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The Garden of Eden is in Missouri????

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  • The Garden of Eden is in Missouri????

    And forget about the "anti" sites... here, from Fair Mormon, we have an acknowledgement that Smith claimed the Garden of Eden was in Missouri, AND a typical downplaying of this apparently insignificant "fact", just as we don't know exactly how many animals were on Noah's Ark.

    Source: FairMormon.org

    We do not know exactly where the original site of the Garden of Eden is. While not an important or foundational doctrine, Joseph Smith established a settlement in Daviess County, Missouri, and taught that the Garden of Eden was somewhere in that area. Like knowing the precise number of animals on Noah’s ark, knowing the precise location of the Garden of Eden is far less important to one’s salvation than believing in the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

    © Copyright Original Source



    And somebody at FairMormon almost had to be smoking crack to come up with this brainstorm....

    Source: cont'd

    Most Latter-day Saints are aware of this, though it is a relatively minor point that plays little role in LDS theology. (By contrast, the idea that the New Jerusalem—Zion—will be built in the Americas looms much larger in LDS consciousness.)

    This idea perhaps strikes most non-members as odd, but not simply because the Saints have an opinion about the Garden's location—as we have seen, religions of all stripes have had a wide variety of views on the subject. What likely strikes outside American observers as strange is the idea that the Garden is local—the LDS view does not place the Garden in a never-never land, buried in distant time and far-away space. Rather, the LDS Garden is local and somewhat immediate.

    © Copyright Original Source



    Wow... so, another "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"... even though Smith declared that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri, it's a "relatively minor point".

    And, somehow, it's more virtuous that the Mormons moved the Garden of Eden to the United States than in other theories that has it in "never-never land". WOW.
    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

  • #2
    It gets WEIRDER....

    Here is FairMormon's "Apolgetic Approaches" list...

    Source: FairMormon.org


    1. Some have conceptualized the earth as having only one land mass (e.g., Pangaea) even into historical time, which was only separated in the days of Peleg (Genesis 10:25).
    2. Those who accept a universal Noachian flood simply see Noah floating from a New World site to Ararat in the Old.
    3. Those who accept a "limited flood" theory see a similar process occurring whereby Noah traveled down rivers or from sea coasts with the flood's arrival. (This would, in effect, be a reversal of the Book of Mormon's Old World to New World migrations).
    4. Since there is evidence for human migration over the Siberia-Alaska land bridge from Old to New World, some have postulated travel in the opposite direction.
    5. It has been suggested that the Lord gave a second site the name of Adam-ondi-Ahman in the Americas, while the original site was located elsewhere, in the Old World (see discussion above). In this model, early Church leaders assumed that there was only one Adam-ondi-Ahman, when there were (in fact) two.
    6. Some have seen the concept of Eden as a symbolic idea which acted to "sacralize" the Americas for a new gospel dispensation, without having reference to actual geographic realities. Early members then made this concept more literal than intended.
    7. Some see Eden as a place which was always "separate" from the fallen world around it, and so regard questions about the present "location" of Eden as non-sensical.
    8. Many, perhaps most, members consider the matter of relatively little importance, and have no strong feelings about the issue at all.


    © Copyright Original Source

    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

    Comment


    • #3
      I thought we discussed this before?

      They not only know where the Garden was, they have a plaque to prove it:




      and they have the altars of Adam too:


      Comment


      • #4
        Link is broken.
        "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

        "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

        My Personal Blog

        My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

        Quill Sword

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Teallaura View Post
          Link is broken.
          Don't tell Zelda.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Sparko View Post
            Don't tell Zelda.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Sparko View Post
              I thought we discussed this before?
              Yeah, but I thought that was on OLD Tweb.

              7up reminded me of this.
              The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

              Comment


              • #8
                ....
                I thought the garden was in New Jersey?
                "Kahahaha! Let's get lunatic!"-Add LP
                "And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility"-Samuel Taylor Coleridge
                Oh ye of little fiber. Do you not know what I've done for you? You will obey. ~Cerealman for Prez.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Source: https://www.lds.org/manual/doctrines-of-the-gospel-student-manual/chapter-36-the-lords-second-coming?lang=eng



                  The Savior will make several appearances before His Second Coming to all the world.

