Was the Garden of Eden created perfect?

[TonyChanYT]

Well, not exactly, Genesis 1:

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good [H3966 H2896]. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

The Bible does not say that God made the Garden of Eden perfect [H7760].

 

[Randy Kluth]

Well, not exactly, Genesis 1:


The Bible does not say that God made the Garden of Eden perfect [H7760].

Another very good question from "Tony." ;) My own view is that the universe is over 10 billion years old, and the earth less than 5 billion years old. And I accept a certain amount of radiometric dating, accepting that since the Cambrian Explosion there have been evidence of a "slow creation" that seems to conform to the "progress" Genesis 1 details.

Heaven, the planet Earth, Water, Land, sea life, birds, reptiles, and finally mammals and men. God was likely in "no hurry," or as some suggest, could bypass "time" completely, having no need for "time" or "progressive development." However, God left "clues" of time development, eg radiometric dating, which should encourage our faith, and not discourage it. God's world is open to examination.

That being said, creatures, preexisting the Garden of Eden, are designed to feed on one another, which appears as "violence" to many Christians. They wish to believe animals only ate vegetables before the Fall of Man, since Sin came into the world through human Sin. However, if creatures "violently" killed and ate one another prior to the Garden of Eden, then Eden was a limited, quarantined "paradise" in the midst of a more "hostile" world.

But I think Satan's Sin preceded the creation of the world, or took place at the point where God separated the light from the darkness. Creation appears to be a kind of symbolic presentation of the truths of God's creative word with the backdrop of Satanic opposition to His word.

And so, the world reflects this "violence," even though God's creative word itself is good, God's moral judgment being superior to Man's moral judgment. God may create a world in which evil is exposed as such without implicating God in the evil itself. Telling the story of good and evil through Creation is not, in itself, an "evil" thing!

So when I look at the Garden of Eden, I see that God set Man in a kind of "oasis" in the midst of a "violent world." He was given the opportunity to take God's side in the cosmic battle, and utterly failed. However, God's word itself cannot fail, and what God intended for Man will be accomplished, with human aspirations ultimately succeeding, while human failure will be properly punished.

 

[Bob Estey]

Well, not exactly, Genesis 1:


The Bible does not say that God made the Garden of Eden perfect [H7760].

I'm guessing it was perfect enough.

 

[Cassandra]

God saying it was very good is perfect as far as I am concerned.

Death never preceded sin, Randy.

 

[Bob Estey]

Well, not exactly, Genesis 1:


The Bible does not say that God made the Garden of Eden perfect [H7760].

I would say the Garden of Eden was created perfectly, in that it was created just the way the Lord wanted it to be.