Ben Carson: Egyptian pyramids were used to store grain, not Pharaohs' tombs

[Dave Lane]

Egypt’s pyramids were built by the biblical Joseph to store grain and were not, as archaeologists believe, tombs for pharaohs, Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson has said.

The retired neurosurgeon, who is seeking his party’s nomination for the White House, made these remarks in a 1998 address at Andrews University, a Michigan school associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to which he belongs, in a video posted on Buzzfeed on Wednesday.

The church is a conservative evangelical Christian one.

“My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain,” Carson – who last week overtook Republican rival Donald Trump for the first time in a national poll – told graduates in his address.

“Now all the archeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs’ graves. But, you know, it would have to be something awfully big if you stop and think about it.

“And I don’t think it’d just disappear over the course of time to store that much grain.”

Asked on Wednesday if he still held these views, Carson told CBS News: “It’s still my belief, yes.”

Speaking to MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Thursday, rival Republican Trump said: “He’s informed me about the pyramids. I think I’ll have to put that in my repertoire about Ben. That was a strange deal.”

In his 1998 address, Carson said: “And when you look at the way that the pyramids are made, with many chambers that are hermetically sealed, they’d have to be that way for various reasons.

“And various of scientists have said, ‘Well, you know there were alien beings that came down and they have special knowledge and that’s how, you know, it doesn’t require an alien being when God is with you’.”

In the old testament book of Genesis, Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob, was said to have “stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure”.

After seven years of plenty, the story in Genesis says, Egypt suffered seven years of famine, during which Joseph was able to feed the people with the grain he had stored.

Carson has spoken often about his faith, saying recently of his critics: “They say, ‘Carson, you know, how can you be a surgeon, a neurosurgeon, and believe that God created the Earth, and not believe in evolution, which is the basis of all knowledge and all science?’ …

“But I do believe God created us, and I did just fine … And in fact, the more you know about God, and the deeper your relationship with God, I think the more intricate becomes your knowledge of the way things work, including the human body.”

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...pharoahs-tombs

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by petegz28

Claim
In a recently discovered clip of an address given at Andrews University in Michigan in 1998, retired neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson claims that the Egyptian pyramids were constructed by the biblical Joseph to store huge quantities of grain and were not, as is commonly believed, tombs for the pharaohs.

Fact?
Carson’s claims seem to be drawn in part from Egyptologist Dr Wyatt Thom’s 1984 book Egypt Egypt Egypt. According to Thom, the pyramids were built to house grain, and mummified bodies were placed inside as scarecrows to keep birds away. If you’re wondering how that makes sense given that the pyramids are enclosed structures, Thom claims this is because you’re “hamstrung by a very modern conception of birds”.

Verdict: fact

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...ds-store-grain

Read the entire article, pete. It was clearly written to mock Carson.

[Andoverer]

Originally Posted by DaveNull

Smoking pot is a lot different than believing that the pyramids are secret grain silos.

True. One is/was illegal

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

That would be the worst ticket in the history of civilization.

Palin as SoS?

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by petegz28

That people are hamstrung specifically about their understanding of birds in the modern day compared to 1,000's of years ago. Whether that is actually applicable to the Carson statement is highly debatable.

That thing you quoted is not actually true.

Dr. Carson is like an idiot savant: brilliant neurosurgeon, but functionally reeruned outside of his field.

[BucEyedPea]

I just received a recorded call from Caron's campaign. Now I don't mind a short message. I'll listen. But it was so long and slow paced I had to hang up. Much too long for a tele-message.

[Andoverer]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

I just received a recorded call from Caron's campaign. Now I don't mind a short message. I'll listen. But it was so long and slow paced I had to hang up. Much too long for a tele-message.

maybe he was talking slow for the Democrats who might be listening...






it's a JOKE!!!! get over it

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Read the entire article, pete. It was clearly written to mock Carson.

I know...sheesh ....wow dude .....really??? come on already

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

This bears repeating. Insanity...

I don't know, man...those would make for some good scarecrows

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by petegz28

I know...sheesh ....wow dude .....really??? come on already

hah, yeah right. I don't buy it.

[NinerDoug]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

I would hypothesize that what you are talking about really has more to do with the complete dissatisfaction with the current administration/establishment than it does with Carson's nuttiness.

His supporters seem to ignore his nuttiness. That was my point. And that's quite a way to express dissatisfaction.

I haven't been able to get a decent beer at this restaurant for the last seven years. So, instead of looking for a restaurant that has decent beer, I'm going across the street where they serve LSD.

Not the most rational move in the world.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by alnorth

That thing you quoted is not actually true.

Dr. Carson is like an idiot savant: brilliant neurosurgeon, but functionally reeruned outside of his field.

Dude is your sarcasm meter still on Royals hangover?

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

This bears repeating. Insanity...

Maybe birds didn't fly in those days. That's how Noah was able to gather them all to take on the ark.

[alpha_omega]

Hey look...here is a grain pyramid....

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Andoverer

Yeah it's a shame Ben Carson doesn't say more stuff like this that would increase our admiration and would make us want to look up to him....


“I had learned not to care. I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though. …” — Barack Obama

“Junkie. Pothead. That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man. Except the highs hadn’t been about that, me trying to prove what a down brother I was. Not by then, anyway. I got high for just the opposite effect, something that could push questions of who I was out of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory. I had discovered that it didn’t make any difference whether you smoked reefer in the white classmate’s sparkling new van, or in the dorm room of some brother you’d met down at the gym, or on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids who had dropped out of school and now spent most of their time looking for an excuse to brawl. …You might just be bored, or alone. Everybody was welcome into the club of disaffection.” — Barack Obama

“…I inhaled frequently. That was the point.” — Barack Obama

Right up there with admitting to illegal parking

[Andoverer]

Originally Posted by Brock

Right up there with admitting to illegal parking

Yeah right up there