Gary C. sent me this riddle which has been doing the rounds on email for quite a while, though I had never seen it before. As Gary pointed out, the interesting thing about this is not whether it really is a Paul Harvey riddle (I have no clue), or even the riddle itself. It's the claim that 80% of kindergarten kids got the answer while 83% of Stanford graduates were unable to. Instead of trying to track down whether or not a group of Stanford graduates ever has been tested with this riddle, I thought I'd do the next best thing. Take an unscientific poll of Museum of Hoaxes readers to see how many of you are able to figure out the answer right away vs. aren't able to. That'll give a rough approximation of the percentage of (presumably over-kindergarten age) people able to solve the riddle, assuming people answer the poll honestly.
I have to admit that I couldn't get the answer. I finally gave up and googled for the answer.
If you've seen the riddle before and already know the answer, then base your response to the poll on the first time you ever saw the riddle. Did you figure out the answer immediately? If you were in kindergarten when you first were given the riddle, then don't respond to the poll.
I put the answer in a link below for those people, like myself, unable to figure it out.
Paul Harvey RIDDLE:
When asked this riddle, 80% of kindergarten kids got the answer, compared to 17% of Stanford University seniors.
What is greater than God, More evil than the devil, The poor have it, The rich need it, And if you eat it, you'll die?
Send this to 10 people and then press shift and you will get the answer.
P.S. You won't believe this, but this really does give you the answer!!!!
The Answer
Comments
(minutes later...)
Well now that i have thought about it,some might say commenting on someone else's comment is just well (whatever the opinion). Ahh they can suck it up.
NOTHING is greater than God. NOTHING is more evil than the Devil. The poor have NOTHING. The rich need NOTHING. If you eat NOTHING (starve), you'll die.
I was raised up as a christian and I believe in God 100%. There are so many miricles in this world to prove to you that he exhists. You do not need for him to actually come up to you and tell you that he is real. Look at all the things you are blessed with. From the day that you were born, to this day. He has watched over you and put you through challenges in your life. He loves you more than you can even imagine. You just need to accept it. If God does think you need to be proven that he does exist, then he will do so. But its your choice whether or not to believe in him. When you die, you will be judged on how you react to this. I am not trying to make you believe in him, I am telling you of my opinion, as a christian, looks at this. And to me< believing is seeing God bless you!!
Dear Chelsea,
If you believe in Him so much, why don't you capitalize His pronouns? The Bible does, and so should you. And through the hardships, I ask Him to help me, but He does nothing. He just sits around while I ride it out. Like Canada when we were going through all that terrorism. They could've done something to help us out. I'm starting to believe that they don't exist either. Just a myth to ruin everyone who believes in them! Yeah, but God said that you shouldn't test Him, that you should just BELIEVE. I'm sorry, but I believe in aliens only because I've seen them before. I believe that when I get stabbed in the toe with a side of a lid, it hurts, because it's happened before. But just SAYING something is there doesn't mean that it actually is, and there's no way to prove it until you experience something that directly proves it. Until then, it's just wishful thinking that He's there. Or that there's an afterlife. I really HOPE there is, but I'm not sure. And I do believe that if I sort of believe I will be sent to purgatory and have a chance to repent, will I not? But I'm not sure if He is real, or if Jehova is real, or if Buddha is who you should believe in, or whoever, so yeah, I don't know, and you really DON'T know, even if you think you do. Everyone is brainwashed into thinking that He's real, but no one knows for sure unless they've seen Him.
you do have a logical point, buts thats the whole thing. faith is what will get you to heaven, denying the existence of God will get you sent to hell, faith is the most essential element to any religion, sure maybe he hasnt seen God, but he sure hasnt seen gravity either and gravity obviously exists cuz we are all stuck to the ground. we as christians can use miracles, the bible, and everything we are blessed with as proof of him, if thats not proof enough, i dont know what is.
Ah, but there in-lays my point. There is solid proof that gravity exists. Because, as you said, we are stuck on the ground. And if I'm not mistaking, Christians don't USE miracles, they recieve them. How do you distinguish the difference between a miracle, and random chance? Because if I won a million dollars, that doesn't mean that God helped me, that just means that I got lucky. Most "miracles" could just be sheer coincidence, even if there is a God. I never said there wasn't, I'm just not sure if I believe he's actually there.
"faith is what will get you to heaven, denying the existence of God will get you sent to hell"
I guess I just don't get it. God supposedly gives us free will but if we exercise if by deciding that we don't believe in Him, He sends us to Hell. All He'd have to do is give us the evidence and we'd all believe, but He doesn't, for apparantly perverse reasons.
Why, it's almost as if God doesn't exist and all this nonsense is mere rationalization.
I wouldn't classify gravity as a chance, it is more of a creation. When a person makes a miracle, that is because they have been chosen by God to persue that miracle.Also when you win the lottary, sure thats random, but it is more a blessing than a coincidence.
Dear Cranky media guy,
Tell me this then,
who Created the planets, the trees, the animals, the humans, who created your family for that matter?? Did a tiny like microscopic particle go pppoooffff and make the mountains, the sky, the planets, and the human body????
when you said "All He'd have to do is give us the evidence and we'd all believe, but He doesn't, for apparantly perverse reasons.
" If you want my opionion go back a page.
