Author	Thread: Garden of Eden
Maniacs1 View Profile History	Garden of Eden Posted : 6 Oct, 2010 06:35 PM i have been thinking about this for quite awhile, dont ask me why, i tend to think way more than i should sometimes. i have heard/read from many people/places that the garden of eden is in the mesopotamia/iraq area due to the euphrates river being there. one of the main reason that i dont think that is (or was, but ill stick with is) is mainly the flood. the flood was global, and due to the vlolent nature of the flood, noah and his family would not have recognized anything when they finally landed on the mountains (notice plural, not singular) of ararat. the reason that the euphrates is in iraq is because noah (or his sons who really knows who named it after the flood) decided to use names that they were already familiar with. i think that there is a possibility that eden could be in the area of israel. there are some indirect (or even possibly direct) parrallels between eden and the land of israel. one of the other thoughts that ive had regarding this is the spot where jesus was crucified. in eden there was the tree of life which adam and eve were allowed to eat from and live forever physically (notice that when they got kicked out of the garden they were no longer allowed to eat from it). believing in jesus (partaking in communion, i am only saying communion as an illustration of what i am talking about, it doesnt save people as i am aware) allows people to live forever spiritually. so my thought is that jesus may have been crucified on the spot where the tree of life was (there is also speculation that the ark of the covenant was hidden under where he was crucified, but who knows). anywho, sorry for any spelling errors and that i have not explained very well as i just finished a 12 hour work shift and am half asleep. Post Reply
enoch1122 View Profile History	Garden of Eden Posted : 7 Oct, 2010 07:24 AM I just watched a Nat Geo program about the physical location of the Garden and I think they concluded it was where the Bible say: at the junction of the Tigress and Euphrates rivers in Iraq although Christopher Columbus thought Venezuela, some one else in China. I don't know but I do know this: The Garden of Eden, wherever it was, a place that does not yet exist in this physical earth. It was the forerunner of a place called the Kingdom of God which is coming but is yet to come fully. It was a place of eternal life, no sickness and contained the unlimited presence of God. In order to understand paradise, the Garden of Eden ,one must understand what the world was subjected to after the fall. The world was subjected to futility (Romans 8:20-21). Futility (futile) is variously defined as: useless, vain, unproductive, trifling, frivolous, unimportant etc. We need only to look around us to see that is the place within which we are currently residing. Our world is the survival of the fittest both animal and human societies. Nothing lasts. Nations come and go. Rulers come and go. As Solomon put it in Ecclesiastes "all is vanity (futility)"...there is nothing new under the sun...what is has been"...what point is there in man's labor etc. I don't know if it was God's plan that the Garden of Eden story turned out like it did. But I do know He did provide a solution so that we could return to such a paradise and an even greater paradise. Paul says in Romans 8 that God subjected creation to futility "not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, n hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:21). God provided a plan to rescue humanity from its hopeless state. Paul says it is the Sons of God (plural) that would be given the task of releasing all of creation from the futility unwillingly put on it by God. Christ was the first Son to be followed by many more (Hebrews 2:10). Therefore it is up to us, through God and Christ, to return the earth to its paradise called the Kingdom of God. That's why Jesus told us to pray thus: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6). In other words paradise exists in heaven but it is God's intent that it exist here on earth as well. How the Sons are to go about this I can tell you but it requires more time than I have now but if you're interested contact me and I will tell you. In short it really doesn't matter the physical location. What matters is that it was a spiritual Kingdom that we need to recreate on earth here and now. Post Reply
marikashome View Profile History	Garden of Eden Posted : 7 Oct, 2010 08:40 AM @maniacs1 what an interesting parallel between the garden of Eden and the cross of Calvary. I'm not sure it matters where Eden actually was, but that parallel is one that I'll consider for awhile. Man fell in the Garden. They weren't evicted immediately, but toward the end of the day. The angel with the flaming sword blocked their way to the tree of life. The cross opened the way to God back up. The veil in the temple was rent in two. People still need to come to God, but His part is already completed. The only thing holding us back from fellowship with God is ourselves. I've felt for a long time that Adam and Eve's eviction from the garden was not a curse, but a blessing. Had they eaten the tree of life, they would have become completely eternal beings... and been in the same situation as the devil and his angels had they sinned. As it is, because we have both flesh, which will die, and soul, which will live forever, we have hope. Though our flesh may die, fulfilling God's word about eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, our soul can live on eternally with Him. Post Reply
View Profile History	Garden of Eden Posted : 7 Oct, 2010 11:57 AM I have wondered about this too. In this scripture we are told that God made men and women. Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Then Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Hebrew word for man is adam, pronounced adom. Is this the creation of the first man or the first Adam? I ask this because there are two Adams, the first in Genesis and the second Adam is Jesus. Since the story of the Bible is all about the redemption of mankind through the second Adam are we to assume that the earth was not already inhabited by people at the time Adam was created? 1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first Adam was given life by the breath of God, the second Adam was the breath of God. Also, Cain is responsible for building the first city. Gen 4:17 "And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bore Enoch: and he built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch." How could there be enough people to inhabit a city if Cain is only second generation and has had only one son? As for where the Garden was I think that since the land marks in the Bible existed after the flood at the time Genesis was written it is likely that that is where it was located. Regardless of the flood the rivers would very likely have been in the same places they were prior to the flood. Also, the Euphrates is especially a major part of Biblical prophecy especially in light of prophecies regarding Babylon so I think it has always been there. Thunder Post Reply
Maniacs1 View Profile History	Garden of Eden Posted : 25 Oct, 2010 07:01 PM adam and eve would have had other children between cain/abel and seth, how many, who knows. it must also be remembered that the world looked totally different before the flood. mountains are formed when 2 plates of the earths crust collide forcing one to fold up into mountains and the other to sink beneath, which can only realy happen if the earths crust is soft, otherwise is would shatter and break like in earthquakes (not that i have ever been in an actual earthquake, but i have felt a couple of termors). in genesis 7:11 it says that the fountains of the great deep were broken open and the windows of heaven were opened up. during creation God created water under the crust, on the crust, and possibly over ther earth (some debate about this last one but i wont get into it) so most of the water came from under the earth. that is where we get most of (if not all) the fault lines today is the from the water shooting to the surface. when the water shot up it would have broken up the earths crust into the plates that we see today therfore changing the entire landscape of the earth (creating mountains and valleys during the entire time it was happening). when the water receded it would have wased out many places and changed the earth that much more (good example is the grand canyon, it would have been a natural dam for a lake that was created after the flood water receded, the canyon was the "break through spot" (for lack of a better term at the moment) for the water). so it is not likely that the rivers where in the same place as before the flood with all the turbulance of the earth at the time. Post Reply