[Questioner] From Brian in California: Would like to
know why Dr. Craig feels that the
resurrection as the only possible option
to explain the emergence of Christianity?
Should we consider that Joseph Smith
must have been visited by an angel and found
golden plates to explain the emergence
of Mormonism? [Dr Craig] Alright, the comparison is
with the origin of the movement of
Latter-Day Saints and Joseph Smith and
Mormonism. And to answer the first
question, I would say, certainly not! I
would certainly NOT say that the
resurrection of Jesus is the only
explanation of these four facts, quite the
contrary. There's numerous explanations.
And what you need to do is to weigh them
in terms of their explanatory power,
explanatory scope, plausibility, degree of
ad hoc-ness. And what I'm arguing is that
the resurrection of Jesus is the best
explanation. Doesn't need to be the only one.
And it's the best one when assessed by these criteria. By contrast when you assess Joseph Smith's
claims, I think it's very likely that
Smith was a religious charlatan and
that much of this was just made up.
