Review by Mtsweni Nelsy -- Who Told You That You Were Na...

[Mtsweni Nelsy]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Who Told You That You Were Naked?" by William Combs.]

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Book title: Who Told You That You Were Naked?: A Refreshing Reexamination of the Garden of Eden.
Author: William E. Combs

The book is called: Who Told You That You Were Naked?: A Refreshing Reexamination of the Garden of Eden! It is written by William E. Combs, who was a Presbyterian minister and has a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary. The author re-examines what happened in the Garden Eden - between Eva, Adam and the serpent - and the consequences of that action. The thesis of the book is that the Gospel is still relevant today, and the writer supports this line of argument through challenging the perception of the reader’s view of sin and salvation. He carefully delved into the teachings of the origin of sin, and provided a better understanding on how God has set us free from the law of sin and death.

The writer was successful at drawing vivid mental pictures on the points that he reached. Surely his love to paint word pictures so that his congregation could better acquaint with the biblical text was not only for the benefit of his church – but also of those that read this book. He eloquently reached his points he made through his perfect word choice and the dramatization of what might have happened in the events recorded in the Bible. These two factors made it a walk in the park for the me, the reader, to visualise and therefore relate to the events that took place in the Garden of Eden – and elsewhere in the Bible. This is what I especially liked the most about the book.

What I also hold in high-esteem about this book is the rich and refreshing content inside it. William E. Combs gave personal testimonies of his and others from his church, in his attempt to show the credibility of the Scriptures in the areas of - but not limited to - faith, hearing God’s voice and doing His will. He actively: unpacked the verses in the Bible; gave depiction and subsequent interpretations of the words and phrases (and their correlation to other Scriptures); channelled the reader through in-depth and unexpected revelations from the Bible Scriptures – on the concepts of sin, faith, the knowledge of the good and the evil, relationship with God, and other important notions of the Christian faith; then drew sound inferences for his conclusions.

Reading such an enlightening book on the origin of sin and basic components of Christian faith, and gaining insight on why the Gospel is seen by many as irrelevant today was an aha moment for me. I hardly found anything I disliked about the book. The author provided enough to what an open-minded reader would need to flourish in reading his book. The book has a list of questions at the end of every chapter, with their answers provided on the endnotes; to assist the reader in richly understanding what was discussed in that chapter. What also made the book easier to be read and understood was the full (in most occurrences) quotation of Scripture quotes upon mentioning. Therefore, it is not a must for a reader to have his/her Bible with for referencing.

I would strongly recommend that whoever reads the book, should do so with an open-minded attitude –to gain insight laid out by the author.
This book would appeal the most to the kinds of people that have basic knowledge of the Christian beliefs. The type of people that are open to considering new ideas and views of the Gospel and its relation to the world.
The book may be less appealing – if appealing at all – to those that lack interest to the Christian religion and beliefs. To the skeptically minded, the book may not be informative enough to answer their “what if’s” and their “how can you be so sure?”

I rate this book 4 out of 4. I give such a rating because the author successful wrote the book with the reader in mind; from his use of different methods (personal testimonies, Scripture-unpacking and correlations, questions and answer series, etc.) to help the reader understand what he means. I didn’t give it any lesser rating because it was straight to the point, very informative and was written by an experienced minister who knew what he was talking about and profoundly vindicated what he professed.

******
Who Told You That You Were Naked?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like Mtsweni Nelsy's review? Post a comment saying so!

-- 08 Sep 2017, 09:34 --

I like how a lot of people have read and reviewed this book. We all had different ways of reviewing it, and held differing points of views from each other's, though, not too distant. Really no two people can read the same book!

[Donatelloo]

I once planned to read it but why then didn't read it.
I really enjoyed reading your review . Great one !

[readandsmile]

You got the main points, I also reviewed this book. A good source for Christian belief. I'm glad that you choose to review this book. Keep it up, nice review.