4 out of 4 stars
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Reading Who Told You Were Naked by William E. Combs was like having an honest conversation about God with my grandpa. It was a personal, fun, revealing, thought-provoking and carefully structured piece of Christian literature. Contrary to natural assumptions that the title (and first few pages) may imply, the book is not just a review of the events that occurred in the Garden of Eden. William Combs only began with an examination of the story of Creation as a foundation, and by doing so he overhauled almost every previous belief that I had held to on the subject. Who Told You That You Were Naked helps the reader see the account of Creation in a new light, and presents a truly refreshing evaluation of the whole Bible - from the story of Creation to the gift of Salvation. Combs provides a compelling narrative of the nature of God, the beginning of sin and death, the concept of faith and the monumental, finished work of Jesus Christ.
One game-changing lesson I’ve learned from this book is that the Old Testament is an essential foundation for the New Testament — If we fail to combine the two while we study and attempt to grow in our relationship with God, we may never truly find a firm grasp on the precious secrets of Salvation. The themes and subjects you will find in this book are faith, Christianity, psychology, self-help, history, and theology. The book is quite academic in nature, even to the point of providing questions that help the reader summarize and reflect on important points at the end of each chapter. For that reason I would recommend this book to researchers, academics, Bible students and more mature Christians. Even though I would like to, I may not suggest this to new readers and Christians or book lovers who prefer descriptive and narrative storytelling to discussions or debates.
The book is written in ten chapters and each chapter is expository in form. William Combs shows a deft mastery of theological study and interpretation by employing imaginative storytelling; definitions and translations of the Bible in its original language; as well as a detailed comparison of old and new testament verses to make each point. As an avid reader and researcher I appreciated his advanced efforts. His methods may, however, be more difficult for beginner readers and Christians who have only just found their faith. For example; each chapter does not present its point immediately. A few require patient reading and careful attention to arguments that seem irrelevant until the conclusion is finally presented. An example of this is that I found it difficult to accept his proposition in Chapter Six that ‘we should not attempt in any way to resist sin’. I thought the idea was impractical to everyday life. However, by the time I arrived at Chapter Ten the rationale had been explained in such detail that I found myself nodding vigorously at my laptop screen.
A personal issue I found with the book was that a lot of the author’s points relied heavily on the use of tense in the Bible verses he referred to. Using his examination of Hebrews 4:10 as an example, he referred to the Bible use of the word ‘rested’ and made a point with the fact that the word was written in past tense. This kind of reliance on tense to buttress particular points occurred in several other instances as well and it made a few of his important points difficult to appreciate. I own a New International Version Bible, and some of the Bible verses he referred to were written, in my Bible, in a different tense. Fortunately, I had access to other Bible versions, but people who do not will lose a lot of the information that the author was trying to pass across.
In any case, William Combs’ writing is thorough and educative. His research on Christianity, Bible history and theology are exhaustive and the structure of his arguments are very helpful to a mature Christian and experienced reader. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The writing was very inspiring and well researched. I found only two typographical errors. Other than that, Who Told You That You Were Naked is a gem every Christian should read. Forget what you thought you knew before now, this is an account that will paint God, creation, faith and the truth of Jesus Christ in a completely different light.
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Who Told You That You Were Naked?
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