Jul 13, 2012 -- 2:19PM, newsjunkie wrote:

Your numerous responses have left me wondering what belief you're reasoning through. What is your belief that you've reached through reason? You've said so many things about prayer and God and relying on them that I really don't know what you actually believe about those things.

I actually do believe they work, but this thread isn't about belief in God or belief in the effectiveness of prayer, it's about whether or not "reasoned faith" is a valid term to use. That's why I just told sg that

This whole thread was brought about because of a post that someone made that I felt equated "faith" with "blind faith". I have been trying to make a case that "reasoned faith" also exists and that it exists whenever someone is exercising reason when they consider whether or not to proceed in a particular direction, rather than simply proceeding blindly in some direction without exercising reason.

It's the reasoning part I am asking about

And in an effort to clarify that, I also tried to generalize that idea by what I said in my post to you.

That's why I am not trying to convince you of the reality of what we were relying on (God and prayer). I'm just pointing out that reason was being exercised in the process of choosing what to do. (Did X seem to work before when we tried it? Has X worked for other people whom we know and whose thoughts, opinions, and veracity we trust and respect? Were those experiences mostly positive, or were there also drawbacks and problems? Shall we then try X again in this new instance? What is the likelihood of X working in this instance based on what we have encountered in the past, either through our own experiences or of other peoples experiences? If X doesn't seem to be working in this instance, will we be able to determine that fact in a timely fashion and change to something else? Are there other alternatives to X that could be tried? What are the experiences of other people who have tried those other alternatives? Were those experiences mostly positive, or were there also drawbacks and problems? Of the different choices being considered (X and any others), what are the pluses and minuses of each one? Do any stand out as being much more effective and safe with as few drawbacks as possible? Do any of these methods guarantee success? Do red flags or concerns come up when I consider X and any of these others?)

Once again, it the reasoning part I am asking about. This thread is about "reasoned faith" with "reasoned" being the key word in question. (In other words, can a person ever apply reasoning to the concepts of, or the application of, faith?)

I also just read your edit, and thank you for that. I don't have a problem with anyone coming to a different conclusion than I have about a particular subject area, including God and including prayer. But as I having been saying from the beginning, reasoning can be applied to the concepts contained in, and the practice of, faith. I think that all too often it is not. But the fact that it is not usually applied does not mean that "reasoned faith" is an oxymoron. It just means that it may be unusual to encounter faith that is grounded in experience and reasoned through, rather than just being accepted blindly.