Geographical knowledge and the Missouri story

[moksha]

Genesis 2
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it encompasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is good; bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it encompasses the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

I was just wondering about the traveling group of Mormons who asked for a story to help boost their spirits on the trek to Missouri. Joseph Smith obliged them by pointing to a rock outcropping and declaring it to be the ancient site of the Garden of Eden. I was wondering how this piece of Mormon arcana would have faired if the travelers had an understanding of world geography and history. If they had known where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, as well as the Assyrian Empire, were located would they have taken that story as anything more than a tall tale?

[nibbler]

We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly?

[Corsair]

We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly?

LDS leaders and apologists prefer the article of faith, "We believe Joseph Smith to say the word of God as far as he is quoted correctly"

Joseph Smith probably assumed that the landscape had changed radically over the past 6000 years so that the rivers were no longer in the same place. This doesn't make him "right" in any real sense. It just makes it harder to demonstrate falsifiability.

[moksha]

If the Missouri story was no more than a soothing campfire tale, it speaks to the willingness of the LDS people to encapsulate just about every utterance of their leaders into holy writ. Reminds me of the scene from the Life of Brian where the people latch on to the cast-off sandal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka9mfZbTFbk

[Bloodhound98]

Too bad he wasn't around long enough to show where Jesus Christ visited. That would've been a neat tale as well.

I asked my TBM if we knew where Jesus visited the Native Lamanite Americans. He side Bountiful????

He was joking and at the same time really wondering. Lol