I think it is commonly agreed that the Garden of Eden was a real physical place, located on earth. Biblical support comes from genesis 2:13
quote:
And the name of the second river [is] Gihon: the same [is] it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
This site has a nice little article on the fate of eden...it was destroyed by the flood.
It is the creationists position that Genesis is a literal history of events. So the question is, what happened to the Tree of Life? Surely that was not destroyed by the flood too?
God clearly did not want man to eat of the Tree of Life so he set up a guard around it and kicked man out of Eden.
quote:
And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever
...
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Genesis 3:22 and 24
It seems clear that destroying the Tree of Life was not an viable option. Ascending it unto a spriritual plane to keep it safe was also rejected by God. He chose to guard it with a literal flaming sword and some Cherubims.
The scenario leads us to the following:
1. God decided later to destroy the Tree of Life in the flood.
2. The flood did not destroy the Tree of Life.
If 1) why? Why set up a guard around the Tree of Life to protect it? Surely God was able to just keep man from it? Why would you protect something with a real flaming sword, and then destroy the thing you were protecting? Why not destroy it in the first place?
If 2) Where is it?
So 1) seems the most logical answer...but I find it a bit of an odd thing for God to do.
****I Assume this word probably work best in the Inerrancy forum, but of course, faith and belief might work too****
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