Where was the Garden of Eden?

Gramps,

Where was the Garden of Eden? I heard it was in Missouri and then I heard it was in the middle east.
Patricia, from Lehi, Utah

Dear Patricia,
The sectarian world will tell you that the Garden of Eden was in the middle east. There are some sources that have specified that the Garden of Eden was in the area that is present day Iraq. For instance, from (WASHINGTON) (AP) 2/19/2005—

“For more than 5,000 years, the Marsh Arab culture thrived in the 8,000 square miles of wetlands fed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The marshes boasted hundreds of species of birds and fish, and periodic flooding created fertile farm lands. Some scholars believe the flooded, flat plain was an important part of the development of an agriculture-based culture that helped raise civilization to new heights. The vast marsh was identified by some biblical scholars as the site of the fabled Garden of Eden.”

All that is purely hypothetical, as the Bible does not give a geographical location for Eden, and there is no other profane evidence of its existence. However, both the concept of the Garden of Eden and its location have been confirmed in our day by revelation. The biblical concept of the Garden of Eden is found in Joseph Smith’s translation of the book of Genesis, known as the Book of Moses—

Moses 3:15 And I, the Lord God, took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it.

Moses 4:29 Therefore I, the Lord God, will send him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

The prophet Joseph Smith identified the location of the Garden of Eden, and of Adam-ondi-Ahman, as reported by Brigham Young and quoted by Wilford Woodruff–both of whom followed Joseph Smith as presidents of the Mormon Church—

“At a conference of the Sunday School children in the old Tabernacle on the 30th of March (1873), Elder Woodruff reported Brigham Young as saying, “Joseph, the Prophet, told me that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri. When Adam was driven out he went to the place we now call Adam-ondi-Ahman, Daviess County, Missouri. There he built an altar and offered sacrifice” (Wilford Woodruff, p. 481).

Gramps