Rack, Shack, and Benny.

I remember Sunday school, growing up there was a girl who was one of my best friends in my age group. She came from a big family and I remember her impressive abilities to recite the stories from the Old and New Testament in the Bible, just like that. It came from her parents teaching their children Bible stories via the kids cartoon, Veggie Tales. When I would go to her house, we would sometimes watch this show and it was highly entertaining while also being somewhat informative. Her favorite bible story was about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but as per learning it from Veggie Tales, she affectionately called them Rack, Shack, and Benny and could only remember them as vegetables. I was always so impressed by her ability to remember these stories, however child-like they were. It was as if she was really learning about these individuals, not just about the stories.

As one studies the Book of Mormon, one might take the same approach my dear childhood friend took as she learned the names, even used the nicknames given in the cartoon. There may not be cartoon reenactments of the stories and histories found in the Book of Mormon, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from creating their own reenactments. How many movies are based on actual historical events? How many plays simply recreate a history so students can actually learn them properly? Because really, what high school student (or most college students for that matter) cracks open their history textbook before the test comes around? Reading scripture is hard—totally worth it. But still hard. So, to humanize the ‘stories’ we read about in the Book of Mormon, we need to visualize them actually happening, with real people, in real situations.

Maybe someday I can be as familiar and comfortable with the history of the peoples found in the Book of Mormon as my friend was with Rack, Shack, and Benny.