Official Review: Your Holiness - Your First Gift

Juliana_Isabella · Post by **Juliana_Isabella** » 29 Jul 2019, 15:22

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Your Holiness - Your First Gift" by Maurice Brame.]

2 out of 4 stars

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Your Holiness - Your First Gift by Maurice Brame is a Christian self-help book that explores how holiness is not just found in the Holy Trinity; it’s also found in every believer. Over nine chapters, the author explains how God’s holiness was transmitted to people during the creation and was restored by Jesus’s sacrifice. Brame uses a multitude of Bible verses to support his points as he expands on the reasons he believes holiness is present in all Christians and the possible applications of this holiness in Christian life.

I appreciated that the author included Bible verses to support his points, especially when he used phrases like “Jesus taught” or “God wants”, which imply that whatever is to follow is a direct commandment from God. I was, however, troubled by the number and length of these quotations, especially when the author would include many in a row on the same topic without explaining each one individually. I think that he shouldn’t include multiple verses that don’t independently contribute to his ideas. I often found myself reading a string of verses and forgetting the main point I was supposed to be focused on because he didn’t include analysis between each quote.

I also enjoyed that the writing style would be generally accessible for most readers. The author doesn’t use excessively complicated vocabulary or convoluted ideas. He is focused on simply transmitting his main point. Unfortunately, he does digress from this point on occasion, sending the reader on a tangential path that doesn’t reinforce the main idea. For example, he spends a few pages talking about the formation of snowflakes to support a metaphor about the creation of humans, but he could have shortened the explanation of snowflakes to just a sentence or two, and it would have supported his metaphor just as well. These tangents, again, take the reader off track and left me wondering what point I was supposed to be focused on.

Finally, I feel that I have to comment on the fact that the book is clearly not professionally edited. The multitude of missing commas was the most obvious issue, but I also found multiple typos, an incorrect verb conjugation, a split infinitive, and formatting issues throughout the book. One thing that would be easy to fix is that the table of contents is located both at the beginning and at the end of the book, but only the one at the end contains links in each chapter heading that take you to that chapter. Also, it’s not very clear when you’ve reached a new chapter because they aren’t numbered in the book, and the headings of the chapter are not very large relative to the headings within chapters.

Overall, I would rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I believe that the author’s argument is solid, and he obviously has good biblical evidence, but he needs to employ more thoughtful editing in order to keep his reader on track and make the book easier to follow. I would recommend this guide to Christians who are looking for God within them and want a deeper connection to their faith.

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Your Holiness - Your First Gift
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Post by **Ngozi Onyibor** » 06 Aug 2019, 06:35

A good message with poor delivery. I appreciate Christian books that aim to draw the reader closer to God. However, If I attempt to read this book, the errors will ensure I don't finish it. Thanks.

Post by **kandscreeley** » 06 Aug 2019, 18:36

It's too bad this one isn't edited well. It also sounds like it has too many quotations added. The author has some interesting thoughts, though. Those would be worth exploring. Thanks.

Dee_218 · Post by **Dee_218** » 07 Aug 2019, 13:11

Sounds like the author had a good theoretical message and still needs to be able to precisely catch the readers attention. Thank you for a lovely review.