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I watched a little bit of a pretty cool show last night on the History Channel concerning the Garden of Eden.
There were various theories as to where (exactly) it might be (or have been) located, whether or not it still existed in some form or another, and so on.
So I'll ask you your opinions:
1. Does the Garden of Eden still exist somewhere on Earth?
2. Was the Garden a literal, physical place, or was it something else altogether--symbolic, for example, or on some other "plane of existance."
3. Do you think we could find it? Or, as humans were banished from the Garden forever, is it impossible now to find?
4. Was it destroyed and the landscape changed due to the Noadic flood?
These are some of the questions they pondered last night, and unfortunately I was unable to stay awake long enough to hear the answers. I wasn't unwilling, just exhausted.
While I do not believe the original Garden of Eden exists, I do believe the region where it was located does exist. So I think it was a very literal, physical place. When the Great Flood occured, the garden could well have been buried under sediment. Who knows? No one was there to record what happened and many have speculated since. The following article is one such speculation: Has the Garden of Eden been located at last?
1. Does the Garden of Eden still exist somewhere on Earth?
I don't think so anymore, but if it does, it is no longer accessible by us.
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2. Was the Garden a literal, physical place, or was it something else altogether--symbolic, for example, or on some other "plane of existance."
Scripture gives us the geographical location for it, and thus my answer would be, yes, it was indeed a physical location.
Gen 2:10-14
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
NKJV
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3. Do you think we could find it? Or, as humans were banished from the Garden forever, is it impossible now to find?
We are banished forever. If it still exists on earth, it will be destroyed when the earth is destroyed.
Rev 21:1-2
21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
NKJV
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4. Was it destroyed and the landscape changed due to the Noadic flood?
That is possible. Or it may be that God has just hidden it from our sight.
1. Does the Garden of Eden still exist somewhere on Earth?
I doubt it, we just don't know, bible does not tell us one way or another, if it does exist, it is sealed so man can not get back into it.
2. Was the Garden a literal, physical place, or was it something else altogether--symbolic, for example, or on some other "plane of existance."
No one again really knows, perhaps another deminsion or merely the entire earth without sin
3. Do you think we could find it? Or, as humans were banished from the Garden forever, is it impossible now to find?
No we can not, God did seal it ( hide it or destroyed it)
4. Was it destroyed and the landscape changed due to the Noadic flood?
Most likely gone before that, but again, it is only a guess, no one knows
Great questions, but no one, has the answers, so they will always be a good question.
Many ancient people traveled all over the Middle East and shared elements of culture while they enjoyed hospitality of their neighbors. I think the Garden of Eden of the Jewish scriptures was based on a lush tropical climate that may have existed in present day Iraq as some have speculated.
It is important to know that The Garden of Eden story is not a literal story , but a rendition of the a Middle Eastern tribe's(Jews) philosophical speculation about the meaning of life, the origin or evil, and so forth. An ancient attempt at wisdom through storytelling or myth.
Many Bible stories read like children's fairy tales because ancient people were illiterate, therefore childlike. In addition, there was little knowledge of how Creation worked so efforts to make sense or explain nagging questions that have bothered humankind for a multitude of millennia were quite simple. They were modeled on a parent-child relationship just like the family life of the tribe. The God conceived as creator of the Universe was conceived of as authoritarian and punitive yet loving in part-a projection of male human attributes upon an invisible supernatural force.
You hit upon something that was mentioned in the special that I was (trying) to watch. I don't recall exactly, but I remember them saying something about a very, very ancient tablet that was discovered. It wasn't written by the Jews, as the language was something else altogether. Sumerian, was it? I don't remember. However, it made allusions to an area in the region that was an "earthly paradise," yet inaccessible. Darn it! I wish I hadn't fallen asleep...
Anyway, the point that Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and secular scholars alike all agreed on was that there were multiple sources from different areas/religions that all pointed backward to a Garden of Eden type place that humans were forbidden from. There were enough similarities across the different cultures that made them all believe that SOMETHING "Eden-ish" was there.
I hope they re-run the special again. Hopefully, I'll have enough presence of mind to record it so I can speak more intelligently about it.
And by the way, I have to respectfully disagree with your statement that illiterate=childlike. Not being able to read and write (especially in an age where very, very few people could) does not necessarily indicate a lack of intelligence and reasoning ability. As even our modern psychologists know (Dr. Howard Gardner chief among them), there are many different types of intelligence. Readin' & writin' are only two of them.
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