Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007

Heavenly unearthing

Self-styled legend chaser sees Scripture as one big archaeological road map
By Mark I. Pinsky

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL

ORLANDO, Fla. – Bob Cornuke, the evangelical Indiana Jones, admits he comes
to biblical archaeology from an unlikely background. This controversial
researcher and author tells audiences he started his professional life as a
SWAT-team member and crime-scene investigator for the Costa Mesa, Calif., Police
Department.
On second thought, he tells visitors at the Holy Land Experience theme park
in Orlando, Fla., maybe it wasn’t all that unlikely.
"I learned I had a skill: researching and collecting little scraps of
evidence," he says. "God just gave me this ability. It was a gift."
After leaving police work, Cornuke, 55, was drawn into archaeology by Apollo
15 astronaut Jim Irwin, who asked Cornuke to join Irwin’s High Flight
Foundation and the search for Noah’s Ark.
Connecting with Irwin "changed the direction of my life," Cornuke says.
While working with someone who walked — and drove — on the moon, "the doors
would open up."
The notion of a swashbuckling, Bible-believing archaeologist who "proves"
the truth of the Bible is as attractive to many evangelical Christians as the
Indiana Jones movies have been to the general public. So attractive that Tim
LaHaye, co-author of the best-selling Left Behind novels, has launched a
successful new fictional series with just such a character, called BabylonRising.
The novel’s non-fiction counterpart tells the audiences at Holy Land’s
Shofar Auditorium that he uses the Bible as "a road map and a compass. We have to
go back to the source. The word of God is never wrong. Archaeology can only
reveal truths that are already existing in the Bible."
Because faith is defined as belief in things unseen, a larger question is
whether it’s possible — or necessary — to integrate science and Scripture.
"Absolutely," Cornuke says. "Everybody wants a natural explanation for a
supernatural event. That is empowering to them because it can be measured,and
science abhors a mystery."
Cornuke, the author of half a dozen books chronicling his adventures
searching for biblical sites, has sparked controversy along the way because his
conclusions are often at odds with those of traditional archaeologists.
He thinks the sacred peak of the Exodus is in Saudi Arabia, not the Sinai
peninsula. Noah’s Ark, he thinks, came to rest on a mountain in Iran, rather
than on Mount Ararat in Turkey. Furthermore, St. Paul’s boat was wrecked off a
reef along the southern shore of the Mediterranean island of Malta, rather
than in a bay on the northern shore. And he thinks the Ark of the Covenant
exists and might be in the Ethiopian highlands.
In fact, this week Cornuke was scheduled to leave on an expedition to
Ethiopia, his 10th trip to the area.
Dan Hayden, director of Holy Land, introduces Cornuke as someone who "is
causing quite a stir" with his claims.
Others, especially researchers with formal academic training in archaeology
— which Cornuke lacks — are more critical of his methods.
William Dever, retired biblical archaeologist at the University of Arizona
and a recognized authority in the field, has called Cornuke a charlatan,
telling the San Diego Union- Tribune that Cornuke wouldn’t know Mount Sinai if he
"stumbled on it."
Cornuke is not troubled by such criticism or claims by some that there is no
factual basis for biblical stories such as Noah’s Ark.
"Scientists have an anti- supernatural bias, by and large," he says.
"Science is a great tool for understanding these great mysteries, but science can’t
prove God or disprove God. We have finite minds trying to comprehend an
infinite God."
However, criticism also has come from researchers who are evangelicals and
who believe in biblical inerrancy, such as James Hoffmeier, author of Ancient
Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness
Tradition.
Hoffmeier, who calls Cornuke a dilettante, says Cornuke "wraps himself in
the banner of taking the Bible literally when it’s convenient to his theory,
and in other places he does not take it literally."
Cornuke, who bills himself as an "explorer/apologist" and "The Legend
Chaser," will return to Orlando in February to speak at Holy Land’s Annual
Bible
Conference. He is planning to move his ministry, the Base Archaeology Search
and Exploration Institute, from Colorado to Orlando, where he will be a
"minister-at-large" with Holy Land.
As he lectures, Cornuke holds a Bible in his hands, citing passages from
Exodus and Kings to bolster his views, and setting it aside only to hold up an
artifact. He also quotes Beach Boys lyrics to make a point about
interpretation and context.
And he clearly strikes a chord with his audience.
"I think it just confirms that the best road map is God’s word," says Jeff
Siegel of Lawrenceville, Ga. "Cornuke used God’s word to find these places.
The word of God showed him where to find these places, and when he went there
the things that he found confirmed that these were the very places that the
Bible talked about."
Cornuke never went to church until he was 12, and then went by himself on
his bicycle. But Sunday worship was not a spiritual experience. It was the
search for Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia that transformed him. In 1988, standing
where he believed Moses spoke with God, was also spiritually transforming.
"It changed my life," he recalls. "I had an epiphany at that moment. I was
there — and it changed me."
It also brought Cornuke into the spotlight. He and Montana millionaire Larry
Williams had slipped into the country using forged documents, claiming a
connection with the Saudi royal family. When they were captured and imprisoned
by soldiers, who suspected them of being Israeli spies, Cornuke pretended to
be a doctor.
The adventure was chronicled in the 1997 best-seller, The Gold of Exodus:
The Discovery of the True Mount Sinai by New York Times reporter Howard Blum,
and optioned to Hollywood.
But for Cornuke, who wrote his own version of that adventure, the search for
Mount Sinai also had a downside.
"I did cut corners," he admits. "I snuck in. I forged documents. I regret
that more than anything I’ve ever done."
But Cornuke has no regrets about the course he has taken since.
"Scripture is a treasure chest of clues," he says.

© 2007 Lexington Herald-Leader and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.