Proving Eden

Q

I am 17 yrs old, studying Religious Studies in school. My RS teacher challenged me by saying, if everything the bible says is true then what evidence is there that suggest that Eden exists? Can you please help me answer this question?

Also it was also pointed out in the Bible that Cain left his family and found himself a wife. I was just wondering did God create other people besides Adam and Eve and isn’t every man supposed to come from Adam and Eve?

A

As for Eden, the Bible says it was a lush garden through which four rivers flowed, the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. The Tigris and Euphrates are still here today flowing through the Middle East. There is much discussion regarding the other two and their locations. “Googling” either name will reveal several theories about their locations.

The Garden of Eden was apparently a huge one covering much of the Middle East. And the world was a much different place. Many scientists believe there was only one land mass, sometimes called Pangea, and the oceans as we know them today didn’t exist. The division of “Pangea” into the continents of today probably occurred after the flood. (Genesis 10:25)

When we think of a garden we think of lush vegetation. When vegetation decomposes under pressure the result is oil. It’s no coincidence that the World’s largest oil reserves are buried under the Middle East.

In short there is good circumstantial evidence for the existence of Eden.

Where Cain is concerned, he had to have married one of his sisters, just as Seth did. Genesis 5:4 tells us that Adam and Eve had other children as did the other Patriarchs mentioned. Simple math tells us that by the time of the flood there were millions of descendants of Adam and Eve. (The flood came 1656 years after Adam was created.)

But I’m curious about one thing. Is your religious studies teacher teaching you to doubt God’s word? And if so, why? How can you take God’s word about your salvation if you can’t take His word about how He created the world?