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| − | ==Criticism==
| + | #REDIRECT [[The death of Shiz]] |
| − | [[Image:Brain_1.gif|frame|Right|The human brain. The midbrain is located at the level marked 'cerebral peduncle'. From: Henry Gray, ''Anatomy of the Human Body'', 1918, Fig 677. [http://www.bartleby.com/107/illus677.html].]]
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| − | In [http://scriptures.lds.org/ether/15/31#31 Ether 15:31], a final showdown occurs between two warriors, Shiz and Coriantumr. Coriantumr "smote off the head of Shiz...[and] after he had smitten off the head...Shiz raised up on his hands and fell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died."
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| − | Critics insist that this would not, or could not, happen.
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| − | ===Source(s) of the Criticism===
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| − | *John R. Farkas and David A. Reed, ''Mormonism: Changes, Contradictions, and Errors,'' (Grand Rapids, Mich. : Baker Books, 1995), 152.
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| − | *Ed Decker, ''Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism'' (Eugene: Harvest House, 1995), 114.
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| − | *Latayne Colvett Scott, ''The Mormon Mirage : a former Mormon tells why she left the church'' (Grand Rapids : Zondervan Pub. House, 1979), 90.
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| − | [[Image:mesencephalon_1.gif|frame|right|Closeup of mid- and hind-brain; the mid-brain is the area above the pons. From: Henry Gray, ''Anatomy of the Human Body'', 1918, Fig 681. [http://www.bartleby.com/107/illus681.html].]]
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| − | ==Response==
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| − | Contrary to the critics' assumptions,
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| − | :''Shiz's death struggle illustrates the classic reflex posture that occurs in both humans and animals when the upper brain stem (midbrain/mesencephalon) is disconnected from the brain. The extensor muscles of the arms and legs contract, and this reflex action could cause Shiz to raise up on his hands'' [Hadfield, 324].
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| − | Cutting the brainstem in this location causes the muscles which ''extend'' (straighten) the arms and legs to contract. This makes the arms and legs rigid, which would raise a corpse up until lack of oxygen and blood loss caused eventual muscle failure.
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| − | ==Conclusion==
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| − | With the death scene of Shiz, Joseph Smith provides the reader with a vivid example of a catastrophic injury which is consistent with a weary, sloppy cut made by the exhausted Coriantumr. It is a realistic touch, and a phenomenon that went unrecognized in the medical literature of the modern era until 1898.
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| − | ==Further reading==
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| − | ===FAIR wiki articles===
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| − | {{Book of Mormon anachronisms}}
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| − | ===FAIR web site===
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| − | *FAIR Topical Guide:
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| − | ===External links===
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| − | *John W. Welch, in "The 'Decapitation' of Shiz," ''Insights'' (November 1994): 2. [http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=insights&id=33]
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| − | ===Printed material===
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| − | *M. Gary Hadfield, "Neuropathology and the Scriptures," ''BYU Studies'' 33:2 (1993): 313-28. [http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=283097]
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