>considered by some to have been the Biblical location of the Garden of Eden
I have a question about this that has always bugged me. For the sake of arguement, assume that the whole Eden/Noah/Moses/etc. storyline is Absolute Fact. Well... if Noah floated around for, what, a year or more on a flooded Earth, what are the chances that he would land anywhere near where he started off? Could not Eden just as easily have been Newark?
Well, a lot of archaeological evidence shows that the Bible was reasonably accurate. We know that modern western civilization got its start in that region (I regard Genesis as describing the beginnings of modern man, the end of a very long process) and many cultures from the region describe a cataclysmic flood that covered the entire world known to the people there.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold...13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Can't say as I can tell whether the garden was at the top or bottom of the Tigris/Euphrates system but, according to scripture, this is why Eden was not in Jersey.
No.
He had to be really busy as the flood receded to wherever a worldwide flood would recede to.
He had to steam over to Australia to let out the koalas and kangaroos, then swing over to Kansas to let out the bison, down to Antarctica to let out the penguins, then up to the arctic to let out the polar bears.
He really had to hightail it to get back to Ararat.
the chance is the same for the spot he came to rest on as for any spot he didn't. The location of Eden has to do with the 4 rivers which were associated with it. Their location is still of record today. Check it out...
Gen 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. Gen 2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; Gen 2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. Gen 2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. Gen 2:14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
Ah! what if it was mostly metaphor.. True as far as its understood... but telling a huge story simply as metaphor.. Which is was.. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil IS a metaphor.. not an actual TREE.. as are many other things in the telling of that story.. basically biblical sound bites.. Its all in my book..LoL..