Over the years, many have claimed the Garden of Eden has been found. Of course the location of each "discovery" is in a different location. The Bible describes the area around the Garden in Genesis 2, even using recognizable place names such as Ethiopia. It mentions a spring in the Garden which parts into four major rivers, including the Euphrates. This has led many, including Bible scholars, to conclude that the Garden of Eden was somewhere in the middle eastern area known today as the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley, with its remains long ago vanishing.

Site Link

Geez that is an easy one....the Garden of Eden is in one place and only one place. The book of Genesis in the ancient Jewish holy book (later adopted by those following the Cult of Christ), no other mention of it is made in any contemporary documents and no myths of it were held by contemporary peoples. Hence until secular proof is offered, the "Garden of Eden" is like Valhalla of the Norse, a totally mythical place and part of an ancient mythology.

Quote from the website mentioned:

~"God placed an angel at the entrance to the Garden to keep pre-flood men from returning. The Flood made even that precaution unnecessary."~



I think the analysis in this article is correct. The Garden of Eden no longer exists.

I think also however, that the G of E did exist in the fertile crescent. That the area is not what is described in Genisis gives way to the same arguement of the
flood. It changed things.

Your backyard (you seem to be certain where it is)

I agree with the article....won't be cool if we knew where it was, think how awesome that be!

I always believe that the Garden of Eden is located somewhere in present day Iraq. My theory is based on the biblical account of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, also descriptions of its majestic treasure and fertility, which fits pretty well with the ancient Messopotamia.

The story of Adam and Eve may came from a government officer (or the crown prince) that was expelled from the palace because a rival officer (the serpent) tricked him. Being affraid of the authority and the "evil serpent", he wrote down his own story as the legend of Adam and Eve.

A lot of Genesis stories are telling about places and events in Mesopotamia, until finally, Abraham left this land for good, bringing with him the stories and legends of his family. Later Moses (or someone else) put these legends together to form the Torah.

or perhaps its a fictional place that makes use of real life locations

* Senses another religous debate going nowhere *

Once again the only religion that is allowed to be bashed is christianity . If anyone posted the pagan explanation for the beginning and someone hot it down with a comment as rude as "It exists in your book and nowhere else , all who believe in it are dillusional" the post would probobly be removed and many people would make posts accusiing the original poster of the insult as being religiously intolerant .

I will say w00t

Why do you even post on these forums, nxt2hvn, when you already seem to know everything?

My guess would be that, much like the parables, the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis is just that; a simple story.

My guess is that it was used to make a point, just a fictional backdrop for the concept of a perfect place.

Everyone knows that Eden, or the Eden project to be correct, is in Cornwall....

Anyway, if it was flooded, could it be Atlantis?

Or could it be Egypt? When the land was lush and tropical?

Ah, another Holy War..hooray!!!

If we accept the Garden of Eden as factual, then we must also accept Vahalla of the Norse sagas as factual! Americans are a diverse people, we come from many different cultures, all the known races, and many many different religions. Debates such as this assume that the Judeo-Christian religion is the one "true" religion, when there actually exists no factual secular evidence that this is correct. The Buddhists just might have it right, or the Shintos, or the Taoists, or the Deists and to make the statement that someone is a loser just because they don't subscribe to your particular brand of mythology shows the world what a loser YOU are. I personally think that all places like Vahalla, the Garden of Eden, etc; exist in one place only - the holy script of that religion and the minds and hearts of the adherents, no place else!

Deist all she asked was a question.
you are the one acting like a 4 year old, not even stopping to consider her beliefs.
your a imature person and should have learned by now that if you have nothing productive to add to a thread (other than holy wars ) then you should not even bother posting now leave us so called uneducated christians alone

lol get used to it. It's better to believe in fairies than God here.

Christian Bashing never gets old I guess. Won't be long before we're hunted down like dogs so may as well get used to this... it's nothing compared to what the end times will be like.

And my opinion is Eden location is in Iraq and the flood covered it up.

Geesh... you people sure do take things personally... I didn't mean to call anybody a LOSER.... so sorry to offend your delicate egos.