                  1. Christ will appear at Adam-ondi-Ahman (see Daniel 7:9–10, 13–14; D&C 116).

                  2. The Savior will appear to those in the New Jerusalem in America (see 3 Nephi 21:23–25; D&C 45:66–67).

                  3. The Savior will appear to the Jews in Jerusalem (see D&C 45:48, 51–53; Zechariah 12:10; 14:2–5).

                  4. The Lord will appear in glory to all mankind (see D&C 45:44; 101:23; Matthew 24:30; Isaiah 40:5; JST, Revelation 1:7).

                  © Copyright Original Source



                  An as far as #1 goes:

                  “Before the Lord Jesus descends openly and publicly in the clouds of glory, attended by all the hosts of heaven; before the great and dreadful day of the Lord sends terror and destruction from one end of the earth to the other; before he stands on Mount Zion, or sets his feet on Olivet, or utters his voice from an American Zion or a Jewish Jerusalem; before all flesh shall see him together; before any of his appearances, which taken together comprise the second coming of the Son of God—before all these, there is to be a secret appearance to selected members of his Church. He will come in private to his prophet and to the apostles then living. Those who have held keys and powers and authorities in all ages from Adam to the present will also be present” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah, 578–79).
                  That's what
                  - She

                  Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
                  - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

                  I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
                  - Stephen R. Donaldson

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Bill the Cat View Post

                    “Before the Lord Jesus descends openly and publicly in the clouds of glory, attended by all the hosts of heaven; before the great and dreadful day of the Lord sends terror and destruction from one end of the earth to the other; before he stands on Mount Zion, or sets his feet on Olivet, or utters his voice from an American Zion or a Jewish Jerusalem; before all flesh shall see him together; before any of his appearances, which taken together comprise the second coming of the Son of God—before all these, there is to be a secret appearance to selected members of his Church. He will come in private to his prophet and to the apostles then living. Those who have held keys and powers and authorities in all ages from Adam to the present will also be present” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah, 578–79).
                    This appearance to the Church in LDS thought reminds me of the "rapture" theory in Christianity. It is the Lord organizing his church BEFORE coming in glory to the whole Earth.

                    -7up

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                      Wow... so, another "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"... even though Smith declared that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri, it's a "relatively minor point".

                      And, somehow, it's more virtuous that the Mormons moved the Garden of Eden to the United States than in other theories that has it in "never-never land". WOW.

                      Can you please explain why you think that the location of the Garden of Eden has some kind of doctrinal importance?



                      Anyways, more to the point, the FAIR article does not brush it off or say that it isn't true. In fact, to the contrary:

                      "Although we have no contemporaneous record of Joseph Smith teaching explicitly that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri, that reading is consistent with LDS scripture, and there is substantial later testimony from Joseph's associates that he did teach such an idea.

                      So, the FAIR answer agrees with the teaching that the Garden was in that location.

                      This idea perhaps strikes most non-members as odd, but not simply because the Saints have an opinion about the Garden's location—as we have seen, religions of all stripes have had a wide variety of views on the subject. What likely strikes outside American observers as strange is the idea that the Garden is local—the LDS view does not place the Garden in a never-never land, buried in distant time and far-away space. Rather, the LDS Garden is local and somewhat immediate.

                      Upon reflection, though, the thoughtful observer will realize that this is simply one more manifestation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' uniqueness: rather than believing only in dead prophets, from long ago, in distant lands, in old records, the Church also embraces modern revelation, living prophets, and an on-going divine involvement with God's people.


                      The answer is Yes. We believe that is where the Garden was.

                      And ... so what?

                      -7up

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by seven7up View Post
                        Can you please explain why you think that the location of the Garden of Eden has some kind of doctrinal importance?
                        It's not the doctrinal importance of the location -- it's the goofiness of your supposed prophet who just makes things up as he goes along. He just couldn't help himself, and now the only option you have is "well, gee, that's not important".
                        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by seven7up View Post
                          This appearance to the Church in LDS thought reminds me of the "rapture" theory in Christianity. It is the Lord organizing his church BEFORE coming in glory to the whole Earth.

                          -7up
                          That's what
                          - She

                          Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
                          - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

                          I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
                          - Stephen R. Donaldson

                          Comment

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