The City of Zion is also known as Independence, Missouri.
The same year that Smith blessed the land — 1831 — he had a revelation that the Garden of Eden was in Independence, which he called "the center place." Most Judeo-Christian theology places the Garden in the Middle East. But the Mormons, more formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe that Adam and Eve lived in Independence before being expelled and that the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge grew nearby.
That's why I'm here — I'm searching for the Garden of Eden. My logic is simple. Smith marked the site for Christ's temple. He even knew where Adam and Eve went after they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden (which he put about 85 miles north of Independence, in a place he called Adam-ondi-Ahman, just outside Jameson in Daviess County). Surely Smith marked the spot of the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life. With 20,000 Mormons living in the Kansas City area (worldwide Mormonism claims 13 million followers), I figured that someone could show me where the Garden grew.
Let me explain by first saying I am not a Mormon, nor am I particularly spiritual, having been born into a family of Sunday-football-watching, nonpracticing Lutherans. My experience with Mormonism has been limited to a 2003 episode of South Park in which the blue-and-red-stocking-capped Stan disputes Joseph Smith's claim that the Garden sprouted in Jackson County. "If you're going to say things that have been proven wrong, like the first man and woman lived in Missouri and that Native Americans came from Jerusalem, then you better have something to back it up," Stan scolds his family and a Mormon family.
The rest of America's experience with Mormons is also somewhat limited. Evangelical Christians believe that Mormonism is a cult. HBO viewers know Big Love, a show about a man with three wives, and believe that they're Mormons. They're actually Fundamentalist Mormons, inspired by Warren Jeffs, the leader of a radical splinter group known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jeffs, who was once on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List, made national headlines in 2006 and 2007 after he was arrested in Nevada and charged with incest, sexual conduct with a minor and arranging marriages between adult men in his church and "child brides."
And last month saw the release of September Dawn, a film about the 1857 massacre of 120 men, women and children at the hands of a Mormon militia in Utah.
Then there's Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and practicing Mormon. Romney is searching for his own Garden of Eden: the Republican nomination for president of the United States. Finding it will be about as difficult as locating the Garden. To do so, he will have to overcome not just the perception of Mormons in society but also the fact that Americans have elected only one president who wasn't from a traditional Protestant background — John F. Kennedy, a Catholic.
His quest for the White House inspired my journey.
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Okay, first of all, i have lived in blue springs for 20 years and so far, i haven't come across any Garden of Eden. I have been a christian for 15 years, and i have never heard anything as rediculous as someone saying that the Garden of Eden is in Independence. The Only garden coming out of independence is Marijuana gardens. Hence the name. #1 drug city in the nation.
Okay, first of all, i have lived in blue springs for 20 years and so far, i haven't come across any Garden of Eden. I have been a christian for 15 years, and i have never heard anything as rediculous as someone saying that the Garden of Eden is in Independence. The Only garden coming out of independence is Marijuana gardens. Hence the name. #1 drug city in the nation.
Hey RJ,
Debunking Lindsay is a lot like plunking fish in a barrel.
Why not recommend the work of the official Mormon Educator Grant Palmer?
>Grant H. Palmer (a fourth-generation Mormon, Brigham Young University graduate: M.A. American History) provides a helpful summary of the enormous amount of research that has been done over the last 25 years concerning the origins of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church � the Mormons). The word �Insider� in the title reflects his thirty-four years of experience as an Institute Director for the Church Educational System (CES)...
http://www.irr.org/mit/Insider...
http://www.lds-mormon.com/insi...
A lot of the best 'anit-Mormon' stuff out there comes directly from the the offical Mormon histories.
For example, Joseph Smith published at least four very different versions of the story of how God choose him as his prophet...
"The 8th and final chapter consist of Joseph Smith�s four First Vision accounts recorded during 1832, 1835, 1838 and 1842. The foundational importance of the First Vision for the LDS Church cannot be over emphasized. Current LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley declares:
Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision. It either occurred or it did not. If it did not, then this work is a fraud. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 7, 2002)"
Some how Plamer has remained a Mormon. The power of double-think is never to be underestimated.
It was Joseph Smith along with the other leaders of the LDS faith that introduced the rhetoric of 'war of extermination'.
On July 4th 1838, in a speech co-written by Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon (who founded Mormonism along with Smith) declared,
'And that mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between us and them a war of extermination; for we will follow them until the last drop of their blood is spilled; or else they will have to exterminate us, for we will carry the seat of war to their own houses and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed.'
