Adventures in Learning
When we were growing up, Dad would sometimes write little plays depicting scripture stories, for his Sunday School class. We would often record them in audio format, complete with in-character voices and background music and effects. In fond memory of those occasions, I post a play of my own which I used recently in a church class (it was not recorded). It depicts Abinadi confronting the priests of wicked King Noah, with some liberties taken.
Abinadi and the priests of Noah, from Mosiah 12:18-37; 13:1-35
CHARACTERS: Jimmy, Sally, King Noah, Abinadi, Priest 1, Priest 2, Priest 3, Jimmy’s Mother
Jimmy: Sally, come check this out! I've rewired my television set, so now, instead of showing dumb TV shows, it actually shows events from the past! It’s like a window into what has gone before.
Sally: You mean you can actually look backwards in time?
Jimmy: Exactly. We will never have to fail another history test.
Sally: Wow, Jimmy, you are such a genius!
Jimmy: You are smart, too, Sally, knowing that I am.
Sally: Thanks. Hey, look, there's something coming in on the screen.
Jimmy: Yeah, I set the machine so we could see one of my favorite encounters from the past: the struggle between Abinadi and the wicked priests of King Noah. This should be good . . .
Sally: Wait! I can't understand a word they're saying! They're all talking in some other language. This is all useless! It's all meaningless. What a dunce you are Jimmy! What good is it like this?
Jimmy: Gee, I, uh, . . .
Sally: Wait! Give me the remote . . . I'll just go into the TV setup mode and select English as the language! There. . . .all fixed!
King Noah: I have brought you here, Abinadi, that my priests might question you.
Abinadi: Wo unto this people!
Priest 1 : We'll see about that, Abinadi. Now I have a question for you to answer: What do the words from Isaiah 52 mean which say: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings."
Sally: Oh no! The priest is quoting Isaiah! I always get confused with Isaiah. Not even the TV setup mode can help us now!
Jimmy: Wait, give it a chance! Maybe Abinadi will explain it!
Abinadi: Are you priests, and pretend to teach this people, and to understand the spirit of prophesying, and yet desire to know of me what this scripture from Isaiah means?
Priest 1: Answer my question. Why do you bring us bad tidings when Isaiah says you should bring good tidings?
Abinadi: I say unto you, wo be unto you for perverting the ways of the Lord!
Priest 1: I have only read straight from the Holy scriptures.
Priest 2: Isaiah 52 also states: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that publisheth peace." Yet you have told us we will have war, not peace!
Priest 3: Isaiah 52 further says: "The Lord hath comforted his people." You have not been speaking comforting words to us, Abinadi, but disturbing words, like how the dogs shall devour our flesh.
Priest 2: Isaiah 52 also says: "All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God," yet you have said that we will not be saved, but destroyed and smitten!
Priest 3: Isaiah 52 also states: "Put on thy strength," yet you have told us we will be weak, smitten on the cheek, and driven like a dumb ass.
Priest 2: Isaiah 52 also states: "Break forth into joy; sing together," yet you tell us that we shall howl all the day long.
Priest 3: And you have spoken against the King! Isaiah 52 says: "Put on thy beautiful garments," yet you have said that the King shall be as a garment in a hot furnace!
Priest 1: So now, explain to us, Abinadi, how can you be a prophet and teach against the scriptures?
Sally: Wow! Those priests are sharp, pointing out that Abinadi seems to have everything backwards--blessings turned into cursings. Will Abinadi be able to answer those charges?
Jimmy: Let's see what Abinadi says.
Abinadi: If ye understand the scriptures ye have not taught them; therefore, ye have perverted the ways of the Lord. Ye have not applied your hearts to understanding; therefore, ye have not been wise. Therefore, what teach ye this people?
Priest 2: What do we teach the people? Of course we teach the law of Moses.
Abinadi: If ye teach the law of Moses why do ye not keep it? Why do ye set your hearts upon riches? Why do ye commit whoredoms and spend your strength with harlots, yea, and cause this people to commit sin, that the Lord has cause to send me to prophesy against this people, yea, even a great evil against this people?
Priest 3: How dare you condemn us!? We are your priests, your spiritual leaders, consecrated by the King himself!
Abinadi: Know ye not that I speak the truth? Yea, ye know that I speak the truth; and you ought to tremble before God. Ye shall be smitten for your iniquities.
Priest 3: We've already heard all this stuff from you.
Abinadi: Ye have said that ye teach the law of Moses. And what know ye concerning the law of Moses? Doth salvation come by the law of Moses? What say ye?
Sally: Wow! He's turned it around and is questioning them, now.
Jimmy: That's the strategy I use in chess. A good offense is a good defense.
Priest 1: Yes, Abinadi, salvation comes by the law of Moses. Of course it does.
Abinadi: I know if ye keep the commandments of God ye shall be saved; yea, if ye keep the commandments which the Lord delivered unto Moses in the mount of Sinai, saying:
I am the Lord thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other God before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing in heaven above, or things which are in the earth beneath.
Sally: Hey! Abinadi is quoting from the 10 Commandments. I recognize them from seminary two years ago!
Jimmy: You must have learned something after all, Sally, in between all of that note-writing. The 10 commandments are part of the law of Moses. The priests say they teach the law of Moses, so Abinadi is reminding them of what that law actually says.
Abinadi: Have ye done all this? I say unto you, Nay, ye have not. And have ye taught this people that they should do all these things? I say unto you, Nay, ye have not.
King Noah: Away with this fellow, and slay him! For what have we to do with him, for he is mad!