I was just trying to make light of it... I was actually interested in what you guys were saying... I just kind of make a joke out of everything.... I forget most people are not as easy going as I am .... this forum is all in fun... nobody will DIE or be demoted if you don't agree with certain things here. But I will be sure to walk on egg shells from now on here

And PsychicPenguin... what does being blonde have to do with anything?... you seem to be a person that bases everything on facts.. show me where being blonde makes someone unintelligent...

And Seraphina... awwww you called me pretty....

Back to topic. It doesn't really matter what you believe about Christianity. An equivalent question will be why the author of Genesis wrote about the Garden of Eden, what he had in his mind, and wether or not it was based on an actual location.

The Genesis said that it is supposed to be here on earth
But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
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.
And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

So we can discard the common misconception that Garden of Eden is in heaven. We also have real places on earth to locate the position of the Garden according to the author. First of all he mentioned that it is located in the east. We don't really know where the author was, but tracing back the story, the Israelites was never been far from the Middle East. They started in Babylon, then Egypt, and finaly Judah.

Then we have four rivers mentioned:
1. Phison, going to the land of Havillah
2. Gihon, Ethiopia
3. Hiddekel, Assyria
4. Euphrates

Euphrates river is still flowing today in Iraq, thus the Garden of Eden must be located in the vicinity of the river. The land of Assyria is also located in present day Iraq, and the river flowing there is the Tigris river, which is still flowing today. Some bible translations also mention the third river to be Tigris.

Gihon is a missing river, but it is supposed to be the Nile as it is the only major river flowing through Ethiopia. Of course it created a problem as the Nile does not share the same source with Tigris and Euphrates.

The Phison is even more difficult to locate, as the land of Havillah is unknown. There is a river Phasis flowing from Armenia (close enough to the source of Euphrates) to the black sea which might be a consistent choice for this river.

Looking at the map, we have three rivers flowing that is quite consistent with Genesis account, and the Nile. There is another body of water in East Africa, which is the Red Sea. If we assume that in the past, the weather was much more wet, The Euphrates might be connected to the Jordan River, and the Jordan River would be much larger that it is today. The dead sea would rise and it would not be a dead end. Water might flow from the dead sea to the Gulf of Aqaba, then to the Red Sea to the land of Ethiopia, and finaly it reaches the Indian Ocean, as a river of Gihon.

Later the Noah Flood took place. A global flood that cover the peak of Mnt Everest did not actually happened. What happened is the rise of sea level due to the melting of polar ice, the same event that destroyed Atlantis. Because of this flood, the Gihon river valley became what we know today as the Red Sea and the Phison river became much shorter. The climate change made the valley of Galilee to be what it is today.

According to this analysis, the Garden of Eden must be somewhere in the Caucasus.

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/meriv.htm

In this map the location of Tigris and Euphrates are shown. The Jordan river was shown as the one flowing from Syria to the red sea. Phasis is a short river flowing from Armenia to the Black Sea.

Nxt2Hvn: Oops.. sorry if you are a real blonde.. it was meant to be a joke, you know

I read somewhere that the garden of eden used to be in Iraq.



Source

You may be surprised to learn that I do not believe the Garden of Eden existed, as I think the whole story of the birth of mankind could have become slightly distorted over 4,600,000,000 years!

Well, you will post these things on 'Skeptics Corner', Nxt2Hvn

Here's a writeup on the flood:
http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/flood.html

among other things it mentions flood info from Assyria/Babylon, Persia, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, Italy, Lithuania, Wales, Scandinavia, Lapland, Russia, China, India, Alaska, Canada, USA, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Brazil, Leward Islands, Fiji Islands, Andaman Islands, Hawaii, Sumatra...

Yeah I don't agree with everything on that page, I rarely agree 100% on anything that complex, but Check out Appendix B and C.

I'm sorry, that's all flood info and not much on Eden which is what this topic is about.

I guess if the bible is a work of fiction for the feeble minded there's not much I can say about it unless someone states for this discussion we're allowed to use this work of fancy as a reference.

