34 But there was one, Antionah, who was a chief ruler among them, came forth and said unto him: "What is this that thou hast said, that man should rise from the dead and be changed from this mortal to an immortal state, that the soul can never die?
35 "What does this scripture mean which saith that God placed cherubim and a flaming sword on the east of the garden of Eden, lest our first parents should enter and partake of the fruit of the tree of life and live forever?
36 And thus we see that there was no possible chance that they should live forever."
37 Now Alma saith unto him: "This is the thing which I was about to explain.
38 "Now, we see that Adam did fall by partaking of the forbidden fruit, according to the word of God; And thus we see that by his fall that all mankind became a lost and a fallen people.
39 "And now behold I say unto you, that if it had been possible for Adam for to have partaken of the fruit of the tree of life at that time, that there would have been no death and the word would have been void, making God a liar, For He said: 'If thou eat thereof, thou shalt surely die.'
40 "And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; Nevertheless, there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent.
41 "Therefore, this life became a probationary state, a time to prepare to meet God, A time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.
42 "Now if it had not been for the plan of redemption which was laid from the foundation of the world, there could have been no resurrection of the dead;
43 But there was a plan of redemption laid which shall bring to pass the resurrection of the dead of which has been spoken.
44 "And now behold, if it were possible that our first parents could have gone forth and partaken of the tree of life, they would have been forever miserable, having no preparatory state;