If the Shroud of Turin has only one DNA sequence, would that not prove immaculate conception?

Question

This is a spinoff to one of my earlier questions, so I hope the same and other people will respond.

DNA sequencing will indicate parental DNA combinations of an individual. If the SoT contained only one sequence (Mary's), then immaculate conception is scientifically proven. In fact, we need not even know Mary's DNA to compare it to. All we need to know is if the DNA has only one parent, proving Roman Catholicism doctrine. If there are two parents, then that proves Protestants correct.

Perhaps the DNA profile is something we have never even seen as scientists, if it is indeed miraculous. Perhaps there would be much to be learned from its structure.

What stops this from being done? Or has this never been considered? Could it be that the destruction of one (or two) religious sects is too great of an impact on society to proceed with such an investigation?

Comments, both positive and negative are welcome.

So far noone has followed my logic. Please read the question again and modify your answer.
I do not need to know Mary's or Joseph's DNA. All I need to do is examine the SoT DNA. If there is immaculate conception, there will be one parent evidence. If there is two parent evidence, conception was not immaculate. I do not need to compare it to anyone's DNA.

Ok, I should probably add a detail now that after the 11th response, people are seeing that no actual DNA origin requires tracing and following the logic.
Only the existence of zero, one, or two parents is required to deduce the validity of immaculate conception. Either of these three answers via DNA testing would be extremely powerful and change the world as we know it. The question here is not to dispute the SoT. That is another question. We will assume here that the SoT is valid and that original DNA can be extracted.

Answer 1

There are several serious problems with your rather inspired suggestion.

1.) The shroud has been repeatedly handled by hundreds of different people over the centuries. Each one of them would've left traces of their own DNA on the shroud.

2.) We have no way to determine either Jesus' or Mary's DNA sequence. We'd never know which sequences belonged to Jesus or Mary and which belonged to "commoners."

3.) Diploid DNA forms a double helix, like a twisted ladder. In normal circumstances, each parent's zygote supplies just one side of the ladder and half of every rung. There are three ways I can imagine an immaculate conception occuring:
a.) Jesus is a male clone of Mary. When the Holy Spirit came onto Mary, He caused a cell containing Mary's diploid DNA to begin dividing and eventually implant in Mary's uterus. This would mean Jesus had no father at all and was a genetic duplicate of Mary, except for the Y-chromosome.
b.) Jesus is the son of God. This would mean that the Holy Spirit supplied some of His own haploid DNA and impregnated Mary in the usual way. This would make Jesus a human-god hybrid.
c.) Jesus is a clone of God. It is theoretically possible God may have supplied all of the DNA used in the immaculate conception. This would mean that Jesus was 100% god and Mary was merely his surrogate mother. In ancient times, people didn't correctly understand how human reproduction worked. The predominant view was that males provided all the heritable traits and women were merely a "fertile field" where male "seed" was planted. This is why the early Church made so much of Mary's purity -- and why it was possible to imagine Jesus and God were one in the same. Everything that mattered came from God, via the Holy Spirit.

4.) All of the speculations above are moot, because radiocarbon dating, performed by three independent laboratories date the fabric of the shroud at 1350 CE. Elaborate precautions were taken to insure accurate results and all three teams arrived at the same date. To my mind, this proves the Shroud of Turin is an elaborate hoax -- a fake created to boost the medieval trade in fraudulent relics.

Answer 2

Although I am quite useless at science I find your post very interesting, there is something not quite right in my mind as to the tests done by STURP and I wonder did they get proper uncontaminated samples from the shroud, the fact that they may well have received those parts of the shroud that were altered by the fire in Turin makes their results suspect.
Was the team given these deliberately so as to guarentee a false result? not only this but if the test showed a medieval date and therefore revealing the shroud to be fake then what would be lost if another test was done with a larger piece of the shroud well away from the scorched areas.
It all still seems a little curious and sinister to me.
And yes a pure sample of the blood on the shroud that showed only one sequence would support the virgin birth but not the Immaculate Conception as the Immaculate Conception is the dogma that Mary was born sinless.

Answer 3

The original DNA on the shroud, if it is 2000 years old, would probably have degenerated enough to not be easily read. Also, consider the countless number of people who have touched the shroud. Any original DNA there, if harvestable, would be contaminated.

Answer 4

Or it would just prove that only Mary handled the Shroud of Turin.

If, on the other hand, the DNA on the Shroud was a single-helix that kept its shape, I'd say you have something.

Answer 5

Err...if it was exactly like Mary's that would be a clone. So first you gotta get hers to compare.

And I only have one. It half came from Mom and half from Dad (well I assume) and they go together and make one whole one. So am I god now?

Added FYI: there are at least five reasons the shroud is a fake, not the least of which it only dates to the Middle Ages and there is microscopic pigment that can be seen on it.

Answer 6

Protestants believe in immaculate conception too! You think Catholics are the only ones who believe in the Bible?
As for single stranded DNA, there's no reason Jesus couldn't have been a genetic clone of Mary, with sex changed (God could do that on his day off), i.e, no necessity for a single strand - you couldn't live anyway without that.

Answer 7

It's moot, bro. There is no DNA sample taken from Mary to match the non-existent SoT DNA against.

Answer 8

hi di ho!!! i am surprised you didn't get into trouble for calling roman Catholicism and protestants a sect. and political and commercial facets of the world would no want this to happen as if these two branches are destroyed they will loose allot of power and money. as for the DNA 1 person commented you needed a sample to compare to i think they were right.

Answer 9

I think DNA testing would be wonderful. But does God have DNA??? Jesus is the son of God.
It would prove interesting.
I am a Protestant and I believe Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. So we all don't fit in one mold.

Answer 10

very very very interesting point. Histoicaly the RCC has been very careful not to let anyone outside of thier own leadership do ANYTHING with what they treasure so I have a hard time believing that they would allow this to happen, even if they DID believe what they claim to whole heartedly. I would love to see it tested though. Would clear up a lot of misconseptions.