As Alma continues dealing with Corianton’s questions he comes to the question of punishment. One of the aspects of the order of Nehor, as we have seen, is the presumption of universal salvation. A corollary to this is the presumption of an absence of punishment. Nephi had prophesied that mankind would have the tendency to downplay the eternal consequences of their actions:
2 Nephi 28:7-8
7 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.
8 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.
Corianton had apparently adopted some of this attitude, and Alma needs to let him understand what the proper relationship is between our earthly actions and the heavenly consequences. It would also appear that the question about God’s judgment had taken on a legal/philosophical dimension, since the issue becomes not simply the presence of punishment, but the justice of God’s punishment. Corianton’s argument appears to be that it would be unjust to consign a sinner to hell, or a “state of misery.” Thus the attitude current at that time was not simply a desire to downplay the penalties of actions, but an expansion of the doctrine of universal salvation. All were to be saved because it would be unjust of God to deny salvation to some, and particularly unjust to consign them to misery instead of happiness.