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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, an a phenomenon that went unrecognized in the medical literature of the modern era until 1898. | |
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
Revision as of 18:28, 20 October 2005
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
Contents
Criticism
In 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."
Critics insist that this would not, or could not, happen.
Source(s) of the Criticism
- John R. Farkas and David A. Reed, Mormonism: Changes, Contradictions, and Errors, (Grand Rapids, Mich. : Baker Books, 1995), 152.
- Ed Decker, Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism (Eugene: Harvest House, 1995), 114.
- Latayne Colvett Scott, The Mormon Mirage : a former Mormon tells why she left the church (Grand Rapids : Zondervan Pub. House, 1979), 90.
Response
Contrary to the critics' assumptions,
- 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].
Insert anatomy photo here
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.
Conclusion
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, an a phenomenon that went unrecognized in the medical literature of the modern era until 1898.
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Shiz struggles to breathe
FAIR web site
- FAIR Topical Guide:
External links
- John W. Welch, in "The 'Decapitation' of Shiz," Insights (November 1994): 2. [1]
Printed material
- M. Gary Hadfield, "Neuropathology and the Scriptures," BYU Studies 33:2 (1993): 313-28. [2]