Argument from "You did it wrong"

[zipperpull]

I'm sure some of you have heard/used this argument in the past, and I was wondering if there's a colloquial term for it?

Something along the lines of:
Billy: I used to be a christian, but I researched my way out.
Joel: Then you were never a true christian.
Billy: I felt like I was, I prayed every day.
Joel: You have to pray more than once a day...
Billy: I did, I was constantly in prayer.
Joel: You weren't praying correctly, you have to ask for forgiveness first.
Billy: I did...every time...
Joel: But did you believe it?
Billy: Yes...
Joel: Well clearly not, because if you did you wouldn't be an atheist now.

[Joods]

I'd like to say Argument from Ignorance, but then again, aren't they all arguments from ignorance?

By the way, welcome! How about an introduction?

[The Grand Nudger]

Those posts just keep moving off toward the horizon, don;t they?  I;d go the other way with it, and suggest that the fact that god is "speaking" to them means that theyre doing something wrong.  You don;t see your boss when everythings going well, after all.

The big man may be satisfied with his reliable performers, prioritizing time and effort on the problem children.

[brewer]

Billy was obviously masturbating to much. It's called fist block.

Welcome.

[vorlon13]

er . . .

with tens of thousands of schisms, sects, unaffiliateds, denominations and cults, I think there is CONSIDERABLE proof the odds of a given 'Christian' doing it right, in the eyes of his fellow Christers (let alone little old me!) are infinitesimally tiny.


communion, bread then wine, or wine then bread?
brim of your hat too wide or too narrow?
women preach or not?
handle deadly serpents?
Judas hung himself or guts exploded?
Bear your own burdens or others?
Christ carried cross with or without help to Golgotha?
Paul uses trickery or doesn't use trickery?
Jesus has authority greater than God?
Jesus answers all or no charges before Pilate?
Dispose of swords or buy swords?

Guess wrong on any of 'em and you're not doing it right.

[Chad32]

Yeah, even a local around here likes to bring up A/S/K. Do it right, and you'll find god. If you don't find god, you either did it wrong, or you didn't do it long enough.

[Magilla]

I'm sure some of you have heard/used this argument in the past, and I was wondering if there's a colloquial term for it?

Something along the lines of:
Billy: I used to be a christian, but I researched my way out.
Joel: Then you were never a true christian.
Billy: I felt like I was, I prayed every day.
Joel: You have to pray more than once a day...
Billy: I did, I was constantly in prayer.
Joel: You weren't praying correctly, you have to ask for forgiveness first.
Billy: I did...every time...
Joel: But did you believe it?
Billy: Yes...
Joel: Well clearly not, because if you did you wouldn't be an atheist now.

If there was a god that was fully powerful and wise, and able, and it wanted me to know it, and to believe in it-and-its-existence, it would know what it would take to convince me of all that. It would have the power, and it would know how to convince me without coercion, just as the "real" Christians have been convinced. Since I haven't been convinced, either the god doesn't want me to be convinced, doesn't care that I be convinced, (or else the god doesn't exist - contradicting the original assumption).

So I'm an atheist because . . .

i) there is no god,
or
ii) the god doesn't care enough to convince me yet.

And don't tell me it's my fault that I'm not convinced - not if the god is fully powerful and wise, and able, and it wants me to know. I may be a crap human, but the god, (if it exists), is a crap communicator.

[Amarok]

I'm sure some of you have heard/used this argument in the past, and I was wondering if there's a colloquial term for it?

Something along the lines of:
Billy: I used to be a christian, but I researched my way out.
Joel: Then you were never a true christian.
Billy: I felt like I was, I prayed every day.
Joel: You have to pray more than once a day...
Billy: I did, I was constantly in prayer.
Joel: You weren't praying correctly, you have to ask for forgiveness first.
Billy: I did...every time...
Joel: But did you believe it?
Billy: Yes...
Joel: Well clearly not, because if you did you wouldn't be an atheist now.

Pretty much their whole game. To try and snuff out their own personnel doubts .

[Rev. Rye]

Looks like a protracted version of a "No True Scotsman" fallacy, possibly a less intellectual "Courtier's Reply." Some versions try to cut to the chase and ask "did you know the Lord?" and claiming that a Christian is, by definition, "one who knows the Lord." The OED and Merriam-Webster show no such definition in their words. Even the American Heritage Dictionary, which was created specifically as a conservative alternative to Webster's Third's permissiveness, fails to include such a definition. Not even Samuel Johnson's dictionary uses such a definition (and that was written at a time when Christianity was more or less taken for granted in English-speaking lands). If there is a proper dictionary that defines a Christian as "One who knows the Lord" (not a glossary, not Christian reference books/propaganda, but a proper dictionary of the English language), prove me wrong.

Nota Bene: If you're going to argue based on definitions, be sure said definitions are accurate.

[Cecelia]

Apparently God is a lot like those rituals in movies: Really oddly specific.

If you pray on your knees, in front of a crescent moon (waxing, not waning) at exactly 10:44 PM with no clouds and a humidity of less than 70% but greater than 59% wearing the blood of a virgin rabbit bathed in holy water... then God will reveal himself to you! If he doesn't, then you did the whole thing wrong. Did I mention it can't be a tuesday? I forgot that, didn't I. And you have to REALLY believe. God can tell when you're faking (unless you're taking Pascal's wager, which will totally fool him)