Josephus in his work Jewish War.
Assuming 33 AD as the year of the crucifixion, the gospels and letters were written between 17 and 34 years after the event. This situates the first written texts well within the adult lifespan of many Jews and Christians of the time. Eyewitnesses to the biblical figures and events would still have been alive, and fully capable of disputing significant errors in the texts. So, there would be little likelihood of major discrepancies and myths creeping into the NT texts.
Biblical Prophesies
Salvation History “reads the books of the Bible as a continuous history … necessary events preparing for the salvation of all by Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.”
There are characters in the Hebrew OT who are known as prophets, that is, persons regarded as inspired teachers or proclaimers of the will of God. These men lived and wrote hundreds of years before the Christian era. Interspersed within their writings are prophesies or predictions that are claimed by Christians to foretell the coming of the Messiah or savior, in the person of Jesus Christ.
These prophesies are claimed to be supernatural interventions into human history, specifically (1.) to validate how the Messiah would be identified and (2.) to provide retrospective evidence that Jesus is the one. Individually and collectively, they identify persons and events that can point only to Jesus Christ and his ministry. These are a sampling of the prophesies:
Prophecy (P) & Fulfillment (F) Concerning the Coming of Jesus
| P | Biblical Quotation of the Prophecy | F |
|---|---|---|
| Mi 5:2 | Bethlehem … of Judah, from you shall come forth … one [Jesus] who is to be ruler in Israel. | Mt 2:1 |
| Mal 3:1 | I [God] send my messenger [John the Baptist] to prepare the way before me. | Mt 11:10 |
| Is 7:14 | A virgin [Mary] shall conceive and bear a son [Jesus], and shall call his name Immanuel [God is with us]. | Mt 1:18 |
| Ps 110:1 | [King David said,] The Lord [Yahweh] says to my lord [Jesus], sit at my right hand …” | Mt 22:43-45 |
| Ps 78:2 | I [Jesus] will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old. | Mt 13:34-35 |
| Ps 118:22 | He [Jesus] will be the cornerstone rejected by the builders. | Acts 4:10-11 |
| Is 35:5-6 | Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a [deer], and the tongue of the [mute] sing for joy. | Mt 9:32-35 |
| Zec 9:9 | Lo, your king [Jesus] comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass. | Mt 21:5 |
Prophecy (P) & Fulfillment (F) of Jesus in His Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension
| P | Biblical Quotation of the Prophecy | F |
|---|---|---|
| Is 53:5 | But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his [Jesus’] stripes [scourging or whipping] we are healed. | Jn 19:1 |
| Ps 22:16 | they have pierced my [Jesus’] hands and feet | Jn 20:25-27 |
| Ps 22:18 | they divide my [Jesus’] garments among them, and for my [clothing] they cast lots. | Mt 27:35 |
| Is 53:12 | he [Jesus] poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors [good & bad thieves]. | Lk 23:34,43 |
| Am 8:9 | I [God] will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. | Lk 23:44-45 |
| Ps 34:20 | He [Jesus] keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. | Jn 19:33 |
| Ps 16:10 | For thou dost not give me up to Sheol [abode of the dead], or let thy godly one [Jesus] see the Pit [decay]. | Acts 2:31 |
| Ps 110:1 | [King David said,] The Lord [Yahweh] says to my lord [Jesus], sit at my right hand …” | Heb 1:3 |
Signs in the Cosmos
There is another prophecy that deserves special mention, the Star Prophecy in the OT book of Numbers (Nm 24:17).
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter [emblem of king’s power] shall rise out of Israel …”
Attorney Frederick Larson, using information from the NT book of Matthew for the infancy narrative, the books of Luke & John for the passion narrative and Starry Night astronomy software, was able to reach some astonishing conclusions about the signs in the heavens, and the conception, birth and death of Jesus.
