I'd argue that those functions make the code *more* readable. And more testable. How *easy* is to know exactly when that bit of code will run when it's nested in 7 or 8 if blocks? 

Programmers often don't know when we'll be running the same code multiple times. Coding in commented paragraphs makes it much easier to recycle code and requires fewer future code changes (and thus, fewer bugs) when reusing code.