Oops.

Before I get into this one, I want you to notice I say nothing bad about the other group. Im not looking for a debate – this is MY story, as its applicable to MY life only. 🙂

When I was little, public libraries were still a happenin’ place.

My mom took me to the library every couple of weeks to check out new books and VHS’s. I dont know how old I was in this particular story… maybe 7 or 8…

Among the menagerie of VHS tapes, were a lot of animated Bible movies. Especially one called “The Greatest Adventure” or something, where these 3 people would travel back in time and tell you about Biblical figures… I LOVED these, and since I was a preachers kid, my mom thought they were equally a hit. Lol

I remember an Abraham one I particularly liked.

But the day eventually came when I had nearly watched them all… my choices were becoming limited. I picked one of the last ones on the shelf. Because my mom had seen all the others, she wasnt concerned about what I picked… She was sure they lined up with our beliefs based on experience with the other tapes… So she didnt look.

We came home later that day from town, and I ran up to my VCR and popped the movie in immediately.

In it, a man was walking in the woods on a morning walk. He was troubled and stopped to pray. Suddenly, a ‘darkness’ came over him, overpowering him.

I remember thinking, WHOA THIS IS EXCITING.

You gotta watch the clip to get the full effect.

Then, God the Father and God the Son appeared to the dude and told him to start his own church.

I was SO INTRIQUED. I had never heard this Bible story before!

I’m not sure if it was the same video or not, but later on, an angel named Moroni came to visit the dude and gave him some golden tablets.

COOLNESS!!!

After the movie was over, I went to my mom and said, “I didnt know Moroni gave a book to Joseph Smith! How neat!”

I had just watched the story of Mormonism… and my mom didnt know.

My mom looked at me, puzzled.

Who now?

She looked at the cover of the tape and her eyes widened.

She had just experienced a parenting fail. A deadly sin of young preachers kids… exposing me to an entirely different belief system unsupervised, and one we believed to be completely wrong. (We believe that Galatians 1:8 is specific. No shade being thrown. We’re Baptists.)

My mom had to have a deep talk with me.

“Oh honey that’s not a story from the Bible. That’s something else.” LOL

And those VHS days were over.

Bummer.