Review: "Let Go: Live Free of the Burdens All Women Know"

My latest review for Thomas Nelson is of Sheila Walsh’s book, Let Go: Live Free of the Burdens All Women Know. Please check out the promotional information on the Thomas Nelson site at http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=0849901359&title=Let-Go&author=Sheila-Walsh.

Although I am not a woman, I believed I could read this book and gain something from it; I have known Sheila Walsh for her passionate music for Christ and the gospel, and I looked forward to finding the same in her book. Sheila is passionate, and she has a good message, but her book is severely flawed.

The gist of her book is that, as believers in Christ Alone for salvation, we are able to forgive ourselves through Christ’s forgiveness and we are able to see ourselves as persons of value through the value of Christ and the righteousness that He imputes to us. This is excellent and much needed to be heard – by women – and by men.

However, as I have complained in other books, most of the Scripture quotations come from The Message. This is not a translation, but a paraphrase, and while there may be a good reason to use and read from a paraphrase from time to time, it is at best sub-standard, and at worst errant, to use a paraphrase when trying to prove a point from the Scripture.

Two examples of this, which may or may not be just because she is working from a paraphrase, are the following:

On page 42, Walsh explains the history of Abraham and Sarah giving him her servant, Hagar, to bear a child. She comments on how we might find this immoral today, which we should. But then she goes on to say that since Abraham was before the Ten Commandments, he followed the acceptable laws of his day, such as the Code of Hammurabi, which explains this as an acceptable practice.

This, of course, is ridiculous. Genesis 2:24 states that God only allows for one man and one woman to be together as one flesh. Abraham sinned and he knew it – he folded to the sin and the desires of his wife. Neither of them trusted in the promise of God.

There is also a general proposing that “God accepts us just as we are,” which is not true. We are born sinners, enemies of God, whom God cannot accept. It is only through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus that we can be accepted. I know that Walsh believes that, but it is not what comes through her book.

I am sorry to say that despite her passion and good intentions, I cannot recommend this book. Walsh would do well to work with a theologian on her next book and to use a good translation, not a paraphrase, when writing.

[This review is posted on my blog and Amazon.com]