Liken the Scriptures: Nephi and Laban

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

09 Nov 2006 09:36 AM

The first movie in the Liken the Scriptures Gold Series, and in fact the first movie they made, tells us about Spencer, a little boy who's having a really hard time sitting still in church. Instead of listening to the Sharing Time presentation about Nephi and his family, Spencer would rather play with his toy car. His Primary teacher takes him out into the hall and challenges him to use his imagination to make the story come to life in his mind, and Spencer takes her up on it. Before he knows it, he's seeing the story in living color, and we as viewers get to see it right along with him. Because it's Spencer's imagination, we see things we probably have never seen before, such as Laman, Lemuel, Nephi and Sam forming a boy band to discuss, musically, who will go into Jerusalem to get the brass plates. This, however, is what makes it fun. I can't keep myself from dancing when I hear that song, and it's helped me to visualize what must have happened in reality.

Every so often, Spencer interrupts to ask a question, and we see the actors who are playing the scriptural characters stop, listen to the answer, and nod. It's entertaining to watch them interact with Spencer as he learns about the scriptures and gets caught up in the action.

I specifically liked how the two "touchy" issues of Nephi being beaten by his brothers and then killing Laban were handled. While Nephi is being beaten, we see his mother singing a song to pray for his safety, and Nephi withdraws from himself to sing a song of praise to God. While we can see what's happening in the background, the overall message of that scene is one of faith and trust, rather than fear and anger. When Nephi goes to kill Laban, instead of showing us the grisly scene, we see one of the little boys in Spencer's Primary class ask to go to the bathroom. When we get back to the story, Nephi has already done the deed, and when Spencer asks where Laban went, Nephi said, "He had to go." We know what happened because we know the story, but it's not presented in a way that would upset a small child.

This DVD is one of my favorites in this series for many reasons. I have always enjoyed the story of Nephi and his brothers, so that's a plus in my book. But in addition, I felt the balance between things of the spirit and entertainment was just right. Your children will come to a better understanding of the scripture story, and the Book of Mormon will seem less daunting and confusing to them. The story ends with Spencer deciding that he'll read the Book of Mormon for himself.

Related Blogs:

Liken the Scriptures

The Scriptures Show Us the Way

Author Interview: Robert H. Moss, author of the Nephite Chronicles

Interview with H.B. Moore, author of the Out of Jerusalem Series

Nephi or Laman and Lemuel?

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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