This is a direct quote from the Mormon's official 'Comprehensive History of the Church'. It appears in vo1umn one on page 441.
A good review of the 'Mormon Wars' can be found here: http://www.lds-mormon.com/tmpc...
Hey RJ, Debunking Lindsay is a lot like plunking fish in a barrel. Why not recommend the work of the official Mormon Educator Grant Palmer? >Grant H. Palmer (a fourth-generation Mormon, Brigham Young University graduate: M.A. American History) provides a helpful summary of the enormous amount of research that has been done over the last 25 years concerning the origins of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church — the Mormons). The word “Insider” in the title reflects his thirty-four years of experience as an Institute Director for the Church Educational System (CES)... http://www.irr.org/mit/Insiders-View-of-Mormon-Origins.html http://www.lds-mormon.com/insiders_view.shtml A lot of the best 'anit-Mormon' stuff out there comes directly from the the offical Mormon histories. For example, Joseph Smith published at least four very different versions of the story of how God choose him as his prophet... "The 8th and final chapter consist of Joseph Smith’s four First Vision accounts recorded during 1832, 1835, 1838 and 1842. The foundational importance of the First Vision for the LDS Church cannot be over emphasized. Current LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley declares: Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision. It either occurred or it did not. If it did not, then this work is a fraud. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 7, 2002)" Some how Plamer has remained a Mormon. The power of double-think is never to be underestimated.
It was Joseph Smith along with the other leaders of the LDS faith that introduced the rhetoric of 'war of extermination'. On July 4th 1838, in a speech co-written by Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon (who founded Mormonism along with Smith) declared, 'And that mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between us and them a war of extermination; for we will follow them until the last drop of their blood is spilled; or else they will have to exterminate us, for we will carry the seat of war to their own houses and their own families, and one party or the other shall be utterly destroyed.' This is a direct quote from the Mormon's official 'Comprehensive History of the Church'. It appears in vo1umn one on page 441. A good review of the 'Mormon Wars' can be found here: http://www.lds-mormon.com/tmpc.shtml
Justin,
May you be at peace with the religious crackpots, for they will never leave you alone until the glorious day Lord Jebus descends in his spaceship and uses one of your ribs to produce a underage cousin which you can marry and molest under the eye-bugging gaze of HIM. Please, take these pamphlets -- as they will be your sheild to secular sit-coms and newspapers. Be blessed, dear Justin! Be blessed by motherfuckin' Jebus 4eva!!!
Justin,
May you be at peace with the religious crackpots, for they will never leave you alone until the glorious day Lord Jebus descends in his spaceship and uses one of your ribs to produce a underage cousin for which to marry and molest under the Lord's glowing stare. Please, take these pamphlets -- they will be your sheild from the devil's words. Be blessed, fair Justin! Be motherfuckin' blessed 4eva!!!
Justin, May you be at peace with the religious crackpots, for they will never leave you alone until the glorious day Lord Jebus descends in his spaceship and uses one of your ribs to produce a underage cousin which you can marry and molest under the eye-bugging gaze of HIM. Please, take these pamphlets -- as they will be your sheild to secular sit-coms and newspapers. Be blessed, dear Justin! Be blessed by motherfuckin' Jebus 4eva!!!
Justin, May you be at peace with the religious crackpots, for they will never leave you alone until the glorious day Lord Jebus descends in his spaceship and uses one of your ribs to produce a underage cousin for which to marry and molest under the Lord's glowing stare. Please, take these pamphlets -- they will be your sheild from the devil's words. Be blessed, fair Justin! Be motherfuckin' blessed 4eva!!!
Justin,
In about the last paragraph of your article, you said you couldn't find Adam. Most people begin reading the Bible, and never get past Genesis. I would finally suggest that you at least read Genesis up to Chapter 5, Verse 5. It says that Adam died.
Justin, In about the last paragraph of your article, you said you couldn't find Adam. Most people begin reading the Bible, and never get past Genesis. I would finally suggest that you at least read Genesis up to Chapter 5, Verse 5. It says that Adam died.
Funny, my husband and I discovered Adam-Ondi-Ahman a few weeks ago on a trip to the Amish community of Jamesport. I had seen something about it in the recent PBS special on the Mormons. It is beautiful with obviously fertile farm land up there, but I have to say I expected something more. It pretty much just looked like Missouri to me. I mean, after all, these are the folks who wear curious underwear and knock on doors almost as much as the JW's. I will say I am indebted to them, though, for their genealogy sites. I just didn't see that it was any more special than the surrounding Amish farm country, however.
