When I was a kid we had one Living Scripture Movie. I always told the story of Nephi leaving Jerusalem wrong because of it, and my older brothers always told me, the movie was wrong, and I didn't know the story.
So a few months ago, when a nice little 22 year old boy came to sell me some, I wasn't too interested. But I also don't like to be rude, and he told me he got credit for just telling me even if I didn't buy. So he had to wait 30 minutes until my mom and I finished my kids' mosaics in the garage, then he proceeded to stay in the garage another hour telling me about it. Ahh! too long. (My mom and kids gardened in freedom without me.)
He had all these spiritual stories of how these movies touched his buyers lives. Which I do not believe he had met all these people, I think his managers told him most of the stories. Anyway, he had all these stories, and I kept thinking, yeah I've experienced that story with my kid, or that is what my daughter does, or a primary child told me something similar. In all these cases that I had had these experience they were not from living scriptures movies.
Overall I have no problem with the movies, I'm all for capitalism, I just don't want to buy them for my kids. A few weeks before the salesman came by, my son just started watching the church's film strip DVD of the Book of Mormon. Still before I ever met the sales guy, I was totally impressed with all the stories J learned. Long story short I like the $8 for the entire standard works, better than $30 a Living Scriptures DVD. $30! There is something like 10 dvds per set, four sets?! I don't even spend $30 on Disney Blu-ray. Plus the church doesn't put fictional characters in their film strip stories. Sure the film strip isn't as exciting, and it has no songs, but my son is really getting his stories together.
It was just like the time I was at Temple Square talking to a sister missionary. I had a bag from Deseret Bookstore, and she was from a different country. She said I bet there is so many great resources to teach your children in that store. I agreed, paying more attention to my children running in the grass so I didn't lose them. She kept talking then asked me, "What are your favorite things to teach your children in the store"? She had me stumped. I looked at her blankly, I didn't know. I didn't usually buy stuff my kids there, it was expensive. Finally I said, honestly the best teaching tools are from from Distribution. The best thing I've found for their age is the new Nursery Manual. I continued telling her awesome it was and about the regional conference I attended where I had heard a talk about what a great resource it was. How it is great for even older kids, because they can learn how to teach Family Home Evening lessons using it. I went on and on, and then realized she had a disappointed look on her face. She wanted there to be something cool, and different she couldn't get in her home country. But that is not the purpose of the church, the purpose is simple doctrine about Christ, which is why eventhough capitalism is great, it can't offer anything better than what the church offers at cost. No one has to make it to Temple Square in Salt Lake to be saved, there is nothing you need to buy at the new fancy Deseret Book Flagship Store. Its the same everywhere, and that was disappointing to this sister.
Which is why I even if I was interested in Living Scripture movies, I probably would not buy them anyway, $30 per movie is expensive, and there is nothing they are teaching that I can't teach myself.
That being said, I love leaning to the church for helping teaching the gospel.
A few months ago, my son told me his favorite story was the Escape from Bagel. I thought Escape from Bagel, Escape from bagel? I know this, I know this, what is he talking about? He told me about how someone told his brother to pray, and they built boats, etc. I said oh! Escape from Babel! He giggled and said oh yeah that. The other day he told me the Story of Samuel the Lamanite was his favorite story in the scriptures, and then told me all about it.
And to think all these came because I told him he wasn't allowed to watch pokemon on sundays. Hooray for the Sabbath! Our new rules go has follows, only LDS Friend online Games, only Disney movies, or Kipper, Nature Documentaries or Church DVDs. Why Disney is ok, and Dora isn't, is beyond me, but I grew up watching Disney movies on Sundays, I think it might have been the only way my parents got a nap. I was(/am) a talker! Eventhough we have a lot of Dora in our house, she is annoying as all get out, and Sunday is a day of rest. Turns out, you can watch all the film strip movies online. The major downfall to the film strip, is they have no appeal to a toddler, and there is no play all function, you have to individual select each 2 minute story. I love what the online page starts out say about the filmstrips, "These stories are taken from a book that is sacred. As you read these stories, remember they are about real people who lived long ago."
Back to the living scripture sales guy, the only thing he had that interested me, was a free gift for signing up. I wanted a CD set of the Dramatized Golden Plates, because I also like the idea of my children using the own imagination to figure out what the prophets looked like since we don't know. It turns out Amazon has it way cheaper than $130. I still I don't know if we'll buy it. I've yet to jump in the last 2 months.
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