Review by Brievel -- Who Told You That You Were Naked?
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Brievel
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Review by Brievel -- Who Told You That You Were Naked?
[Following is a volunteer review of "Who Told You That You Were Naked?" by William Combs.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Reverend William E. Combs has produced a thought-provoking revisit of Eden, embodying the concepts of (spiritual) nakedness and sin. In Who Told You That You Were Naked? A Refreshing Reexamination of the Garden of Eden, he presents a fresh new look at what separates humans, starting with Adam, from God. Convincingly laying out his arguments, he suggests solutions to help us overcome the separation.
After opening with an anecdote of himself as a child in Alaska, he weaves personal testimonies and dramatizations throughout the book, helping the reader understand the application of his concepts. While I didn’t necessarily feel all the dramatizations held to the letter of truth, I do understand their use. While I feel they could have been better executed in substance, they fulfilled their intended purpose.
At the end of each chapter, he presents questions for study and discussion. Some of the questions have a definitive answer (or several,) which may or may not have been answered in the chapter, and some truly are prompts to think and contemplate as the answer may be a matter only of opinion or theory. Many of the questions have sub-questions, to assist the reader in forming their answers or redirect the conclusions drawn.
Reading Who Told You That You Were Naked? was as refreshing as the subtitle promises. It was inspiring; intellectual and intuitive simultaneously. With a unique take on the actual Fall – arguing that sin is often incorrectly defined as the act of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, when actually it is the wellspring of the knowledge of their perceived inadequacies (spiritual nakedness) – he helps the reader explore alternative ministries and approaches to peace in their own life.
Being an orthodox Christian, raised old-school Baptist (though since having diverged from Baptism, finding them generally a mite too narrow-minded,) I didn’t fully agree with some of the doctrine. However, no individual Christian ever agrees 100% with another regarding doctrine, and Reverend Combs, understanding this, briefly but warmly touches on the subject of his own fallibility as well as that of all Christian authors preceding him, and how, even if they’re not entirely correct, we can still see more clearly because of their mistakes. Being a strong proponent of the King James Version of the Bible, I found it jarring to read verses from another version – on the other hand, I appreciated that the referential verses were included in the text. As Rev. Combs notes in his notes, most people (myself included!) don’t bother to break their flow of reading to go look up the verse, especially if they’re already passingly familiar with the content.
Being, at the least, passingly familiar with all but one or two of the verses used, I’m especially grateful for his added emphasis highlighted in them – I had never before viewed them in the way he presented them. I have been, (for several years, really, but especially strongly in recent months,) been grappling with my own inadequacies and vulnerabilities – my “nakedness.” Reverend Bill Combs illustrated a path to peace that all the counselors I had sought had not shown me. With his description of God’s much-vaunted but little-found rest – and the difficultly-obtained faith that is the vehicle of that rest – came a new understanding of my own anxiety and how to alleviate it. I have long known that I struggled with faith, and while his instruction on how to increase that faith was not detailed, a more thorough understanding of that faith will help a good deal.
I found I dislike the simplicity of the American Standard Version of the Bible, used throughout Who Told You That You Were Naked?. On the other hand, the author discusses the difficulty of translating into English a book written in multiple languages, which have greater nuance than our relatively simple language. Indeed in the study questions after the chapter he invites the reader to ponder how they would go about selecting a translation from several different valid tenses and meanings.
While overall my rating would be 4 out of 4 stars, I am not sure of the validity of some of Rev. Combs personal assertions, prompting me to remove 0.2 points for an end rating of 3.8 stars. I would strongly recommend Who Told You That You Were Naked? A Refreshing Reexamination of the Garden of Eden to any open-minded Christian, new to the faith or decades in Christ, for either personal contemplation or as a useful tool for ministry.
******
Who Told You That You Were Naked?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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4 out of 4 stars
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Reverend William E. Combs has produced a thought-provoking revisit of Eden, embodying the concepts of (spiritual) nakedness and sin. In Who Told You That You Were Naked? A Refreshing Reexamination of the Garden of Eden, he presents a fresh new look at what separates humans, starting with Adam, from God. Convincingly laying out his arguments, he suggests solutions to help us overcome the separation.
After opening with an anecdote of himself as a child in Alaska, he weaves personal testimonies and dramatizations throughout the book, helping the reader understand the application of his concepts. While I didn’t necessarily feel all the dramatizations held to the letter of truth, I do understand their use. While I feel they could have been better executed in substance, they fulfilled their intended purpose.
At the end of each chapter, he presents questions for study and discussion. Some of the questions have a definitive answer (or several,) which may or may not have been answered in the chapter, and some truly are prompts to think and contemplate as the answer may be a matter only of opinion or theory. Many of the questions have sub-questions, to assist the reader in forming their answers or redirect the conclusions drawn.
Reading Who Told You That You Were Naked? was as refreshing as the subtitle promises. It was inspiring; intellectual and intuitive simultaneously. With a unique take on the actual Fall – arguing that sin is often incorrectly defined as the act of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, when actually it is the wellspring of the knowledge of their perceived inadequacies (spiritual nakedness) – he helps the reader explore alternative ministries and approaches to peace in their own life.
Being an orthodox Christian, raised old-school Baptist (though since having diverged from Baptism, finding them generally a mite too narrow-minded,) I didn’t fully agree with some of the doctrine. However, no individual Christian ever agrees 100% with another regarding doctrine, and Reverend Combs, understanding this, briefly but warmly touches on the subject of his own fallibility as well as that of all Christian authors preceding him, and how, even if they’re not entirely correct, we can still see more clearly because of their mistakes. Being a strong proponent of the King James Version of the Bible, I found it jarring to read verses from another version – on the other hand, I appreciated that the referential verses were included in the text. As Rev. Combs notes in his notes, most people (myself included!) don’t bother to break their flow of reading to go look up the verse, especially if they’re already passingly familiar with the content.
Being, at the least, passingly familiar with all but one or two of the verses used, I’m especially grateful for his added emphasis highlighted in them – I had never before viewed them in the way he presented them. I have been, (for several years, really, but especially strongly in recent months,) been grappling with my own inadequacies and vulnerabilities – my “nakedness.” Reverend Bill Combs illustrated a path to peace that all the counselors I had sought had not shown me. With his description of God’s much-vaunted but little-found rest – and the difficultly-obtained faith that is the vehicle of that rest – came a new understanding of my own anxiety and how to alleviate it. I have long known that I struggled with faith, and while his instruction on how to increase that faith was not detailed, a more thorough understanding of that faith will help a good deal.
I found I dislike the simplicity of the American Standard Version of the Bible, used throughout Who Told You That You Were Naked?. On the other hand, the author discusses the difficulty of translating into English a book written in multiple languages, which have greater nuance than our relatively simple language. Indeed in the study questions after the chapter he invites the reader to ponder how they would go about selecting a translation from several different valid tenses and meanings.
While overall my rating would be 4 out of 4 stars, I am not sure of the validity of some of Rev. Combs personal assertions, prompting me to remove 0.2 points for an end rating of 3.8 stars. I would strongly recommend Who Told You That You Were Naked? A Refreshing Reexamination of the Garden of Eden to any open-minded Christian, new to the faith or decades in Christ, for either personal contemplation or as a useful tool for ministry.
******
Who Told You That You Were Naked?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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Latest Review: Happy Healing by Dominique Bourlet
