I'm now at the first ever History of the World Mega-Conference in Hampton, Virginia.  The event is being hosted by Vision Forum, and features such speakers as Dr. John Morris, Dr. John C. Whitcomb, Dr. George Grant, and Douglas W. Phillips.  The event is especially unique in that it presents a biblical, young-earth view of history, starting with special creation and moving down through time under God's providential hand.  The first session was delivered by Doug Phillips, who prepped everyone for the rest of the week by showing both the incorrect and correct or biblical ways of conducting historiography.  Some myths he hopes the conference will deal with:

• Myth of Uniformitarian Earth Chronology -- The evolutionary perception of slow rates and long time periods as the molders of our present world.  In contrast, the presentations at this conference (at least most of them, I presume) will presuppose a global flood.
  
• Corridor of Time Myth -- The idea that God is not involved in all aspects of history, only certain, limited segments.
  
• Myth of Racial Anthropology -- In creationist thinking, all races are descended from Noah and his family, not from evolutionary phylogeny.
  
• Myth of Cultural Evolution -- If I'm not mistaken, this refers to the thinking that all cultures are in an evolutionary, time and chance process that from the beginning of time has randomly determined their outcomes.  In opposition to this, the conference will emphasize strongly the providence of God.
  
• Cultural Equality Myth -- Not all cultural manifestations are equally valid and right.
  
• Myth of Glorious Paganism -- Pagan cultures are not free and innocent, as some anthropologists would like us to believe.  (This is not to imply that our own particular culture is without the many of the same faults as pagan ones.)
  
• Myth that "The Present is the Key to the Past" -- Phillips brought out II Peter 3:3-10 as direction that we should not assume that everything in the past happened exactly as it does today.  This is good skepticism not only scientifically, but historically; we shouldn't always assume people would have acted or believed the same as we ourselves would have.

Phillips also pointed out some wrong extremes that the secular world, or we, as Christian historians (generally speaking), can fall into:

• The Conspiratorial View  is widely in vogue today, as evidenced by the success of The Da Vinci Code, the best-selling novel (best-selling in American history, if I'm not mistaken) which presents modern Christianity to be the product of a colossal cover-up.  Let's not be gullible.
  
• The Triumphalist View claims that 20th and 21st century culture is the apex of civilization.  Most creationists believe that the success of our generation owes much to the accomplishments of those who came before us.  We don't believe that we are superior in intellect or morality to many peoples that have come before us.  (Opportunity for anti-creationists to think up derogative puns here.)
• Phillips also mentioned The Cynycist View and the Cultural Relativist View, but their definition escapes me.  If I remember or find out later in the week I'll update.

He summed up with the "12 C's of History," 12 historical turning points that can help us understand world history in a biblical framework.  They are: Creation / Commission / Curse / Catastrophe / Confusion / Cultures / Covenant / Code / Christ / Cross / Church / Consumation

After Phillips, Dr. John Morris gave a presentation focusing on his many trips to Mount Ararat in search of Noah's Ark.  His conclusion: There is much evidence, and many reports of sightings, but simply no proof.  However, he still has hopes that the Ark will be found.

Morris is aware of at least two sites around Ararat that could date to Noachian days:  One is a bi-level cave hand-carved into a rock face, with reliefs of two figures and an animal on the entrance wall, suggesting a sacrificial scene.  The site is dated pre-Hittite, and could be a tomb.  Apparently no one has ever excavated the lower level, which is filled with silt.  The other site is a stone altar structure, with ancient pre-Sumerian script carved into nearby stone. Could this be where Noah offered sacrifices to God after exiting the ark?  We can only dream.

On his first trip to the mountain, Morris and two colleagues were struck by lightning and paralyzed for several hours (a snow-capped mountain isn't the best place for that to happen).  It's remarkable he's here to tell and joke about it.  Last week our dog was killed by a lightning strike.

Early in his presentation, Morris showed us an interesting slide of a human fossil he calls "The Limestone Cowboy," basically a fossilized leg and foot in a cowboy boot.  The specimen had been found in Texas during excavation of a road, and is apparently from a man who was murdered and buried.  The treated leather had not solidified, but the bone had, demonstrating how quickly fossils can form under the right conditions. 

Oh, and what does Morris think of the recent claim (by Robert Cornuke, a friend of Morris' from the Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute) that the Ark is now a rectangular hunk of petrified wood on Iran's Mount Suleiman, which has been recently featured on National Geographic News?  "We just don't have the proof," he sighs.  Last year, when Cornuke's team asked Morris to look at the pictures they had taken, Morris told them he believed they had found only a funny-looking rock.  It's a fate that seems to haunt so many Ark sightings, unfortunately.  Morris is right, we still need the proof.

Well, Phillips' final exhortation was for us all to go to bed--something I didn't do in order to write this post, but will gladly do now.  I'll try to keep you all updated on the lectures I hear over the next few days.