Do you not understand the concept of gravity? Masses come together due to their size, I don't see anything pushing me down because nothing is really pushing me down, just something is holding me here. Plus 7 pounds of atmospheric pressure. Plus, since God wants people to share their wealth, He would only "bless" people who he know would share by letting them win the lottery. Unless they were poor to begin with. But there are millionaires who play the lottery and add onto their stacks of cash. In the presence of a fair and loving God, that wouldn't be possible. Like I've said though, I'm not saying there ISN'T a God, I'm just saying if there is, He doesn't seem to care about me.
To Cranky Media Guy,
It is reckless to believe that there isn't SOMETHING that created us, no matter how present the lack of evidence is. It is quite possible that no religion is right, and that there is some God whose gospel was lost in the time of Cavemen. So God or no God, there could've been something that put us here for a reason. Something in infinity that no one knows about, and will only know about when they die and go to another Realm. It could be anything, even something living on another planet, such as aliens or something. We could even be a constantly running computer program, but we don't know if we are or not. Any theory could be right, but atheism is reckless.
To anybody... Don't you think that Atheism should be Antitheism? Because Monotheism is believing in one God, and Polytheism is believing in more than one God. The prefix A means "1", such as in Asexual Reproduction, reproduction by one organism. So Antitheism seems like it would make more sense.
yea I know your not saying that there isn't a God. And i totally disagree with the last thing you said. It doesn't matter how far away from God you are, he loves you more than you would even imagine. Despite all your sins and darkness you may come in contact with, he loves you because he created you. He wants you to be happy because just like everyone else, you are special and important to him. And no, he doesn't bless someone with the lottery because he knows that you will share it with someone. I dont know the true meaning, but I know that isnt the right one. He works in mysterious ways..
"To Cranky Media Guy,
It is reckless to believe that there isn't SOMETHING that created us, no matter how present the lack of evidence is. It is quite possible that no religion is right, and that there is some God whose gospel was lost in the time of Cavemen. So God or no God, there could've been something that put us here for a reason."
Why is it "reckless" to refuse to believe in something for which there is ZERO evidence?
Do you believe in the Giant Tortoise on whose back the Earth sits as some Native American tribes believed? If not, why not? After all, there is NO evidence for that, either, but according to you, that lack of evidence should be no deterrent to belief.
Since there is NO evidence to back up the belief system of ANY religion, how did you decide which one to believe in? (I'm assuming here that you believe in SOME religious system.)
You don't seem unintelligent; I'm guessing that you wouldn't apply "logic" like this to anything other than religion. Why make an exception here?
Chelsealou:
Well, no matter the case, you telling me how much He loves me isn't going to make me believe. Case Closed.
Cranky Media Guy:
Just because rivers aren't parting and bushes aren't burning doesn't mean that "normal" couldn't have changed from when a "God" interacted more with the Earth. Anything is possible, we went to the MOON in like a few years after we started our space program. Come on.
I couldn't get this one when I heard it the first time. I thought for a long time but I was finally told the answer. Its a casket.
:lol:
Anyway, good riddle. Later!
I recieved this in an email along with a nice little poem of sorts that was touching, but not belonging to Mr. Harvey.
I found that while many things that come to us via the internet are attributed to Mr. Harvey, most of them are not his work.
Most run a simliar line to his "Rest of the Story" theme, but this piece did not come from him.
He did read it on his show in 1997 but the original text was written by Lee Pitts and in 2000 it was included in "Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul".
Like the article attached to the riddle, Mr. Harvey did not write that either. He may have featured on it on his show once it crossed his path, but it is not his work.
So since there is no reliable source, the statistics are jaded as well.
Just my 2 cents worth 😊
I have seen Him.
You will ever guess where either!
He was hiding behind the tree the whole time!
Now lighten up guys, its a riddle. Flawed as it may be, it is meant to be fun. 😛
If you can't read, that's what I was trying to avoid. This senseless program keeps sending me chit that says, "Reply to your message" so like a dumbass I keep reading the new posts and keep coming back to a website I was originally trying to do the same thing that you are right now with. It's a lost cause, and no matter what you say, as long as we have conscious minds, (whether made by a God or not,) we have the ability to form opinions, and the constant ability to express those opinions. No matter what you say, when the ability is available, some will use misuse and abuse their ability to do anything in relation with their opinions. This whole thing could be summed up in, "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE" or some other partially naive saying like, "IF YOU TRY YOU WILL FAIL" and stuff of or related to those. Okay, byebye. (With any luck, this won't trick me into coming back.)
We were sitting here really thinking about it, until we all decided to google it. I hated this riddle. I thought it was going to be a good one.
I didn't get the answer... I guess I was thinking inside the box on this one!!
"I'm just shocked that people admit to being athiests"
You say that as if being an atheist is something a person should be ashamed of. Why?
As for praying for me, don't bother. Save your breath.
With this riddle it doesn
A wiser man once asked, "Why should I worship a being who, if He exists, is the most evil tyrant Man has ever known?"
You'd scream all about 'faith' and 'belief' if I pulled that one.
There is no proof to show you that God is evil. God doesn't exist, therefore he's not evil. The point of the matter was that if he did exist, he'd have to be evil. No kind, loving god could commit the evil he's committed against the world and it's inhabitants. Floods, typhoons, tsunamis, droughts, fires, volcanoes, earthquakes... all acts of god, if he existed.
Thank god he's just a myth.
Whose Paradise and Hell? Remember, Christians are a minority on the planet and all religions teach that only theirs is the correct one. Which do I pick out of all the conflicting flavours? And who's to say that any of them are correct?