WILD WORLD 
OF RELIGION Field Guide to the

The emails raced around the Net in early 2010. Perhaps you got a copy of one or both of them.

 

Subject: Giants Found in Greece

 

I thought this was really cool, how scientists keep finding proof of biblical stories!

 

Remember the old testament story of how the Israelites were afraid because of the GIANTS in the land of Canaan.

 

Numbers 13:33 - "There we saw the GIANTS (the descendants of Anak came from the GIANTS); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

 

 

 

Subject: Nephilim Bones Found: Giants of the Bible

Nephilim are the giants spoken of in biblical times by Enoch, and the giant David fought against (Goliath).

Gen 6:4
There were giants on earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Num 13:33
And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Just to show that the Bible is true with history lessons that is applicable both then and today and it is not just a spiritual book only. So if He says that we must be born again to have eternal life and that He is coming again, it means just that.

Proof of the existence of Nephilim. ( Greece )

This is amazing. Not that the scriptures haven't already proven true, but now more evidence for our times.

 

Attached to the emails was an impressive map of Greece pinpointing the exact location of this astonishing find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And along with the map was an astonishing photo of the anthropologists at work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After seeing the size of that skull, many Christians found little difficulty in hitting the Forward button on their computer to send on this amazing Proof of the Bible to all their own friends.

 

But some folks paused before hitting that button. Something didn’t seem quite right in that picture. And some may have remembered similar pictures in old emails from the past.

 

An email about another  Gigantic Find made the rounds in 2004. This one wasn’t in Greece, but in the Middle East. And the giant human skeleton in the picture that was attached to it wasn’t said to confirm the Bible… it instead confirmed the Quran!

 

Subject: [Fwd: Interesting discovery]

FYI. Just got this Email, only God knows better about this story, but check it out:

Recent gas exploration activity in the south east region of the Arabian desert uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size. This region of the Arabian desert is called the Empty Quarter, or in Arabic, 'Rab-Ul-Khalee'. The discovery was made by the Aramco Exploration team. As God states in the Quran that He had created people of phenomenal size the like of which He has not created since. These were the people of Aad where Prophet Hud was sent. They were very tall, big, and very powerful, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it. Later these people, who were given all the power, turned against God and the Prophet and transgressed beyond all boundaries set by God. As a result they were destroyed.

Ulema's of Saudi Arabia believe these to be the remains of the people of Aad. Saudi Military has secured the whole area and no one is allowed to enter except the ARAMCO personnel. It has been kept in secrecy, but a military helicopter took some pictures from the air and one of the pictures leaked out into the internet in Saudi Arabia. See the attachment and note the size of the two men standing in the picture in comparison to the size of the skeleton !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evidently, Muslims had a hard time resisting hitting Forward on this one! It went viral in a short time.

 

 

But the story doesn’t end there. Three years later, in 2007, another email began making the rounds about Gigantic Finds. This one wasn’t about Greece or Saudi Arabia. It was about India. And the amazing find didn’t confirm the Bible or the Quran. It confirmed that the mythology of ancient India about such gods as Shiva were based on fact:

 

Recent exploration activity in the northern region of India uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size. This region of the Indian desert is called the Empty Quarter.

The exploration team also found tablets with inscriptions that stated that our Gods of Indian mythologicalyore, Brahma, had created people of phenomenal size the like of which He has not created since. They were very tall, big, and very powerful, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it. They were created to bring order among us since we were always fighting with each other. One of he sons of Bhima of the Pandava brothers is also thought of to have been carrying these genes. Later these people, who were given all the power turned against all our Gods and transgressed beyond all boundaries set. As a result they were destroyed by God Shiva.

The Geo Exploration team believes these to be the remains of those people.

Govt of India has secured the whole area and no one is, allowed to enter except the NatGeo personnel.

 

And look at the amazing photo attached to that viral email.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What neither the Muslim nor Hindu folks seemed to realize was that someone was playing a practical joke on them. The persuasive picture they were passing along wasn’t a photograph of a real archaeological dig. It was an entry in a “Photoshopping” contest held regularly on the Worth1000.com website.

 

Worth1000 stands for the old saying “A picture is worth 1000 words.” The site specializes in contests in which computer “artists” create amazing digital art, sometimes “from scratch” … and sometimes from altering existing photographs. The photograph of the gigantic skeleton above was “crafted” by an artist from Canada going by the name of Ironkite. He had taken the following photo of a Cornell University “dig” of a mastadon skeleton in New York state and digitally replaced the mastadon bones … at least most of them … with a human skeleton … a normal-sized human skeleton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the mastadon tusk in the bottom right corner of this picture. Part of it was left in the “cropped” photo that includes the human skeleton.

 

Also notice a close-up of the “digger” in the human skeleton photo.  He’s holding a shovel handle … with no shovel on the end! That’s because he was digitally “clipped out” of some other photo and inserted into the mastadon picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For his creative use of digital photography, Ironkite won third place in 2002 in the Worth1000.com “Archaeological Anomalies” contest.  This same contest is held every year, and produces some fascinating entries. Some are sneakily persuasive to those prone to gullibility, such as this one by Ironkite. But others are a lot more whimsical.

 

 

 

Here’s a “fairy skeleton.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here’s an unexpected ancient ruin …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see many more fascinating things in the massive set of galleries on the Worth1000.com site. Everything from:

 

 

 

Alternative Easter Bunnies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Alternate transportation:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although Internet sleuths have been unable to track down where the photo of the original human skeleton Ironkite used may have come from, it does show up in another photo-shopped picture that has made the rounds with emails about Giant Discoveries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You might not recognize him at first, but take a look at a side-by-side photo. That’s an unmistakable smile!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what about the photo and email about the Greek discoveries, described in the beginning of this article? As you may have guessed by now, it too was photo-shopped.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the original photo, on the left, which was taken of a 1993 University of Chicago dinosaur dig in Niger in Africa. On the right is the photo-shopped version with the skull inserted.

 

Notice that, except for the skull, both are almost identical …except the shop-artist has narrowed and elongated the long bone at the bottom of the picture!  He evidently decided that this would make the bone look more like a human bone than the original stubby dino bone.

 

 

 

 

What is the main lesson for Christians regarding such hoaxes–such Religious Urban Legends?   A blog titled “BiblePlaces.com” had a short expose’ on this hoax on the blog in April 2010. Someone left a comment at the end of the blog entry that I think puts it very aptly and succinctly:

 

 

What I find interesting about this is wondering about who put together this false story. I assume it is:

 

1) A non believer who thought it would be funny to pull the legs of the weak minded Bible readers.

 

2) Some Christian (or Jew) who sought to strengthen the faith of others by using an obvious falsehood. A modern equivalent of the countless early church and middle ages church legends.

 

3) Some Christian (or Jew) who saw this prank, didn’t realize what it was, and jumped to a unfounded conclusion.

 

There are lots of others of these roaming around. Every Easter I get the “Folded Napkin” e-mail that is equally baseless.

 

If some Christian created this to encourage Christians, knowing it was false, he/she deserves a major dope slap on the back of the head.

 

 

Any time you get some pictures in an email that look “too good to be true,” even if they seem to confirm something about the Bible, remember the Alternative Easter Bunnies before you hit that Forward button.  

 

 

 

 

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Giants in the Earth?

 

Genesis 6:4: “There were giants in the earth in those days…”