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| + | #REDIRECT [[The location of the Garden of Eden]] |
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| − | ==Question==
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| − | Is it true that Mormons believe that the original Garden of Eden was located in Missouri? What can you tell me about this?
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| − | ==Answer==
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| − | As the official website for the LDS church points out, "The doctrinal tenets of any religion are best understood within a broad context and thoughtful analysis is required to understand them. . .Some doctrines are more important than others and might be considered core doctrines. . . A common mistake is taking an obscure teaching that is peripheral to the Church’s purpose and placing it at the very center. For example, the precise location of the Garden of Eden is far less important than doctrine about Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice."{{ref|lds1}}
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| − | ===LDS statements about the Garden of Eden===
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| − | It is important to first distinguish the "Garden of Eden" (the paradasiacal location where Adam and Eve dwelt before the Fall) from Adam-ondi-Ahman. Adam-ondi-Ahman was a location in which Adam and Eve settled after their expulsion from the Garden.
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| − | LDS scripture notes that:
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| − | : SPRING Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet.({{s||DC|116|1}}){{ref|hc1}}
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| − | It is perhaps significant that the Lord gave the name to this site because of a ''future'' event—the pre-millenial assembly of Adam and his faithful descendants prior to the second coming of Christ.
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| − | ===Parallels with other religious traditions===
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| − | The early Saints' view of a Garden of Eden "local" to them has its parallels in other religious traditions.
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| − | The Garden of Eden or the primordial paradise of the race is often seen as the "center of the world," or the cosmic point around which all creation turns (sometimes called an ''axis mundi'' or ''umbilicum mundi''—the "navel" of the world).
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| − | Other religions have teachings that the Garden of Eden was in their part of the world. For example there is a Jewish tradition that the Garden of Eden was in Jerusalem. There is a spring of water there known as the Gihon, one of the unidentified rivers of Paradise. Ezekiel 28:13 says “You were in Eden, the garden of God,” and then parallels that in the next verse with “you were on the holy mountain of God,” generally understood as the temple mount. There is important symbolism here. If a Jewish tradition can assign the location of the Garden to its traditional headquarters - Jerusalem - is it unthinkable to have a Mormon tradition assigning the location of the Garden to Jackson County, Missouri, which for a time was its church headquarters and which according to prophecy will be again some time in the future?
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| − | ==Conclusion==
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| − | {{nw}}
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| − | ==Endnotes==
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| − | # {{note|lds1}} {{ldspress|article=Approaching Mormon Doctrine|date=4 May 2007|url=http://www.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=970af549db852110VgnVCM100000176f620aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f5f411154963d010VgnVCM1000004e94610aRCRD}}
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| − | #{{note|hc1}} See also {{HoC1|vol=3|start=35}}
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| − | ==Further reading==
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| − | ===FAIR wiki articles===
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| − | {{nw}}
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| − | ===FAIR web site===
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| − | {{nw}}
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| − | ===External links===
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| − | {{nw}}
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| − | ===Printed material===
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| − | * Alessandro Scafi, ''Mapping Paradise. A History of Heaven on Earth'' (University of Chicago Press 2006).
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