Gardener,
I encourage you to view this web site: http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS... and not just the anti-mormon ones.
God Bless,
RJ
Funny, my husband and I discovered Adam-Ondi-Ahman a few weeks ago on a trip to the Amish community of Jamesport. I had seen something about it in the recent PBS special on the Mormons. It is beautiful with obviously fertile farm land up there, but I have to say I expected something more. It pretty much just looked like Missouri to me. I mean, after all, these are the folks who wear curious underwear and knock on doors almost as much as the JW's. I will say I am indebted to them, though, for their genealogy sites. I just didn't see that it was any more special than the surrounding Amish farm country, however.
Gardener, I encourage you to view this web site: http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_Danites.shtml and not just the anti-mormon ones. God Bless, RJ
Your story is an interesting one. There is a subject or word you never used in your story, Danites. Please Google that word. It is important that you do your own research about this subject. Danites were people appointed by the church to shed the blood of those who so foolishly thought they should leave the church. This was a practice which came into being in Missouri. It was not well received by the local law. However, did you notice that it was ommitted from all of the conversations you had with those who could have given you that information? Instead, Mormons try to play it off that they were the victims, they were persecuted? When a militia of people begin killing innocent people for their beliefs, or lack of belief, and the local law begins to retaliate, the original militia (and its sponsoring organization) becomes the victim? I think not.
As with many organizations and humans in general, some people cannot handle having any power. It corrupts them. It seems that even those wonderful Mormons, as they see themselves) were greedy and wanted to always come off as being "the best", no matter how underhandedly they had to be to "show" themselves that way. Truth is always better than fiction, but truth is not always told.
Your story is an interesting one. There is a subject or word you never used in your story, Danites. Please Google that word. It is important that you do your own research about this subject. Danites were people appointed by the church to shed the blood of those who so foolishly thought they should leave the church. This was a practice which came into being in Missouri. It was not well received by the local law. However, did you notice that it was ommitted from all of the conversations you had with those who could have given you that information? Instead, Mormons try to play it off that they were the victims, they were persecuted? When a militia of people begin killing innocent people for their beliefs, or lack of belief, and the local law begins to retaliate, the original militia (and its sponsoring organization) becomes the victim? I think not. As with many organizations and humans in general, some people cannot handle having any power. It corrupts them. It seems that even those wonderful Mormons, as they see themselves) were greedy and wanted to always come off as being "the best", no matter how underhandedly they had to be to "show" themselves that way. Truth is always better than fiction, but truth is not always told.
Justin,
It is very evident by your style that you are a writer by trade. One could even class you as a professional writer, meaning that in the more derogatory sense, at least a little bit anyway.
Those in your profession actually do have to make a living writing something that well sell and attract readers, any kind of reader. I can respect the drive to put something out.
To boilerplate writers like yourself, most anything will do, even if it is to ridicule that with is different and of which you know little about. Somewhat like a burley schoolyard bully befriending and then humiliating the new skinny kid while stealing his lunch money so that he and his friends can have their jollies on the little guy�s dime.
What�s the harm anyway? Everyone in the schoolyard is laughing. Majority rules! Right.
Oh yes, you are a very good writer, in the way that many are good stand-ups, actors and the like. You do craft a skillful but irreverent �tongue and cheek� that is attractive. If that is your objective, then you have met it.
Most of all, I am bothered by the dishonesty. Humor is wonderful if there is an actual beneficial purpose to it. Your musings just comes across as a quirky theatrical performance journey using a fictitious Garden of Eden search as a base to build an irreverent humor piece on. All of which seems designed mostly to line your pockets while entertaining a few readers with a bit nonsense. It leaves me wondering, where is the real you in all of this?
But maybe I have misjudged you. You actually may be that cynical and shallow or just hungry with a mortgage and lifestyle to support. Maybe this is the sum total of your character. How can I tell? I don�t live in your area and only know you from this piece. I hope that is not the truth.
Maybe one of these days you can re-take a real Garden of Eden tour. One in which you are never going to write about, a journey that you do for yourself. One where you honestly go to find out why the people in the places you visited do what they do, to trying to see though their eyes what they are seeing.
Perhaps, for an old cynical humor hack as you, that is too much to ask, where every life experience must be looked at with an irreverent writer�s perspective. Maybe it is too hard for you to step out of character. Never the less, if you do you may actually find the real Garden of Eden, where before you were not able to see the forest for the trees.
