Alma 30:9-17

9 Now if a man desired to serve God, it was his privilege; or rather, if he believed in God it was his privilege to serve him; but if he did not believe in him there was no law to punish him.

10 But if he murdered he was punished unto death; and if he robbed he was also punished; and if he stole he was also punished; and if he committed adultery he was also punished; yea, for all this wickedness they were punished.

11 For there was a law that men should be judged according to their crimes. Nevertheless, there was no law against a man’s belief; therefore, a man was punished only for the crimes which he had done; therefore all men were on equal grounds.

12 And this Anti-Christ, whose name was Korihor, (and the law could have no hold upon him) began to preach unto the people that there should be no Christ. And after this manner did he preach, saying:

13 O ye that are bound down under a foolish and a vain hope, why do ye yoke yourselves with such foolish things? Why do ye look for a Christ? For no man can know of anything which is to come.

14 Behold, these things which ye call prophecies, which ye say are handed down by holy prophets, behold, they are foolish traditions of your fathers.

15 How do ye know of their surety? Behold, ye cannot know of things which ye do not see; therefore ye cannot know that there shall be a Christ.

16 Ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your sins. But behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so.

17 And many more such things did he say unto them, telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime. (Alma 30:9-17)

We need to choose whom we will serve. The Nephites believed if one desired to serve God, it was a privilege to serve Him. Should one not believe in God, no law would punish that person.

Nephite law punished those who committed crimes. The murderer was sentenced to death. A thief was punished. All wickedness violated the law and the person violating the law was punished.

The law only allowed them to be punished for their crimes. There were no laws against anyone’s personal beliefs. All men were treated equally. Mosiah had ensured there were laws treating people equally.

“And there was a strict command throughout all the churches that there should be no persecutions among them, that there should be an equality among all men” (Mosiah 27:3).

Mosiah desired “this inequality should be no more in this land, especially among this my people; but I desire that this land be a land of liberty, and every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike, so long as the Lord sees fit that we may live and inherit the land, yea, even as long as any of our posterity remains upon the face of the land” (Mosiah 29:32).

Korihor was the Anti-Christ. “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 1:7).

He went around preaching there would be no Christ. The law could do nothing as he was preaching his belief.

Korihor told them they were “bound down under a foolish and a vain hope.” He told them they had foolish beliefs. He made it clear no one can know what will happen in the future. He could well have been quoting the words of Sherem, the first Anti-Christ. “And now behold, I, Sherem, declare unto [Jacob] that this is blasphemy; for no man knoweth of such things; for he cannot tell of things to come” (Jacob 7:7).

“[Korihor] argued that since the future is outside the realm of human experience, it is unknowable, and to believe in something that cannot be tested empirically is to embrace a vain and foolish hope.”[1]

Korihor told them what they call prophecies are nothing more than the foolish traditions of their fathers.

There is no way they could know about things which they could not see. Once again, this is not an unusual argument made by the non-believer. Some Nephites rejected Samuel, the Lamanites, prophecies, claiming, “[W]e know that this is a wicked tradition, which has been handed down unto us by our fathers, to cause us that we should believe in some great and marvelous thing which should come to pass, but not among us, but in a land which is far distant, a land which we know not; therefore they can keep us in ignorance, for we cannot witness with our own eyes that they are true” (Helaman 16:20).

“And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people, which they did not believe, because they saw them not” (Ether 12:5).

We see this today. “The problem with scholarly religion, religion that has been carefully trimmed so that it conflicts with no empirical data, is that it inevitably makes scholarship the religion. And that is what is proposed here. Indeed, what if anything will we be able to keep of religious belief once we agree to be led by the scholars instead of the prophets? In the Church of the Scholars religion can make no claim unsupported by or contradicted by empirical evidence (‘ye cannot know of things which ye do not see,’ Alma 30:15).” (emphasis in original)[2]

Korihor claimed their beliefs were the result “frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so” (Alma 30:16).

He told them there couldn’t be an atonement and we were on our own. Everything we do and accomplish is because of our own abilities, nothing more.

Solomon warned against this philosophy. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25).

Nephi taught…

“And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men;

“Behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work.

“Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.

“And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 28:5-8).

“Selfishness is actually the detonator of all the cardinal sins. It is the hammer for the breaking of the Ten Commandments … No wonder the selfish individual is often willing to break a covenant in order to fix an appetite. No wonder those who will later comprise the telestial kingdom, after they have paid a price, were once unrepentant adulterers, whoremongers, and those who both loved and made lies. Some of the selfish wrongly believe that there is no divine law anyway, so there is no sin (see 2 Ne. 2:13). Situational ethics are thus made to order for the selfish. So in the management of self, one can conquer by his genius and strength, because there really is no crime whatsoever (see Alma 30:17).”[3]

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[1] Painting Out the Messiah: The Theologies of Dissidents, John L. Clark, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 11/1 (2002): 23.

[2] Review of Dan Vogel, ed., The Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1990, reviewed by Stephen E. Robinson, Maxwell Institute website.

[3] “Repent of [Our] Selfishness” (D&C 56:8), Elder Neal A. Maxwell, April 1999 General Conference.