Antionah “thought he would make an irrefutable argument by asking Alma concerning the cherubim with a flaming sword. … What Antionah made to appear as conflicting evidence … was Alma’s forthright declaration that through the Atonement of Christ all men, both righteous and wicked, would gain immortality and therefore live forever. Antionah quoted scripture to show that the reason God sent guardians to watch the Tree of Life was that our first parents should not enter Eden and partake of its fruit and live forever… .
“But what Antionah failed to add to his harangue was … that the Almighty … would not have it that man should live forever in his sins” (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 3:193).