Justin,
I thought about it a little more today, why you're in search of the G of E. I figure it could be you're a herpetologist. Or, you could be a produce wholesaler interested in setting up Forbidden Fruit stands all over K.C. Strange what some folks think of these money-grubbing Mormons that they haven't done this yet themselves. Some would think, by now, they would have set up a restored G of E, with a well-worn looking stone altar set therein, and they should be selling tickets to get in to see the whole place.
I think your real thing is to tell the world in a mocking way how robotic they seem to be with their missionary zeal in their efforts to convert you from the moment you walked in. ATTACK!!! No telling you where the mystery garden is, but just robotic-line memorized one-liner marketing to get you into the tub. Well, think about this. Have you ever heard of Junipero Serra? In 5th grade at Jefferson Junior High School about 50 years ago, one of my favorite teachers (Mrs. Campbell) taught us out of a textbook entitled "Early California", about the history of the state. Now let's preface all this by making sure you know I have a very close friend who is currently president of a RC university, formerly a Provincial in the Philadelphia area. I have had many RC friends, and my own Italian family that migrated around the Cape from Boston to SF in 1851 were RC. So, it's really something I haven't thought about in years. But this Junipero Serra guy was the ultimate RC priest who led a whole cadre of other priests to establish the entire chain of RC missions up & down the state. How did they accomplish this feat? By converting and immediately enslaving countless Indians/Native Americans to do the work. Just think, had you been one of them and your Mormon hosts followers of Serra, they might not have been quite so kind, polite and endearing toward you who didn't enter the building for any other reason but to taunt them enough to carefully craft your article in The Pitch. No marketing ("satisfying consumer needs", Philip Kotler) approach, but they would have chains of bondage waiting for you in the back room. Slightly different approach? These other readers have no idea, apparently, about the objective of your article for the K.C. and Independence audience. They've obviously never lived in Missouri, or they'd know better.
This story was hillarious. I served a mission a few years back, and laugh in retrospect sometimes at how clueless I was in regards to not coming across as creepy and robotic. That being said, I'm very active in the LDS church, and have tried my best to get to the bottom ot the Garden of Eden idea. My concusion: basically, there are no doctrinally binding first hand sources documenting that Adam-Ondi-Ahman was divinely identified as the location of the garden of eden, thus I see no merit in it being an official doctrine. (And, I don't think the church teaches that as an official doctrine). What the Doctrine and Covenants does teach is that Adam-Ondi-Ahman is where Adam will return to the earth as a part of Christ's millenial reign. That is explicitly stated, but nowhere does Mormon scripture unambiguously state that the garden of eden was located in Jackson County, Missouri. Other Mormons will debate this with me, and that's healthy and good. What it comes down to is this: Does everything Joseph Smith taught become official, binding, church doctrine? The answer is no, so Joseph asserting in sermons of the day that Independence is the Garden of Eden is not a doctrinally binding statement. Additionally, no living general authority has made any statements on the topic, which leaves it sort of undefined and awaiting clarification. In all reality though, the location of the GofE is a rather esoteric and unimportant piece in the story of Mormonism. At least to us Mormons. Again, great piece.
Justin, It is very evident by your style that you are a writer by trade. One could even class you as a professional writer, meaning that in the more derogatory sense, at least a little bit anyway. Those in your profession actually do have to make a living writing something that well sell and attract readers, any kind of reader. I can respect the drive to put something out. To boilerplate writers like yourself, most anything will do, even if it is to ridicule that with is different and of which you know little about. Somewhat like a burley schoolyard bully befriending and then humiliating the new skinny kid while stealing his lunch money so that he and his friends can have their jollies on the little guy’s dime. What’s the harm anyway? Everyone in the schoolyard is laughing. Majority rules! Right. Oh yes, you are a very good writer, in the way that many are good stand-ups, actors and the like. You do craft a skillful but irreverent “tongue and cheek” that is attractive. If that is your objective, then you have met it. Most of all, I am bothered by the dishonesty. Humor is wonderful if there is an actual beneficial purpose to it. Your musings just comes across as a quirky theatrical performance journey using a fictitious Garden of Eden search as a base to build an irreverent humor piece on. All of which seems designed mostly to line your pockets while entertaining a few readers with a bit nonsense. It leaves me wondering, where is the real you in all of this? But maybe I have misjudged you. You actually may be that cynical and shallow or just hungry with a mortgage and lifestyle to support. Maybe this is the sum total of your character. How can I tell? I don’t live in your area and only know you from this piece. I hope that is not the truth. Maybe one of these days you can re-take a real Garden of Eden tour. One in which you are never going to write about, a journey that you do for yourself. One where you honestly go to find out why the people in the places you visited do what they do, to trying to see though their eyes what they are seeing. Perhaps, for an old cynical humor hack as you, that is too much to ask, where every life experience must be looked at with an irreverent writer’s perspective. Maybe it is too hard for you to step out of character. Never the less, if you do you may actually find the real Garden of Eden, where before you were not able to see the forest for the trees.
