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Bad hypothetical?
June 20, 2013 at 5:24 pm
When I ask this hypothetical to believers I get told its a bad question. Do you agree?
Question: If your child was deathly ill and you had to choose between either praying or taking them to the hospital, which would you choose and why?
And yes, I understand there would be no actual situation where you would have to choose between the two.
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RE: Bad hypothetical?
June 20, 2013 at 5:31 pm
(This post was last modified: June 20, 2013 at 5:31 pm by Silver.)
(June 20, 2013 at 5:24 pm)taylor93112 Wrote: I understand there would be no actual situation where you would have to choose between the two.
Actually, those of the Mormon faith will not bring their ill children to the hospital. They do falsely believe prayer works, and then their children end up dying. It has been in the news numerous times. People like that, in my opinion, should have the rest of their children taken away because it is absolutely child abuse to neglect medical care that minors desperately need.
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
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RE: Bad hypothetical?
June 20, 2013 at 5:53 pm
(This post was last modified: June 20, 2013 at 5:55 pm by Rahul.)
(June 20, 2013 at 5:31 pm)Maelstrom Wrote: Actually, those of the Mormon faith will not bring their ill children to the hospital. They do falsely believe prayer works, and then their children end up dying. It has been in the news numerous times.
True. I just recently read about a couple that lost a child several years ago because they did that. And this year they lost yet another by doing it yet again.
Looks like they are facing pretty serious charges this time.
They are some of the very few theists that I hope never stop believing in their god. That realization would be terrible to live with after what they did in his name.
Just take all their kids away from them!
Everything I needed to know about life I learned on Dagobah.
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RE: Bad hypothetical?
June 30, 2013 at 5:19 pm
Well, it is a bad hypothetical in the sense that there's nothing to prevent people from praying for a loved one in addition to seeking medical care. The only scenario I can imagine is if God himself (for whatever convoluted reason) told them on no uncertain terms that praying for said loved one's recovery would result in his or her death. But then, the whole idea of such prayers would be to appease a deity for help, and in that case they'd simply be appeasing a deity by not praying. So either way, it doesn't work.
I'm sure my family prayed for me when I had my emergency appendectomy, though had they brought it up, I admit I'd've had a hard time not mentioning that they were praying to the same God who left humans with a useless vestigial organ that only serves to potentially kill us (they're theistic evolutionists). But they wouldn't've dreamed of only praying and not taking me to the hospital, for despite their apparent belief in a God who answers prayers, they're not fools. And it would seem that the OP is referring to those who would reject legitimate medical care in favor of prayer, to whom such a hypothetical would likewise not apply as they simply don't consider real medicine as an option.