I wondered how long it would be before a YEC drug in the old "there are flood stories in many cultures". Yes there are and if you will read them, you will see that very few of them are even similar to the one in Genesis. Come on folks, grasping straws like that is what is making the American Christian Movement the laughing stock of the world! You need to do a little research on your religion (and not just the ones that support it), I think your eyes will be opened (or maybe not, some people have "faith").

I checked out that website, it was quite interesting...A couple of things stick with me though...

1. The site seems to lean on the idea that because earlier civilizations also claim a great flood that is some degree of proof/evidence. I think that many of the cultures listed could have taken those flood stories from something earlier on history, and adopted it as their own story.

I don't doubt that there was some kind of a flood at some point in history. I don't think that it was as widespread as the bible may portray it, but I could see small areas of the middle east being deluged by floodwaters from time to time. Folks back then didn't travel much, they were localized. With a flood in a flood plane of 50 square miles where very few people escaped to high ground I could see how someone could assume that what the rest of the earth experienced, as far as the survivors knew, everyone dealt with the flood. That story could get passed down over time and get blown to biblical preportions..hehe. Later societies claim it as their own history...

2. The earth is a closed loop in regard to water. The oceans condense and form water vapor that turn to clouds, that drops as rain, that eventually runs into the ocean. Lather, rinse, repeat. Where did all of the water go that caused the worldwide flood? Think of how much water it would take to cover up the rest of the land on earth, that is a whole lotta water. where is it?

3. If Noah and his family were the only humans left, how do you account for all of the ethnic divirsity we see such a short time later?

There are a lot more, but those were the most pressing in my mind after reading the site...

As I said it could not be a worldwide flood that covered the peak of Mt. Everest. It cou,ld be a localized flood, or at most a global rising of sea level due to global warming. The later theory can explain underwater cities, flood stories, and even Atlantis.

arg

Deist, just what in the world are you hoping to accomplish with the grasping at straws, laughing stock, bringing up the crusades, blood running ankle deep, the murder of a 4 year old girl, YEC comments?

Sure you're entitled to your opinions, I'm obviously not entitled to mine in the non-christian's eyes, that's ok but do you not have the restraint or common decency to be civil? What in the world makes me a YEC!? I've said before in other threads I think this planet and the universe are older than anyone's calculated and there were civilizations before the mythical biblical account even begins.

AND, this has Nothing to do with Eden! Why are you trolling? What's the real agenda? Sure has nothing to do with the topic...

Fluffybunny, while still really not on topic thank you for not bashing!
about point 1, there are the stories from other civilizations, yes. In appendix B and C there are geologic references, links, and studies. I'm no scientist, but it sure looked to me like some good info. Like I've said also before, I'm not the greatest researcher, linguist, historian, debater, or anything like that, But, I'm a curious person with a Great Deal of "faith" in search of the truth. (and other odd things, that's why I like this place)

second point, there's another thing I haven't ever put much thought into because of my "faith". But ok, being my first time thinking about it I guess the majority of it seeped into the earth's crust. Possibly the oceans got a little bigger. Some made some new lakes. Some went to polar caps. Some collected in underground watersheds. Some is trapped in the atmosphere. Some broke down and bonded with other material. Not being a scientist there's probably more explanations I've not thought of in this little brainstorm. I know my "God made it so" won't fly here, but I'm pretty sure if someone sits down they can envision a hypothetical for the dispursement of H2O.

third point, Noah and those on the ark were diverse ethnically I thought...

Now can we talk about where the garden of eden is located?
If you think the bible is a bunch of poppycock then that's cool. Leave out the references to those that want to discuss it being a laughing stock, please.
If you think the bible is a story like Troy, or believe in the bible, there's alot to discuss, and mull, and chitter about, and enjoy.

Enough with this Religious bashing!!!!!


you want to know where it is???

LOOK ON A MAP



here it is....





all your questions are now answered

Well, actually if you go to

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps

And type in Eden, you are going to find a lot of Eden

Dave, you're wrong! If you follow the bible and do the math you should figure out that the earth is about 6000 years old. Everything looks much older than that, because God made it so.

Geeesh... are you guys still going on about this??????

<Nxt2Hvn struggles to put cap back on can of worms... as they wriggle out>

I'll put the cap back on for you. I'm going to lock this one before it goes the way of all the other religion threads.