Justin, I thought about it a little more today, why you're in search of the G of E. I figure it could be you're a herpetologist. Or, you could be a produce wholesaler interested in setting up Forbidden Fruit stands all over K.C. Strange what some folks think of these money-grubbing Mormons that they haven't done this yet themselves. Some would think, by now, they would have set up a restored G of E, with a well-worn looking stone altar set therein, and they should be selling tickets to get in to see the whole place. I think your real thing is to tell the world in a mocking way how robotic they seem to be with their missionary zeal in their efforts to convert you from the moment you walked in. ATTACK!!! No telling you where the mystery garden is, but just robotic-line memorized one-liner marketing to get you into the tub. Well, think about this. Have you ever heard of Junipero Serra? In 5th grade at Jefferson Junior High School about 50 years ago, one of my favorite teachers (Mrs. Campbell) taught us out of a textbook entitled "Early California", about the history of the state. Now let's preface all this by making sure you know I have a very close friend who is currently president of a RC university, formerly a Provincial in the Philadelphia area. I have had many RC friends, and my own Italian family that migrated around the Cape from Boston to SF in 1851 were RC. So, it's really something I haven't thought about in years. But this Junipero Serra guy was the ultimate RC priest who led a whole cadre of other priests to establish the entire chain of RC missions up & down the state. How did they accomplish this feat? By converting and immediately enslaving countless Indians/Native Americans to do the work. Just think, had you been one of them and your Mormon hosts followers of Serra, they might not have been quite so kind, polite and endearing toward you who didn't enter the building for any other reason but to taunt them enough to carefully craft your article in The Pitch. No marketing ("satisfying consumer needs", Philip Kotler) approach, but they would have chains of bondage waiting for you in the back room. Slightly different approach? These other readers have no idea, apparently, about the objective of your article for the K.C. and Independence audience. They've obviously never lived in Missouri, or they'd know better.
This story was hillarious. I served a mission a few years back, and laugh in retrospect sometimes at how clueless I was in regards to not coming across as creepy and robotic. That being said, I'm very active in the LDS church, and have tried my best to get to the bottom ot the Garden of Eden idea. My concusion: basically, there are no doctrinally binding first hand sources documenting that Adam-Ondi-Ahman was divinely identified as the location of the garden of eden, thus I see no merit in it being an official doctrine. (And, I don't think the church teaches that as an official doctrine). What the Doctrine and Covenants does teach is that Adam-Ondi-Ahman is where Adam will return to the earth as a part of Christ's millenial reign. That is explicitly stated, but nowhere does Mormon scripture unambiguously state that the garden of eden was located in Jackson County, Missouri. Other Mormons will debate this with me, and that's healthy and good. What it comes down to is this: Does everything Joseph Smith taught become official, binding, church doctrine? The answer is no, so Joseph asserting in sermons of the day that Independence is the Garden of Eden is not a doctrinally binding statement. Additionally, no living general authority has made any statements on the topic, which leaves it sort of undefined and awaiting clarification. In all reality though, the location of the GofE is a rather esoteric and unimportant piece in the story of Mormonism. At least to us Mormons. Again, great piece.
Mr. Justin:
Enjoyed your article. I couldn't tell how much your quest for the GofE was tounge-in-check. Good luck trying to find it.
As a life long and still-practicing Mormon, I really don't spend much time thinking about Independence or the GofE, and I haven't met any Mormons who do. I guess I have more immediate and important issues to worry about -- like getting the young men in my ward (congregation) to mutual (youth activities) on Tuesday nights. Try this -- survey 1000 Mormons, with 500 of those being outside the U.S. (since half of all Mormons live outside the US anyway) and see how many have even heard of Independence, of Brother Joseph's prophecy about a temple at that location, or of the GofE having been near there.
BTW -- One aspect of the South Park episode that so many non-LDS writers refer to -- in the end the South Park regulars are depicted as losers who have meaningless and shallow lives. The Mormon kid comes off as the only one who has his head on straight, any ambition, and any semblence of a productive family. Maybe the SP writers and producers are on to something . . . maybe.
Mark
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