The highlights of his investigation include the following:
Biblical & Astronomical Events
| Time of Event | Biblical Event | Astronomical Event |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 3 BC | Conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb; Rev 12:1 (“A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet ...”) | Conjunction of the planet Jupiter & the bright star Regulus; rising crescent moon beneath constellation of Virgo (Virgin) |
| June 17, 2 BC | Birth of Jesus; Magi (astronomers) see a bright star & begin journey | Conjunction of the planets Jupiter & Venus* |
| Nov 25, 2 BC | Magi arrive in Jerusalem & talk to Herod the Great | |
| Dec 25, 2 BC | Magi arrive in Bethlehem bearing gifts (first Christmas) for the “king.” Star stopped over the place where the child was. | Jupiter in retrograde motion stops; the date of traditional Christmas |
| April 3, 33 AD | Date of the crucifixion | |
| 1970-01-01 09:00:00 | Jesus crucified | |
| 1970-01-01 12:00:00 | Earthquakes, the sun turned to darkness | |
| 1970-01-01 15:00:00 | Death of Jesus | |
| Sunset | Blood moon** at Virgin’s feet; Rev 12:1 | Lunar eclipse** & full moon beneath constellation of Virgo (Virgin) |
* A very close conjunction, like that of Venus and Jupiter on June 17, 2 BC (< 100 arc-sec), looks like a single light source to the naked eye. These conjunctions occur about once every 60 years. The conjunction would have appeared 16% brighter than Venus alone. This is the brightest possible conjunction of two planets and/or stars.
** A blood moon refers to a total lunar eclipse because a fully eclipsed Moon often takes on a reddish color. The picture below illustrates the blood moon below the virgin’s feet just after sunset on the first Good Friday.
Larson has presented a strong case that specific events in the Gospel narratives can be tied to verifiable celestial events, which establish particular dates for the conception, birth and death of Jesus. Looking at these results in another way, when God created the cosmos at the beginning of time, he set in motion a precise series of events that we, using 21st-century technology, can look back upon and validate.
Resurrection of Jesus
St. Paul astutely recognizes the key to Christian belief – the Resurrection.
1 Cor 15:17-19 – “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Jesus is almost universally recognized as a wise and holy man, even by many non-Christians. But if he didn’t rise from the dead, and if the NT recorded his words and deeds accurately, then he must be a liar or a lunatic (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity). This is true because of what he claimed about himself … that he had the authority to forgive sins (Mk 2:5), that he always existed (Jn 8:58), that he would judge the world at the end of time (Mt 25:31-46), that he would be killed and then “raised on the third day” (Mt 17:23), and that “I and the Father are one.” (Jn 10:30)
The resurrection of Jesus can be demonstrated from two lines of evidence – the NT and the burial cloths of Jesus.
The NT and the Resurrection
There are many books that provide a strong defense for the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. These are three that I have read.
• The first is The Case for Christ. It was written by Lee Strobel, who was a journalist and atheist prior to his conversion. The book describes his interviews with several NT scholars who convinced him of the overwhelming evidence for the veracity of Christianity.
• The second is The Resurrection of the Son of God by N. T. Wright, a retired Anglican bishop. This academic book provides a scholarly and thorough examination of the historical and biblical context of the resurrection.
• The third is The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas & Michael Licona, two Christian apologists (defenders of the faith). They utilize the “minimal facts approach” in their analysis, i.e., facts that “are well evidenced and nearly every scholar [even skeptics] accepts them.”
I will present an abbreviated version of the Habermas & Licona (H&L) arguments. They begin with a primer on historical analysis.
Historians employ several principles to determine the credibility of archeological finds, documents and eyewitnesses. There are five that are typically used in studying ancient documents, such as the NT. These principles are also used in courts of law.
1. Multiple independent sources – to test the reliability of sources against one another
2. Attestation by an enemy – since there is no bias in favor of a person or position
3. Embarrassing admissions – because no one would create a story to weaken his position
4. Eyewitness testimony – secondhand accounts tend to be weaker
5. Early testimony – since there is less time for exaggeration & legend to creep into the account
H&L use what they call the “minimal facts approach.” Their starting point, like that of most professional historians, is to approach the NT as they do any other book of antiquity. There is no need to consider it an inspired book, but rather a work that has been verified to have come down to us from ancient times and needs to be seriously evaluated. So, their approach uses only data that are strongly evidenced and agreed upon by most scholars, even skeptical ones. There are five such NT facts:
1. Jesus died by crucifixion – This fact is attested to not only by the NT authors, but also in the Jewish Talmud and in the writings of Greek and Roman pagans (Lucian & Tacitus).
