How many chances?

Tonight Heidi was telling me the story of when Nephi killed Laban. 
It occurred to me:  Heavenly Father gives us so many chances to get it right.  Seemingly, Laban has three.  Then he opportunely gets drunk and beheaded and the brass plates are Nephi's. 
He only got three chances and then off with his head?!
What about the guy who reached up to stabilize the Arc of the Covenant (not to mention the guy who opened it in Indiana Jones)?  He reaches up to do something good and dies?
Sometimes our punishments are swift and they need to be.  It's like when a toddler wanders off into a busy parking lot.  For me, I figured a swat on the bottom-- hard enough to get their attention, but not do any damage-- was a better solution.  The lesson is taught.  A toddler doesn't understand the safety issue, but they do understand something close at hand. 
How many chances did Laban really get?  How many times in his life did Heavenly Father try to mold him into the man he needed to be as guardian of the sacred record of his tribe of Menassah?  How many times did the still small voice whisper to him that the plates needed to go with Nephi?  Like the men carrying the arc in the wagon had been warned not to touch anything in it, I imagine that Laban was warned.  That's the pattern that Heavenly Father uses.  Warn, warn, and warn again.  It's up to us to listen.