Steven Carr

Matthew 28 - There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

William Lane Craig explains how to spot whether something is a legend :- http://www.leaderu.com/truth/1truth22.html


CRAIG
For example, in the gospel of Peter a voice rings out from heaven during the night, the stone rolls back of itself from the door of the tomb, and two men descend from Heaven and enter the tomb. Then three men are seen coming out of the tomb, the two supporting the third. The heads of the two men stretch up to the clouds, but the head of the third man overpasses the clouds. Then a cross comes out of the tomb, and a voice asks, "Hast thou preached to them that sleep?" And the cross answers, "Yea".

CARR
What exactly makes the Gospel of Peter's story of angels an obvious legend, yet Craig believes every single words of Matthew's story of an angel descending from heaven, with an appearance like lightning?

The answer is simple.

William Lane Craig uses two measures.

One for the Gospels - where every word is true.

And another measure for all other writings, where he laughs at stories which are very similar to Gospel stories.

For example, Craig scoffs at the Gospel of Peter's claim of a talking cross, yet Craig believes in a talking donkey.

William Lane Craig thinks the story of the stone rolling back of itself from the tomb is an obvious legend, yet Craig is certain that the following really did happen, exactly as Acts 12 says it did, 'They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.'

But surely claims that iron gates opened of themselves is just an obvious a legend as the story in the Gospel of Peter that William Lane Craig curtly dismisses as 'legends'