2. Jesus’ disciples believed he rose and appeared to them – Scholars agree that the disciples claimed that the risen Jesus had appeared to them and, subsequently, they remained steadfast in their belief “in the face of imprisonment, torture and martyrdom.” Many have died for a cause they believed in, but who would die for a lie?
3. The church persecutor Paul was suddenly changed – Paul, a persecutor of the early Christians (Acts 8:1-3), wrote many of the NT letters. He proclaimed he was converted after Jesus spoke to him on his way to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9), an eyewitness testimony of the risen Lord.
4. The skeptic James the Just was suddenly changed – Though he was initially skeptical of Jesus’ claims, James saw the risen Jesus (1 Cor 15:3-8), was converted and later martyred. Within Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he lists those who saw Jesus after the resurrection, including “more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive …” Presumably, the readers of his letter could still seek out hundreds of eyewitness accounts, unless Paul was lying.
5. The tomb was empty – The evidence for the empty tomb is threefold:
• Jesus’ execution and entombment took place in Jerusalem. After his followers began to claim that he had risen, Jewish and Roman skeptics could have looked for themselves and refuted the Christians’ claim. They didn’t, because the tomb was empty.
• According to several sources (Mt 28:12-13; Justin Martyr; Trypho 108; Tertullian; De Spectaculis 30), the enemies of the Christians indirectly verified the empty tomb, by accusing the disciples of stealing the body).
• The credibility of the “empty tomb” account is bolstered by the fact that, in all four Gospels, women were the first witnesses mentioned. “Given the low first-century view of women that was frequently shared by Jew and Gentile, it seems highly unlikely that the Gospel authors would either invent or adjust such testimonies.”
Of course, historians have proposed other explanations (legends developed over time, someone stole the body, Jesus didn’t die on the cross, Jesus’ followers were hallucinating & delusional, etc.). H&L address them at length in their book. None of the alternative theories fits the available evidence better than that Jesus was indeed resurrected from the dead.
The Shroud, the Sudarium and the Resurrection
Finally, there is also compelling physical evidence that Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead. This evidence comes from two artifacts, the Shroud of Turin (Shroud) and the Sudarium of Oviedo (Sudarium). The Shroud is a linen cloth (14’ 5” × 3’ 7”). It bears the image of a man alleged to be Jesus. The Sudarium (sweat cloth) is a bloodstained piece of cloth (33” x 21”), thought to be the cloth that was wrapped around the head of Jesus after his death. They are presently located in cathedrals in the towns of Turin, Italy and Oviedo, Spain, respectively.
The documentary evidence for the Shroud dates to 1349 AD. Carbon dating gives a date of origin of about 1350 AD. The documentary evidence for the Sudarium dates to 616 AD. Carbon dating gives a date of origin of about 700 AD. Based on only this evidence, it seems apparent that neither cloth is in any way associated with Jesus Christ.
Of course, there is much more to the story. In fact, additional scientific analysis demonstrates that (A.) the physical evidence on the Shroud and Sudarium show them to be linked to each other, (B.) both are artifacts likely dated to the time of Christ, and (C.) the image on the Shroud can’t be explained by science and is probably the result of a miraculous event.
The Shroud and Sudarium are linked
The commonalities of these two artifacts include:
1. In both, the evidence points to a man with a beard, mustache and long hair.
2. The bloodstains on both are type AB, which is 8% of the present-day Israeli population.
3. Nose length in both is 8 cm, while the average length in American men is 5.8 cm.
4. There was a stain on the side of the mouth on the Sudarium, that was later verified to be on the Shroud.
5. Bloodstains on the nape of the neck were at the same location in both.
6. Pollen from Palestine, the setting of the OT and NT, was present on both cloths.
7. There were “20 points of correlation [between the two cloths], which more than satisfies the standards of proof used by most judicial systems around the world, which require 8 to 10.”
Conclusion: The Shroud and the Sudarium were both associated with the same bloodied man and event.
Both artifacts are likely dated to the time of Christ
1. The 1350 AD carbon dating on the Shroud is in error, since the two cloth artifacts are linked to the same person and event. Therefore, the Shroud can’t be any more recent than the dating on the Sudarium of about 700 AD.
