New Liberty Videos is a company that is new to me, but they have lots of interesting DVDs to offer. They are actually a family-owned company started by Brian Barkley, who has been in the motion picture business for over 40 years. He actually worked for Universal Studios! In 1977 while working on a movie that was filmed in San Quentin, he accepted the gift of salvation. Since then, he has committed to making quality Christian videos. Our family was given the opportunity to review The Forbidden Book DVD. The DVD is for a general audience, so you may want to preview it first and decide if the topics mentioned are right for your family. At the time of posting, the cost of the DVD is $19.95. The runtime for the DVD is 58 minutes, so it’s great for an easy History lesson.
The Forbidden Book takes us through the Dark Ages, and describes what folks went through in order for the Bible to be translate to the English Language. It’s amazing to me the trials that were endured in order to obtain the English Bible that we have today. The DVD is narrated by Craig Lampe. He traces the Bible from Moses on through Biblical authors. We also get to learn about what decided the books that would actually go into the Bible. During the Dark Ages, the church didn’t quite line up with the Scriptures, and thankfully there were men who stood against that. Probably the most well-known men we learn about are John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, and William Tyndale. Wycliffe was an Oxford scholar who actually translated the Bible from Latin into English. Pope Martin V demanded that Wycliffe’s bones be dug up and burned 40 years after he died, because the church hated what he did so much. Martin Luther is probably the most well-known. He actually challenged the church’s authority, and exposed the church for having people pay money to the church in order to find favor with God (I think we all know that’s not how it really works). Unlike Wycliffe and Tyndale, though, he lived to tell his story. Tyndale suffered greatly. He spent his last days, about a year and a half, in cold dungeon, and then he as actually strangled and burned at the stake. All just because he dared to print the Bible in the English language. There are some cool pictures/paintings shown throughout the video to go along with what’s discussed as well.
So, DVDs are pretty easy to work into our day. I chose not to preview it first, and we just watched it one day as our History work. I love watching documentaries, and normally the kids do as well. Ethan and Lucas, being the younger 2 and the most rambunctious, had a hard time paying attention to the movie. There was a lot of great information presented as far as I’m concerned, and I definitely learned something new, but the content was presented in a way, to me, that makes it hard to stay focused. It just sort of drags on, and feels sleepy to me. I think if the content was presented differently, it would make a world of difference. So, the DVD would probably work best for older children and adults, based on your ability to focus.
Be sure to click the banner below to read reviews from my fellow Crew Mates. There were different DVDs that were reviewed, so click and see what everyone had to say!
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