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 seeking his party's nomination for the White House made these remarks in a 1998 address at Andrews University, a school associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to which he belongs, in a video posted Wednesday on Buzzfeed. The church is a conservative evangelical Christian one.

After the video was posted online, CBS News caught up with the Republican front-runner and asked him if he still believed in this theory.

Carson said: 'It's my belief, yes.'

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Controversial beliefs: Video surfaced on Wednesday, showing Ben Carson speaking at a 1998 commencement ceremony, in which he said he believed the pyramids were used as grain storage

Sticking to his story: When asked by CBS on Wednesday if he still believes his theory about the pyramids, Carson said: 'It's my belief, yes'

In the video from 1998, Carson says: 'My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain.

'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.'

They pyramids were made in a way that they had hermetically sealed compartments...You would need that if you were trying to preserve grain for a long period of time.

Carson added: '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 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 his interview with CBS, Carson further explained his beliefs saying, 'the pyramids were made in a way that they had hermetically sealed compartments....You would need that if you were trying to preserve grain for a long period of time.'

Carson believes it was the Biblican figure Joseph who built the pyramids in order to feed the people of Egypt during the seven-year drought, a story told in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Resting place: The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt are pictured above. Historical experts firmly believe they were built as burial tombs to the pharaohs of Egypt

'Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure,' the passage from the Bible reads.

In the book of Genesis, Joseph was one of the 12 sons of Jacob. He was sold by his brothers as a slave to merchants headed to Egypt. And he then becomes one of Egypt's most powerful men.

Carson and Donald Trump have been leading their party's crowded nominating race.