A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. (Genesis 2:10-14 NRSV)
What do we know about the Garden of Eden — a garden created by God, originally inhabited by Adam and Eve? Not much. According to Genesis 2:10-14, a river flowed out of Eden and divided into four tributaries: the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. The latter two are well known today, the Pishon and Gihon, however, no longer exist, or never did exist. Travel the lengths of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and one thing is certain: you will not find the Garden of Eden. Whether it existed in the past is unknown, but today the Garden of Eden is no longer found, no matter where you go. The only evidence for the existence of the Garden of Eden is what is recorded in the Bible. That’s it. You would think if God wanted to make himself known to humans, he would have turned the Garden into a theme park, charging people admission to see the angel with a flaming sword at the entrnce of the Garden, the Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the waterways in and around Eden. Imagine paddling a canoe down the river that runs through Eden. Cool, right? All one would have to do to find the Garden of Eden is to traverse the length of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Since these rivers flow out of Eden, it stands to reason we would find the Garden if we looked. Yet, humans did look, and no Garden was found.
Ask Evangelicals where you can find the Garden of Eden, and you will get a lot of explanations, none of which are satisfactory. It seems to me that the story about the Garden of Eden is just that — a story. We can search every inch of the area where the Garden of Eden supposedly lies and not find one shred of evidence for its existence. Just because a book tells us about the existence of the Garden of Eden does not mean it really exists. The Harry Potter books say Hogwarts is a real place, yet we know it is a myth. How is the Garden of Eden any different?
I heard one Christian “prove” the existence of Eden by saying that only Christians can “see” the Garden of Eden; that the Garden is invisible to unbelievers. His evidence for this claim? Nothing other than personal opinion.
Do you have evidence for the existence of Eden apart from Bible prooftexts? Please share it in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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That’s an interesting reminder.
At around age 13, while following my pastor’s advice to read the bible, it seemed to me that the adam and eve story was just a story and not history. But I thought I should check. So I went to the travel pages of the local newpaper to see if there were trips to the Garden of Eden and that flaming sword.
I did not find any mention of such trips. I took that as supporting the idea that it was just a story.
I once had a world history teacher, when discussing those ancient civilizations, mention that “isn’t it interesting the earliest evidence of human civilization is near the Tigris -Euphrates rivers, which are mentioned in the Bible?” *hint hint. Wow, the place where the myths originated mention the places where the myths originated. 🙄