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

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

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.”

If Trump is going to start directly cracking on people's whacky religious beliefs, I really may have to consider supporting him.

[NinerDoug]

So he's established that, in all things not relating to being a neurosurgeon, he is a complete and utter dunce. And his supporters seem to like that about him. It's surreal.

[NinerDoug]

I wonder if he is a young earther. Maybe he attributes the Grand Canyon to the Great Flood.

[cosmo20002]

My "own personal theory" is that the brain is full of gooey caramel and candy goodness. He would have to respect that because it is my own personal theory.

[alpha_omega]

Well, at least we know where he stands. The mystery of the Pyramids was high on my list of election issues.

Side note....did anyone have the Pyraminx back in the day?

[NinerDoug]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

Well, at least we know where he stands. The mystery of the Pyramids was high on my list of election issues.

Side note....did anyone have the Pyraminx back in the day?

I think the more important point is that he is a nut or a moron or both.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

Well, at least we know where he stands. The mystery of the Pyramids was high on my list of election issues.

Side note....did anyone have the Pyraminx back in the day?

I did, although I didn't know that's what they were called. I also had one of those things that was kind of like a Rubik's snake.


But back to Carson...he be crazy.

[KC native]

****ing awesome.

Carson is such a super-awesome candidate.

[petegz28]

[Sully]

Why?

Why would he think this? i don't know much about 7th day adv., but is that part of their theology?

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by NinerDoug

I think the more important point is that he is a nut or a moron or both.

I would say that you have answered your own question in post #3. Being a neurosurgeon, he is certainly not a moron.

[RealSNR]

[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

[Sully]

hamstrung by a very modern conception of birds?