4 out of 4 stars
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In Who Told You That You Were Naked, written by William E. Combs, the author reexamines the historic biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and how sin came about. Through his own narrative, strengthened by passages and verses found in the Bible, and personal testimonies, he reexamines the meaning and relevance of sin both then and how we live with it now, in modern day life. This book offers a fresh perspective, giving a newly baptized Christian the chance to learn more about “the Fall” as we know it, and gives the more seasoned Christian a chance to reevaluate the meaning behind the birth of sin and how it can reside in everyone’s life.
For someone not familiar with the Bible or the story of Adam and Eve, this is a great place to start on one’s journey to learning more. Each chapter ends with a list of “Discussion Questions” that summarize the key concepts of the chapter and gives the reader time for reflection and think deeper about the content. These end-of-chapter questions also make this book an ideal choice for Christian Bible Study groups and book clubs.
The only negative comments I have about this book is one may feel like they need the Bible to follow along with some of the scripture passages and verses, but it is not necessary. Alongside the reflective questions, any words or concepts that may be confusing or hard to understand are marked with footnotes and explained in the back of the book in the “endnotes” section. I found this to be very helpful on specific biblical passages that I was not familiar with. Also, chapter five seems to trail off from the original topic and reads heavy so the reader may tend to barrel through the chapter and get to the next one. However, the content of the chapter is still relevant to the topic as a whole and is an important read.
Overall, I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. Combs' literary work creates vivid scenery to allow the reader to become engulfed in the story and truly imagine they are in the Garden of Eden alongside Adam, Eve, and the infamous serpent. Throughout the book, the author will stop the story to give a backstory of some sort, to help guide the reader and keep them following along. The use of changes in font allows this to be easy to comprehend.
I would personally offer this book for any fellow Christian to read, no matter how far along their spiritual journey they are, and to anyone curious about the faith and where to start. This book truly gives one the ability to take a different approach to how we look at sin and what we can change within ourselves to further eliminate it from our lives the best we can. To anyone who looks at sin as a laundry list of wrongdoings, I would give them this book and ask, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?”
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Who Told You That You Were Naked?
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