Christian Urban Myths
Urban Legend: "The Beast," a supercomputer in Belgium, is Being Used to Track Every Human Being on Earth.
Truth: There is no "The Beast" computer. The story of the Beast Computer of Belgium is the work of fiction writer Joe Musser. He says he created it for a novel he wrote titled "Behold the Pale Horse" and for a screenplay for a film for evangelist David Wilkerson. He never intended for it to be viewed or circulated as fact.
Urban Legend: Soviet Scientists Drilled into Hell. Scientists conducting deep hole drilling experiments in Siberia break through the earth's crust at more than 14 kilometers. They find it unusually hot at that depth (2,000 degrees F). As a part of trying to listen to movement in the earth's crust, they drop a microphone into the drilled hole and are horrified when they realize they are hearing the voices of millions of people crying out in torment. Terrified, they decide to abandon the project.
Truth: The original story of the deep hole drilling in Siberia came from tabloid newspapers in the early 1990's. For more details see Drilling to Hell.
Urban Legend: Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the noted atheist, has proposed that the Federal Communications Commission ban all religious broadcasting.
Truth: The FCC says, "Since 1975 to the present time, the FCC has received and responded to millions of inquires about these rumors." In 1985, the FCC averaged 100,000 letters per month protesting this non-existent petition. Madalyn Murray O’Hair has never submitted any such petition and has been missing and presumed dead since 1995. The FCC cannot prevent or inhibit the broadcasting of religious programs. For more detail see Religious Broadcasting Rumor Denied.
Urban Legend: The CDC reports HIV-tainted needles in movie theaters, MacDonald's ball pits, and in coin returns of phone booths.
Truth: There are many different variations of this legend. In spite of the stories the CDC web site says: "...no foundation in fact....CDC is not aware of any cases where HIV has been transmitted by a needle-stick injury outside a health care setting. For more details see Frequently Repeated Rumors About HIV Transmission.
Urban Legend: Darwin repudiated evolution and accepted Jesus before he died.
Truth: This story appears in an evangelistic tract. It would be nice if it were true, but there is no verified evidence that Darwin rejected his ideas before his death. His friends and family deny it. For more on this story see Darwin Became a Christian and Renounced Evolution.
Urban Legend: NASA scientists have discovered the missing day of Joshua's time.
Truth: This story has been circulating in its NASA version at least since the 1960s. NASA denies that this ever occurred. The story goes back to a book by Charles Totten entitled "Joshua’s Long Day and the Dial of Ahaz: A Scientific Vindication" (1890). Harold Hill told his version in "How to Live Like a King’s Kid" (1974). Hill, the former president of the Curtis Engine Company of Baltimore, was involved in diesel engine operations at Goddard, but had no involvement with any computer operations. For more detail see Has NASA discovered Joshua's Lost Day?
Urban Legend: The Procter and Gamble logo is Satanic.
Truth: The real origin of the P&G symbol goes back to the 1800s when P&G was shipping candles down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Crate makers who would build the shipping crates right on the spot invented their own marks that they would carve or burn into the crate they had just built. There was some confusion about which crates held P&G candles, so a contest was held and the man-in-the-moon-with-stars symbol used by one crate maker was chosen as the winner. P&G was forced to change the symbol in the 1980s due to the persistence of this urban legend.
Urban Legend: The Christian Church during the Middle Ages promoted the idea that the earth was flat.
Truth: Statements by Christians about the earth being flat were actually refuted by the early church fathers. During the Middle Ages there was a continuing battle between the defenders of ignorance and the enlightened science, but the church never weighed in on the side of a flat earth. Through antiquity and up to the time of Columbus, "nearly unanimous scholarly opinion pronounced the earth spherical." In fact, not only did the church not promote the flat Earth, it is clear from such passages as Isaiah 40:22 that the Bible implies the earth is spherical.
Urban Legend: CBS is being forced to take "Touched by an Angel" off the air, because they talk about God too much.
Truth: The petition that is named in the legend (RM-2493) was considered by the FCC in 1974 and rejected in 1975. Long before “Touched by an Angel” was ever on the air.
Urban Legend: Halloween was a Satanic holiday.
Truth: Halloween does have some roots in a pagan (not Satanic) harvest festival. But the name of the holiday, pumpkins, and Trick-or-Treat come from good origins!
Many of these Urban Myths were found on the New Life Community Church in Stafford, VA web site