Corianton, Alma's youngest son, had been sent on a mission to the apostate Zoramites along with several others including his father and older brother, Shiblon, and had been led into abandoning his obligations there as one of God's servants to follow the meretricious charms of a harlot named Isabel who lived in the Land of Siron on the borders of the Lamanites.
He had left his field of labor in spite of the "good example" set him by his brother, who proved by his actions to be a steadfast and a faithful worker in that part of the Lord's Vineyard, and who also manifest the integrity of his heart by keeping the Lord's commandments.
We may seek to excuse and palliate Corianton's behavior in doing so by hiding the facts, and by offering apologies and pretexts which we may reinforce with arguments of his youth, but, nevertheless, the impetuosity of youth does not lead us to believe that his years is anything but a pretext to cloak the real condition of his mind. Corianton, not only erred, but boasted in doing so. In the strength of his youth he went about exaggerating his prowess, and sought to impress others with his wisdom. All the time Corianton was thus indulging in self-heroics, Shiblon was undoubtedly taking care of the work of the ministry, humbly and unselfishly.
Corianton's infidelity not only brought infamy to himself, but public disgrace to his father and his missionary companions. The Zoramites, among whom they labored, were quick to grasp any and every reason to excuse their own actions, and therefore they seized upon his illicit relations with a prostitute as a ground on which to disclaim and deny his father's words. This attitude of the Zoramites toward his message caused great sorrow in Alma's heart, and in all likelihood hastened the missionaries' withdrawal from among them.
The enormity of Corianton's moral offense was pictured to him by his father who spared no words in impressing upon his youthful mind the extent to which he had been misguided. "Know ye not," Alma said to him, "that these things are an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost?"
When once the Holy Ghost has had place in you, or has imbued one with the knowledge of Its divine powers, it is unpardonable to deny those same powers. After that great Spirit has witnessed in the heart of man that Jesus is Christ, the knowledge of His divinity cannot wilfully be denied. That conviction, born of the Third Member of the God-head will remain forever a testimony, even to the humblest, that He, who was born in Bethlehem of Judea was, indeed, the Savior and the Redeemer of the world. To deny the truth after such a Witness has given evidence of it, makes one a liar, and the truth is not in him; a liar cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, therefore the sin is unpardonable.
And, again, whosoever may commit murder wherein one slays another, and does so despite the light and understanding of God which he has received through God's Spirit, can be forgiven only by Him Who is the Creator of the life he has taken. Murder, wherein innocent blood is shed, and sinning against the Holy Ghost, are sins not surpassed in enormity, or in exceeding wickedness, by any other transgression of God's laws. Next to those two offenses in greatly exceeding all bounds of iniquity is the occasion of Corianton's sin. It is most abominable in God's sight, and like murder, it is a child of hell.
A father's love for his children, even though the child concerned was at the present time wayward and loathe to take instruction, or prone not to accept wisdom, those divine qualities of tenderness and long-suffering evinced by most fathers are very deeply to be seen in this dialogue between the father, Alma, and his son, Corianton. There is no doubt that as Alma understood and realized the import of God's laws, and that they could not be broken with impunity, his sensibilities regarding any infraction of them were keen, and his feelings most poignant. "I would to God that ye had not been guilty of so great a crime," father Alma expressed his sorrowing judgment of Corianton's waywardness, but made a solemn promise to his son that only would he dwell upon his sins, not to (harry) persecute him by constant repetition or ill-treatment and annoyance, but would, for Corianton's own good, impress upon him the utter folly of the vain things he had sought. As many do today, Corianton evidently hoped to keep his actions secret, and by so doing withhold from the Great Judge at the Last Day all knowledge of his wrongdoing. "But, behold, ye cannot hide your crimes from God," Alma insisted to imprint upon Corianton's mind; your deeds are all known to Him, and unless a sincere repentance of them is made, they will stand as a witness against you when on that Judgment Day you shall appear before the Bar of God to be judged of Him for all you did while here on Earth.