• Ulrich@feddit.org
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    1 day ago

    the priest rationalizes two completely different answers based on the way the question is posed.

    No, the priest is answering 2 different questions:

    1. Is it okay to smoke, to which the answer is always going to be no.
    2. Is it okay to pray, to which the answer is always going to be yes.

    The second question does not ask if it’s ok to smoke. What else they’re doing doesn’t impact the question.

    • BranBucket@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Those aren’t the same questions from the original post. You’ve omitted half the information given to the priest in each question.

      Both questions, in their entirety, deal with smoking and praying. The subject is smoking and praying. You’ve reframed this as a question about smoking and a separate question about praying. That was never the case.

      EDIT: minor clarification.

      • Ulrich@feddit.org
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        1 day ago

        You’ve omitted half the information

        I’ve omitted half of the part that doesn’t matter, as I explained in the comment. It doesn’t matter what comes after them, the answers will always be the same.

        “Is it okay if I smoke while doing a cartwheel?” Guess what? The answer is still no.

        • BranBucket@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Why would the answer be no? Who cares if you smoke while doing a cartwheel? Who said the priest would forbid such a thing?

          In both situations, a man is asking about the propriety of praying while inhaling the smoke from a cigarette. That’s vital information.

          The information does matter to the smoker and the priest. We’re not teasting these statements for validity and we’re not making our own judgements. We’re examining why the priest’s answer might have changed. That’s all.

          • Ulrich@feddit.org
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            1 day ago

            Who said the priest would forbid such a thing?

            …The priest? I don’t understand the question.

            We’re examining why the priest’s answer might have changed.

            The priests answer changes because the question changes, as I’ve outlined above.

            • BranBucket@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              The question, in both cases, involves smoking while praying. The priest never looks at, or gives a judgement on smoking in general, there’s no reason to assume the priest would forbid smoking in other circumstances.

              The question does change, but not as fundamentally as you’re claiming it does. The information presented in both questions remains the same, only the word order changes, which changes how the priest perceives that information.

              Anyway, good luck out there. =)