4 out of 4 stars
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Who Told You That You Were Naked by William Combs discusses the teachings in the bible of the Garden of Eden about good and evil. He examines Eve’s act of trying the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with the snake’s encouragement, and then Adam’s eventual choice to partake of it as well. He expresses his view on how the garden story can be interpreted and uses real-life examples to illustrate why he feels the way he does about the teachings.
Combs discusses how some may perceive evil through the scriptures as a list of evil acts we commit throughout our lives. He relates it to a grocery list of misdeeds that we feel we must atone for. Combs, however, believes instead that our transgressions are opportunities to move closer to God. To eventually give ourselves over to God in an act of surrender that he likens to the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Something he feels is attainable if we are willing to surrender to our vulnerabilities.
I really liked the way Combs discussed the bible in general. He was very egalitarian in the way he treated men and women and their importance to the overall message the bible is meant to give us. His respect for women is very evident in his writing and he also mentions his wife in his real-life examples, which I really liked as well. This was definitely one of the things I liked the most about his book.
I am not very knowledgeable about the bible so for me reading his book was like learning more about the various quotes and passages in the bible that are pivotal to the essence of our perceptions of good and evil in Christian society. His book definitely helped me understand more than I did before.
I found his writing style very clear and comprehensive. He used lots of direct quotes from the bible to explain his perceptions and followed them up with his own life examples, which added a lot to the book as a whole.
I rate his book 4 out of 4 stars because it is so well written, clear and forward thinking. I did not find any major editing issues or grammatical errors. I found it refreshing to read a book about the bible by a mature religious man who embraces women as much as men in his ideas as well. I believe this is not common and therefore an excellent book to use to study the bible and its many important messages for us all.
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Who Told You That You Were Naked?
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