Legal to Believe Whatever You Want

Alma 1:21; “Now there was a strict law among the people of the church that there should not any man, belonging to the church, arise and persecute those that did not belong to the church, and that there should be no persecution among themselves.”

Alma 30:9; “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.”

Illegal Not to Believe in God

Alma 1:15; “What he had taught to the people was contrary to the word of God; and there he suffered an ignominious death.”

Alma 30:29; “Now when the high priest and the chief judge saw the hardness of his [Korihor’s] heart, yea, when they saw that he would revile even against God, they would not make any reply to his words; but they caused that he should be bound; and they delivered him up into the hands of the officers, and sent him to the land of Zarahemla, that he might be brought before Alma, and the chief judge who was governor over all the land.”

1 Corinthians 14:33; “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

Just to make this a little more confusing, check out what it says in Alma 1:13-14 –

“And thou hast shed the blood of a righteous man, yea, a man who has done much good among this people; and were we to spare thee his blood would come upon us for

vengeance. 14 Therefore thou art condemned to die, according to the law which has been given us by Mosiah, our last king; and it has been acknowledged by this people; therefore this people must abide by the law.”

Question:

Was Nehor condemned to death because he murdered someone, or did he die because he didn’t believe in God?