Sally: Look, they're trying to grab Abinadi, but they can‘t!
Abinadi: Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell; therefore, God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time.
But I must fulfil the commandments wherewith God has commanded me; and because I have told you the truth ye are angry with me. And again, because I have spoken the word of God ye have judged me that I am mad.
Jimmy: Look, Sally, Abinadi’s face is shining with a bright light!
Sally: I remember reading in seminary about Moses when he was on Mount Sinai. His face shined the same way.
Jimmy: Abinadi was just quoting from the law of Moses, and now Abinadi looks like Moses!
Abinadi: Ye see that ye have not power to slay me, therefore I finish my message. Yea, and I perceive that it cuts you to your hearts because I tell you the truth concerning your iniquities. Yea, and my words fill you with wonder and amazement, and with anger.
King Noah and all the priests: Grrrrrrrr!
Abinadi: But I finish my message; and then it matters not whither I go, if it so be that I am saved. But this much I tell you, what you do with me, after this, shall be as a type and a shadow of things which are to come.
Priest 1: I’m gonna get you!
Abinadi: And now I will finish telling you of the commandments, for they are not written in your hearts. Ye have studied and taught iniquity the most part of your lives. And now I continue:
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Jimmy’s Mother (from the other room): Jimmy! Jimmy! You haven’t taken out the trash! You go and do it right now, before you watch any more TV!
[Jimmy takes the remote and presses “pause”]
Jimmy: Aw, Mom!
Sally: Jimmy! What did Abinadi just say? Honor thy father and mother!
Jimmy: Okay, Mom! Sorry I forgot! I’ll do it right away!
[Jimmy goes, and then comes back and presses “play”]
Abinadi:
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
Have ye taught this people that they should observe to do all these things for to keep these commandments? I say unto you, Nay; for if ye had, the Lord would not have caused me to come forth and to prophesy evil concerning this people.
Priest 2: Don’t judge us! We know the law as well as you do.
Priest 3: We are a rich and prosperous kingdom. The Lord has blessed us. He has saved us because we do know the law.
Abinadi: Ye have said that salvation cometh by the law of Moses. But salvation does not come by the law alone; and were it not for the atonement of the Messiah, or Christ, we all must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses. In fact, all of the ordinances of the law of Moses are symbolic of Christ.
Priest 1: What strange ideas are you trying to preach to us now? You’re trying to lead us astray with your talk of an atonement and of Christ.
Abinadi: Did not Moses prophesy concerning the coming of the Messiah, and that God should redeem his people? Yea, and even all the prophets who have prophesied ever since the world began—have they not spoken more or less concerning these things?
Priest 2: I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Priest 3: He really is mad.
Abinadi: Have not all the prophets said that God himself should come down among the children of men, and take upon him the form of man, and go forth in mighty power upon the face of the earth? Have they not said that he should bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, and that he, himself, should be oppressed and afflicted?
Priest 1: What prophets? What are you talking about?
Abinadi: You quoted from the words of Isaiah 52. So now I shall tell you what Isaiah said next, in Isaiah 53. This whole chapter is about the Messiah and the atonement.
Sally: Wow! They tried to trap him with Isaiah 52. Now he’s going to quote Isaiah 53 to turn everything around and put everything in context. He’s using the next chapter from Isaiah to answer them. Brilliant! Isaiah is cool after all!
Jimmy: Isaiah certainly is! And luckily, I’ve studied it along with my scientific experimenting. In fact I can explain Isaiah to you right now--I have been thinking about what he said in chapter 53. . .
Jimmy’s Mother (from the other room): Jimmy! You’ve been watching TV long enough! Now turn that thing off and come help me in the kitchen!
Jimmy: Yes Mother. I’ll see you later, Sally.
Sally: Later.
That was great! What a great way to help the youth internalize the scriptures. I remember acting out the tree of life in seminary, and it's one of the lessons I remember best.
ReplyDeleteHow fun! I agree with what Ryan said.
ReplyDeleteAnd I didn't remember that your dad would write plays like that, I just remember that YOU would for family night. I have very happy memories of reading the script and recording it. I feel like I just studied the scriptures by reading this dialogue.
Recording it? Where are those audio archives?
ReplyDeleteThe youth do respond to this type of thing. It sure beats me trying to interest them in my lecturing, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere is not anything remaining like this that we recorded (with my own kids) that I know of.
The closest thing to an archive of my dad's audio plays is a (I think a Christmas) cassette he sent me when I was on my mission in Germany, in 1975. It was a satire of those old recordings, "Adventures in Learning", and members of my family back home were on it. But it was not really one of the ones used in his class. It is preserved in the BFB archive on the BFB cd, vol. 4, put out in 2004.
For the particular play in this post, I tried to get students to look at this account of Abinadi more closely that they normally would want to do--many times I have read it and it seemed just like a bunch of quoting of scriptures--and I haven't followed it beyond that. The Book of Mormon is really quite amazing.
Yeah I don't know what happened to the cassette tape we recorded... but I distinctly remember recording the little play twice-- the second time, Greg just had to be a girl and talk in a girly voice. Who knows what happened to all our old silly recordings?
ReplyDeleteWell, in our storage room we do have a box or two of old cassettes we haven't looked at for years. Who knows what might be in there.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you used some pretty concrete contrasts and comparisons to send your message. The part where you compare Moses to Abinadi, and emphasize that it's the doctrine being preached that made them both prophets.
ReplyDeleteI also love the "debate style" format you couched all of this in. Makes it much more relatable and understandable! Jeff thought so, too (I read this to him aloud.)