you can argue the semantics
but the point is you were implying that by not having engaged in prayer their opinion is not valid
that is the only rational way to interpret what you posted
ultimately you are entitled to hold that point of view
i just think it is typical of people with religious beliefs to dismiss others points of view if they are different
where as others are expected to take what you say on "faith"
because you have no evidence
it all comes down to belief
and therefore if you believe your prayers will be answered
you will make an excuse if they arent
or if the one in a million random event you are praying for happens then you will say see i have proved my point
its a win, win situation for you
if one in a million of your prayers was answered you would argue prayers worked
never mind the millions of times they remain unanswered
which you would no doubt put down to god giving us freedom of choice etc
I'm sorry, but what you did is pose a line of questioning based on a inference (and that’s ok). I simply restated my initial premise (twice) and then clarified that what you inferred was not my intent….no more, no less.
I understand you want to dismiss the semantics and work from the perspective of your inferences because (as you put it) “that’s the only rational way to interpret what I posted”; plus, you have a small audience cheering for you on so that fuels the situation. Unfortunately your position is not an absolute, it’s an opinion. That’s perfectly fine because as I also clarified I made no statement about dismissing opinions (again that was your inference which I clarified).
We all have opinions, but your inference also lead you to question the valuation of opinions and I think we can both agree that informed opinions are much more valuable than uninformed opinions. And that leads me back to my initial premise in that we have individuals that “know” that a topic is false based on a fully, uninformed position. Further your initial reply concluded with the notion of humility and I responded with the following (which remains unanswered):
So, respectfully, are you of the opinion that those folks that attempt to defend their faith honestly while also sharing it lovingly are lacking in humility because they have more knowledge about their faith and have proactively engaged in their faith?
Now, you’ve made a number of statements in your last post and I’m happy to deep dive into the topic of prayer if you want.
Still, I have some posts in the following thread to open further discussion:
http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=476374.0