2. Regarding the carbon dating of the Sudarium, “The laboratory noted that later oil contamination could have resulted in the late dating [of 700 AD].”
3. Regarding the carbon dating of the Shroud, the sampling protocol called for 7 Shroud fiber samples taken from different areas of the cloth. Instead, inexplicably, 3 samples were taken from one location, which was later determined may not be representative of the whole Shroud.
Furthermore, “Benford and Marino concluded that the 1988 C14 dating had actually dated a rewoven area of the Shroud that had been repaired using a medieval process known as ‘French invisible reweaving.’
4. The images of two coins, one on each eyelid, was discerned on the Turin cloth. It was “the nearly universal practice among many peoples for millennia … to put coins on the eyes of the dead to keep the eyelids shut.” They were “struck during the reign of Tiberius Caesar by Pontius Pilate in Israel in the year AD 29.”
5. Four independent methods of dating ancient materials were applied to the linen fibers of the Shroud. All four gave a range of dates that centered on the early first century.
6. The “20 points of correlation [of stains]” on the Shroud and Sudarium are consistent with a crown of thorns. There are no recorded instances of a crucifixion in history that includes a crown of thorns, except the crucifixion of Jesus. (Mt 27:27-30)
7. The Middle Ages, which encompasses the Shroud carbon dating of 1350 AD, coincides with a period of European history called Christendom. This was a time period characterized by almost universal Catholic religious belief. There would have been no compelling reason to create a forgery supporting the historicity of the crucifixion of Christ, much less a “forgery” so sophisticated that it still remains unexplainable by modern science.
Conclusion: The Shroud carbon dating of 1350 AD appears to be mistaken because of a sampling error. Other independent dating methods are consistent with the time of Christ.
The image on the Shroud is probably of miraculous origin
(Note: This section is based on the book The Shroud of Turin – A Critical Summary of Observations, Data and Hypotheses.)
1. What the image is not (pp. 81-8): It is not a contact image; a gas diffusion image; a painting; a dusting; a bas-relief, alone or in combination with a human model; a proto-photographic image; a shadow image; and it was not produced by an electric field.
2. The five characteristics of the Shroud that a viable scientific hypothesis must explain are:
• The image is only on the surface of the linen, eliminating the possibility of its being produced by chemicals or vapors.
• The image is a discoloration due to dehydration, not a scorch, eliminating prolonged radiation, which would burn the fabric. The radiation had to be very powerful and of short duration.
• The image intensity is related to the distance of the cloth from the body, whether or not it touched the body. This again eliminates chemical or vapors.
• The image on the cloth lying over the body is present on both surfaces, with the more intense image closest to the body. This suggests that the radiation attacked both sides of the cloth.
• Parts of the image on the cloth lying over the body are three-dimensional. Both the flesh and bones of the hands are present in the image.
3. To date, the only hypothesis consistent with all the observed characteristics of the Shroud is the Radiation: Fall-Through Hypothesis (pp. 85-86). According to John Jackson, who holds a PhD in physics and leads the Shroud of Turin research team, “the body wrapped in the Shroud became volumetrically radiant (radiant throughout its entire volume) with light in the vacuum ultraviolet range (VUV), and simultaneously, mechanically transparent, thus offering time-decreasing resistance to the cloth as it collapsed through the body space under the influence of gravity. Finally, the hypothesis proposes that the irradiated cloth, over some indeterminate period of time, aged and the image developed.”
4. An independent researcher (Paolo DiLazzaro), who was able to reproduce a small discoloration in a linen fabric, using a UV excimer laser. “The ultraviolet light necessary to form the Shroud image] exceeds the maximum power released by all ultraviolet light sources available today,” says Di Lazzaro. It would require “pulses having durations shorter than one forty-billionth of a second, and intensities on the order of several billion watts.”
Conclusion: Based on the only viable hypothesis for the Shroud image, the production of the image is miraculous, and appears compatible with the claimed resurrection of Jesus.
Addendum: A 3D rendering of Jesus was recently completed, based on the Shroud image. Click here to view a video that shows Christ at the time of his resurrection 2000 years ago!