Henke 2022ah

Angels at Jesus’ Feet: Lundahl (2022i) is Open to that Possibility

Kevin R. Henke

September 15, 2022

When discussing the Gospel accounts of Jesus walking on water, I argue in Henke (2022b):

“Although there’s not a shred of evidence that Jesus ever walked on water, Lundahl (2022a) just assumes that it’s history and then makes up an excuse to fit his biased worldview by speculating on how God could have set up a force to counteract gravity supposedly without contradicting the law of gravity. This is a blatant example of circular reasoning where groundless speculation is used to explain groundless stories from the gospels. This is like trying to argue that the Yellow Brick Road of The Wizard of Oz must have existed. Otherwise, how could Dorothy have gotten to the Emerald City? So, how does Mr. Lundahl know that God used “N/m” forces to allow Jesus to walk on water rather than just locally shutting off gravity and the laws of physics? Also, where’s the evidence of invisible support from demons for Mr. Copperfield’s tricks or that demons even exist? Mr. Lundahl just might as well forget about references to newtons and meters and just claim that invisible angels held up Jesus’ feet from going underwater. If Lundahl (2022a) really wants to suggest that demons help Mr. Copperfield do his tricks, why not forget about the newtons and the meters, and just claim that angels kept Jesus’ head above water? Invoking angels isn’t any worse than the shear speculation and desperation that he offers about invisible “N/m” forces counteracting gravity. Certainly, the human imagination is fertile enough to make up any far-fetched excuse to explain any far-fetched claim in the Bible. However, the ability of Mr. Lundahl to actually obtain any evidence to support these far-fetched ideas is an entirely separate issue.” [my emphasis]

Here is the reply from Lundahl (2022i):

I have not excluded that option either. I was just taking the model which were the closest to Mr. Henke's charge that the miracle contradicted a natural law, the one closest to applying would have been either gravitation or Fick's law. [my emphasis]

Elsewhere in my essays, I discuss Mr. Lundahl’s misunderstandings of miracles (e.g., Henke 2022t through Henke 2022aa). But, what evidence does Mr. Lundahl have that he should even consider the possibility that angels helped Jesus walk on water by holding up his feet? Before Lundahl (2022i) even considers any of the vast number of groundless speculations that any human mind could produce to explain a Bible story, he first needs to find evidence that Jesus ever walked on water. Because Mr. Lundahl does not make skepticism and the demand for evidence the top priorities whenever he evaluates any of these Bible stories, it’s no wonder that he’s lost in an endless procession of groundless speculations coming from the human imagination.

Next, Lundahl (2022i) skips directly responding to the following sentence in italics and specifically comments on the bold statement from Henke (2022b):

“Although there’s not a shred of evidence that Jesus ever walked on water, Lundahl (2022a) just assumes that it’s history and then makes up an excuse to fit his biased worldview by speculating on how God could have set up a force to counteract gravity supposedly without contradicting the law of gravity. This is a blatant example of circular reasoning where groundless speculation is used to explain groundless stories from the gospels. This is like trying to argue that the Yellow Brick Road of The Wizard of Oz must have existed. Otherwise, how could Dorothy have gotten to the Emerald City? So, how does Mr. Lundahl know that God used “N/m” forces to allow Jesus to walk on water rather than just locally shutting off gravity and the laws of physics? Also, where’s the evidence of invisible support from demons for Mr. Copperfield’s tricks or that demons even exist? Mr. Lundahl just might as well forget about references to newtons and meters and just claim that invisible angels held up Jesus’ feet from going underwater. If Lundahl (2022a) really wants to suggest that demons help Mr. Copperfield do his tricks, why not forget about the newtons and the meters, and just claim that angels kept Jesus’ head above water? Invoking angels isn’t any worse than the shear speculation and desperation that he offers about invisible “N/m” forces counteracting gravity. Certainly, the human imagination is fertile enough to make up any far-fetched excuse to explain any far-fetched claim in the Bible. However, the ability of Mr. Lundahl to actually obtain any evidence to support these far-fetched ideas is an entirely separate issue.” [my emphasis]

Lundahl (2022i) then replies:

“It would indeed be total desperation to suppose N/m forces going any other direction than down on their own. God changing their direction or ordering angels to keep up His feet are not desperation.”

Rather than just realizing that the stories about Jesus walking on water are probably no more real than Kat Kerr seeing Jello-Land in Heaven, Lundahl (2022i) wants to convince himself that his groundless speculations about how Jesus supposedly walked on water really aren’t acts of desperation to prop up his magical worldview that has no evidence of even existing.