Earth In the Beginning
By Eric N. Skousen

This fascinating book answers many perplexing questions about the earth's creation: Where did it take place? How long did it take? What about the dinosaurs, "cave men," and other fossils? How do they fit in?

For those who have been challenged to explain the earth's creation from an LDS viewpoint, this book will be helpful and enlightening. And for those who simply enjoy contemplating both the revelations of science and the revelations of God, this book will be extremely stimulating and thought-provoking. (338 pages)

Excerpt from "Earth In the Beginning":

The Paradisiacal Earth

There was a river running out of Eden, to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads. (Abraham 5:10)

The earth's first human homestead was a beautiful garden somewhere in Eden. For centuries Old Testament scholars have sought out the original location of Eden and its special garden.

The only Biblical clue available is that God had "planted a garden eastward in Eden" (Genesis 2:8). Since the Bible is largely a record of events that transpired in the territories in and around modern Israel, Biblical scholars have assumed that human civilization began somewhere eastward of Palestine, perhaps in the fertile valleys of Mesopotamia in southwestern Asia.

Four great rivers are mentioned in connection with the garden site: the Pison, the Gihon, the Hiddekel, and the Euphrates (Genesis 2:11-14). The Jewish-Roman historian Josephus speculated that these rivers were the Nile River in Egypt, the Ganges River in India, and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia.

But neither Eden, its garden, nor its rivers were located in the earth's Eastern Hemisphere.

One of the exciting disclosures of our Gospel dispensation is that anciently, the garden "eastward in Eden" was located in the western boundaries of the state of Missouri. More specifically, it was located in the region now occupied by the city of Independence, Jackson County.

Heber C. Kimball taught:
"The spot chosen for the Garden of Eden was Jackson County, in the state of Missouri, where Independence now stands; it was occupied in the morn of creation by Adam and his associates, who came with him for the express purpose of peopling this earth. The prophet Joseph frequently spoke of these things in the revelations which he gave."

Earth In the Beginning By Eric N. Skousen

Earth In the Beginning
By Eric N. Skousen