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Naked Before God

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I've read Bill William's *Naked Before God* a couple of times. It's an incredibly painful chore, because the book is as honest an account of spiritual searching and physical suffering as I've ever encountered. Williams' ultimate concern is the problem of innocent suffering, sometimes referred to by theologians as the problem of evil. In a nutshell, the problem is this: how is belief in an all-loving God compatible with the presence of undeserved suffering in the world? It's the question raised by Job. It's a question that millions of people ask themselves in their everyday sufferings. And it's a question on which more than one person's faith has been broken.

Bill Williams faces the problem headon in a mode that I suppose can be called autobiographical-imaginative-theology. Weaving in stories of his own struggle with cystic fibrosis, fictional ruminations of walking and talking with Jesus as a disciple named Nathaniel, and scriptural/theological reflections on the problem of innocent suffering, Williams presents us with a one-of-a-kind meditation on what it means to be a fragile, suffering, frightened, but also occasionally angry, defiant, and hopeful human being. He pulls no punches in the book. At times his anger, his sense of unfairness, is overpowering. At other times, his gratitude for the slightest of blessings, the most trivial (to our jaded eyes) gifts, is equally overpowering. Ultimately, Williams awakens to the suffering God who loves, who knows what it's like to be a broken pot (p. 299), who lost hope in the depts of His suffering, and who still, in a mysterious way that even He, perhaps, doesn't understand, overcame.

There are few books that make me laugh out loud when I read them, and fewer still that make me weep. This one did both. It's not a feel-good book. But it is one that will touch your deepest core, and in the process move you closer, perhaps, to an embrace of the mystery of God and suffering. Bill Williams died shortly after *Naked Before God* was published. I remember him with gratitude each morning in my prayers.

This is the best book of theology I have ever read. God is present, loving and accessible. Bill Williams' broken body is representative of all the shame, guilt and abandonment that I have felt. I also learned a lot about cystic fibrosis and the difficulties and impossibilities it brings. I wish I could have met him. I wish there were going to be more books from him. I wish he could have been my pastor. An amazing book filled with wisdom and insight. Recommended for those who are questioning their Sunday School education, grappling with faith issues and those who want to know jesus (sic) as their savior and mentor. Although God is referred to by male pronouns (Williams explains his rationale in the introduction), this is a beautiful read for feminist theologians.

This book is unique in that it carries on a conversation between Jesus, the disciples, etc. with the author of the book in present time. The author has cystic fibrosis and diabetes in real life and is a character in the book as well. He is also a theologian and physicist which makes for an absolutely riviting book. He holds nothing back when questioning pain and misery on earth. The dialogue between all of these people - it will stretch your mind, and you will look at life differently. For the better. I have purchased this book to give as a Christmas gift. I wish I had enough money to send out dozens of copies to friends. It's that good.

I wish I could persuade everyone in the world to read this book. Although it is written in a Christian context, it is a book for everyone regardless of religion or belief or even lack thereof. It addresses the universal question of Why me,God? It forces you to face the world as it is and it forces you to face yourself and to accept yourself as you are. Not that you can't change or that you shouldn't change. You can and you should. Yes, there is pain and suffering in this world. Yes, it's terrible and unfair when it happens to you or to someone dear to you. Yes, there is no answer for it. I heard once that for a believer there are no questions, for a non-believer there are no answers. Put another way, for a believer no explanation is necessary, for a non-believer no explanation will suffice. I do not subscribe to the last chapter of the Book of Job where he is made whole and then some. I think some ancient Hollywood writer added that. I believe that Job's story ends with him sick and suffering----but loving God nevertheless. Life can indeed be very painful, more painful for some than for others, but God loves you and suffers with you. Read the book.

In painfully frank terms, Williams and his literary persona, the disciple Nathaniel, describe his/their estrangement from God. Williams feels this in his DNA, broken by the pain of cystic fibrosis. He feels it in his awareness of being an outsider, different, a medical oddity who lived past the thirteen years predicted for him. And he feels it when he, like the other broken disciples, just can't get the expansiveness of God's love for him. Walking alongside him is Jesus, a man broken daily by people's need for healing, by his disciples' failures to give and accept love, who will soon be broken by the power of the state. Yet he leads the author, and the reader, to a simple truth: that God desires not all this pain, that Jesus' God does not author the brokenness.

This book could become a classic of spiritual autobiography. But read it for what it gives you today - a moving journey with someone who offers himself, his fears, his pain...and his glimpse of a love that never ends.

I am not an editor so please forgive me if my review seems somewhat unsophisticated. I like Bill Williams have been sick for sometime (but I thank the Lord above that I am not nearly as ill!). This book presented to me a God who loved me for me. Bill presents a God who can look at what he made and still call it good. He sees our imperfections and reminds us that He is working them out! (Emphasis on HE!). Yet, He isn't presented as a cosmic feel good or an opium for the masses but rather as a healer and parent who desires HIS relationship to be restored with HIS children. This book certainaly challenged my theological bedrocks. It changed some, strengthened others, but most important caused a re-examination of them all.

For those of us raised in a confusing society that pays lip service to the gospels while practicing something entirely different, it is difficult to approach the Bible with an open heart. In fact, we often find ourselves unable to even listen to it without cynicism as we constantly conjure up images of televangelists and right wing fanatics. Bill Williams has managed the extraordinary task of telling the gospels in a way that is both fresh and realistic. His ability to tell the story of Jesus from the perspective of a believable eyewitness and his ability to turn Jesus into a flesh and blood human being, without diminishing his divine compassion, breaks through the thick walls of disbelief that many of us live within. He offers us the possibility that your gut feelings about what is wrong with religion today are correct, and that God is neither cruel nor crazy. It once again becomes possible to find acceptance within oneself. Even more importantly, it becomes possible to imagine a relationship with God that is not based on fear, guilt, debt, self-denial or self-denegration. This book is the only book on religion that I can recommend whole-heartedly to anyone, of any faith, and of any age.

I am not an editor so please forgive me if my review seems somewhat unsophisticated. I like Bill Williams have been sick for sometime (but I thank the Lord above that I am not nearly as ill!). This book presented to me a God who loved me for me. Bill presents a God who can look at what he made and still call it good. He sees our imperfections and reminds us that He is working them out! (Emphasis on HE!). Yet, He isn't presented as a cosmic feel good or an opium for the masses but rather as a healer and parent who desires HIS relationship to be restored with HIS children. This book certainaly challenged my theological bedrocks. It changed some, strengthened others, but most important caused a re-examination of them all.

This book reminded me of so much of my seeker readings. It breaks boundaries, synthesizes psychology and spirituality, connects our true nature with physics, and places us, non-judgementally, as limited, loved, children of God. When you stop wanting eternity, you realize that what you've got is pretty darned good!

Profoundly moving autobiography disguised as theological fiction. Read it.