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Instructions:
Place the hat on the desk.
Place the rock in the hat.
Place the chair beside the table and sit in it.
Place your face in the hat until you cannot see any light.
No peeking.

Write a papragraph explaining why a grown man would do such a dumb thing and think he could fool other people into thinking he was translating from Reformed Egyptian.

Now, now, Nana, perhaps you just didn't digest enough of what this apologist was trying to say. For example:

From the commentary: To answer the first question we might also ask: Is it strange that a man could rise from the dead, walk on water, heal the lame, create the heavens, and answer the prayers of billions of people?

Oh. On second thought, you're right, again, Nana.

Ash's original angle made me ask, why are Mormon apologists and their allies so quick to use this argument? (I've actually seen similar versions among nominal FR Catholics & other vague religionists defending Mormon beliefs...they'll say, "Well, some of my Christian beliefs are kind of strange, too, so if we're going to judge a belief or event upon weirdness, then we're all subject to the same crit.")

Now, what's the problem with this argument?

Well, first of all, my Q to such people is, "Do you consider Jesus of Nazareth, the historical figure in the Bible, 'weird' or 'strange?'" I would think most of the people making the argument above might respond something to effect of, "Well, He's certainly unusual and unique, but I wouldn't go so far as to label him 'weird.'"

To which I'd say, "Exactly." The examples Ash gives here: rising from the dead, walking on water, and healing the lame were all things done openly before at least 6 or 7 (walking on water) to 500 (how many Jesus appeared to post-resurrection). These were highly unusual events, but once Jesus did them as precedents, we no longer consider it "weird." The resurrection of us all, for example, is a widely shared belief, as is the other couple of examples Ash gave (Jesus answering the prayers of billions and creating the heavens).

But now Ash wants to put what Joseph Smith did, looking at a rock in a hat, into the same category as Jesus walking on water, rising from the dead, healing, creating, and answering prayers? Really?
Where do we have any precedent for Jesus receiving orders from Father by opening up some "viewfinder" on a rock & then sticking it into a hat?
Why would a hat environment be so "sacred" for either Smith or his god, anyway, given the Jewish apostles before him, like Paul, to not even honor hats?
Didn't Paul tell the Corinthians: A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God... (1 Cor. 11:7)