Die Like Shiz

I mentioned in my last Easter post that I don't want to die like Shiz, so I thought I'd clarify what I mean by that.

For my readers who are not familiar with The Book of Mormon, I've just got to say:

In this instance, Shiz is not a slang word used in place of mild profanity.

It's someone's name.

Shiz was a blood-thirsty, revenge-seeking, fear-mongering leader of a faction of the Jaredites, people who inhabited the Americas a long, long time ago.  At the end of the Book of Mormon, we read an abbreviated account of their arrival in the promised land, their rejection of God's prophets, the reversal of their great civilization into anarchy, their relentless wars, and the complete extinction of their people.

Cheery, story, huh?  Well, the "best"/most riveting part of this story is when the two wicked, rival leaders of the people--Coriantumr and Shiz--battle each other to the death.  Even though a prophet of God has called Coriantumr to repentance, and warned him that if he does not repent, he will live to see every last person in his country killed in war....he still does not repent, but choses instead to continue the fight.

Even after seeing TWO MILLION Jaredite people killed in various battles, Coriantumr and Shiz do not "bury the hatchet".

Instead they gather the only remaining men--an army of 32 men verses an army of 27--to battle with vengeance.  They fight all day long until they are so exhausted that they sleep on their swords, only to rise again in the morning to follow after their desire for revenge.

Finally, Shiz and Coriantumr are the only two people left alive, and they engage in a duel to the death.  Then Coriantumr does Shiz in.

And trust me when I say:  You do not want to die like Shiz:

31 And it came to pass that when they had ^aall fallen by the sword, save it were Coriantumr and Shiz, behold Shiz had fainted with the loss of blood.

 30And it came to pass that when Coriantumr had leaned upon his sword, that he rested a little, he smote off the head of Shiz.

 31And it came to pass that after he had smitten off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raised up on his hands and ^afell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died.

After reading this I thought, "What an awful and gruesome way to die.
I don't want to die like Shiz!!"

I immediately did a dramatic reenactment of this scene for my husband.  (It was Oscar-worthy, I tell you!)  And then, once I had his attention, I shared with him what the Spirit taught me as I was reading this story, which I am now going to share with you.

Obviously, being decapitated and having your body flail around gasping for air would be a horrible way to die.  But the thing that disgusted me was the fact that after realizing that TWO MILLION people had died on account of their stubbornness and wickedness they STILL WEREN'T WILLING TO STOP FIGHTING...

Disgusted by this fact, I thought about how sad, stupid, and pathetic this was.  They'd rather let their whole civilization die a bloody death than repent, forgive, compromise, or humble themselves.

Surely...I'd never do something like that.  How foolish!

Then the Spirit told me that, in essence, we do this in our own lives when we fail to forgive others.  Sometimes, we choose to allow an entire family relationship to "die" out of our own selfish desires to be right, or to be apologized to, or for a million other reasons.

I am guilty of this, because I have been unable to forget about past hurts that I have experienced in my own family.  So while, I can sit here and judge Coriantumr and Shiz, I knew in that moment that the gruesome scene laid out in this story had a parallel in our lives.  Families lie in shambles all over our great land, because of wickedness, because of pride, because of an unwillingness to bury the hatchet.

So when I say that I don't want to die like Shiz...I mean, that I don't want to let my pride kill off my entire civilization...my family, my relationships with those who I love most.

And I hope that you won't either.

This is going to be my new "magic word" to remind me to work toward forgiveness:

"Don't Die Like Shiz!"

This story also has implications and possibly prophetic warnings for the current civilization living on the American continent today...

The Family Proclamation says, "....we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets."

Speaking of the downfall of the Jaredite people, Elder Maxwell has said, "Anarchy was the “order” of the day! That strange and sad state is in some ways like that foreseen by Orson Pratt which could befall our latter-day America and bring circumstances of great unrest and strife among factions—with people seeking refuge across the landscape of this beloved land. (See Masterful Discourses and Writings of Orson Pratt, Bookcraft, Inc., 1962, p. 156.)"  

How can we keep our world from falling into a state of anarchy like the Jaredite nation?  

STRENGTHEN OUR FAMILIES.

One day at a time.  One dinner at a time.  One bedtime story at a time.

One Family Home Evening at a time.

One act of forgiveness at a time.

We can do this.

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