The data on Eden’s river was published last year in in 2019 in some conferences on the Eastern Mediterranean. there had been major natural gas discoveries over there about 10 years ago, and oil companies hold their information very close to the chest because it is valuable. Only when they think the geologic data has little value will they let it lose into conferences and papers. The authors being muslim didn’t realize the theological significance of what they had mapped, and I doubt a single prof from any theological seminary was even aware of these conferences.
Now, the implicit part of your question concerns the fact that few here read geological journals and frankly even fewer geologists are christians. The geologists who are Christians are quite happy with the Bible being historically false. At this point in time it is less of a question of why they don’t agree with that data than that they don’t know of the data. They were not looking!! I was. No OT scholar who studies the language and culture of Israel is going to know much geology and frankly is unlikely to recognized the importance of data from my field of expertise.
I have shown this to several geologists. 3 were amazed and 2 whom I know like the accommodationalist approach, went totally silent. They didn’t criticize what I had, they ceased commenting. Indeed one called me and we spoke about this data, but, he didn’t take any stand on it. He has spent lots of time going to seminaries taking about how we mustn’t take this part of the Bible literally. A change is going to be hard for my friend.
As I said in my first post in this thread, people come here for help with their biblical problems, like with the flood. The flood is a geological phenomenon, but doctors, missionaries, plumbers and everyone else gives their opinion on what they see, even when they have never dealt with this kind of data in their careers? . How many geology courses do you think are taught in seminary? My son went to seminary and had zero courses in geology. This is a big weakness in Christendom when only those who know the language are seen as experts in areas such as the Flood and the deposits it would leave and the physics that would control it. It is sad, but unless someone like me spends his life searching for evidence, like I did, none would be found.
I am writing my last book, and hoping the pain I had today won’t slow me down too much but I am going to throw this book to Amazon and let God determine the outcome about whether the book is good or bad., or the ideas are good or bad.
Always remember when you ask questions, does this guy know anything about the field? Don’t ask me how to remove your pancreas. I would say get a knife, dig around a bit until it quit hurting. I am sure doctors would do better than that. lol. John Walton, who cited my work in one of his books, thinks I am a nut and won’t respond to emails from me anymore. How am I to get my message out when our leaders are so closed to any new ideas?
We have had 200+ years of geological ‘leaders’ in Christianity do nothing but YEC (and I put leaders in quotes because they are not leaders or thinkers. They go along with the herd). Their lack of actually digging for solutions has made it look as if there are no solutions. and so everyone accepted that there are no solutions.
At the very least I am offering a solution to where Eden is and it is from brand new 2019 information. To my knowledge no one else offers anything except to tell you it is all historically false.But in the end, it is your decision what to believe. That God had a way to do this? or that these accounts are false. If God had a way and you don’t like mine, better get to hunting for a better way!
You will have to decide whether you believe this work (which was done by others, but those others missed the theological importance of their own work). Many of those who did the work were Muslim and the flood is not a biggie on their to-do list.
One thing of interest to me, I asked my very secular sister how this information got into the Bible–information no one could have known until at least 1970 and maybe not until last year. No neolithic could have known of this either. She surprised me by saying it had to be divine revelation. You too will have to take a position as well. Blind chance or divine revelation. It is your choice. I am just telling you that that the work I see out of these guys is top notch geophysics, showing fluvial deltaic sands where the Rivers of Eden were likely to be. I can’t prove Adam was down there, but that data does put a stop to our theological leaders saying with intellectual honesty that Eden HAS TO BE a never never land of fantasy.
