- Hehe.

- I was discussing religion at work. Nuance is important. People don't like to use nuance. I've noticed this before. When discussing religious topics, people say "show me a verse!" and then proceed to pick at each word of that verse, because it destroys their argument. Context, nuance, intent. These things matter. The context, the nuance of the words that are used are readily and openly understandable. You can't just ignore that because you want the verse to say something else.

Words have meaning. Often, multiple meanings. Because a word might mean something else, you can't discard it. You can't say "Just show me a plain verse that says it plainly!" because every verse contains a word with various meanings, and therefore can be argued with. Context and intent allow us to accurately qualify what is being said.

- I was recently in a discussion. I used a nuanced argument that required rational thought to reach its conclusion. The person I was discussing with Kept saying "Show me a verse!" Which I did, but the verse didn't say "Thou Shalt not Kill!" (i.e., the argument took the verse in its context to reach my conclusion, not a simple statement ). He discounted my argument because rather than come to the rational and logical conclusion based on the verse and its context, he demanded words without DUAL meaning.

My point being, you will lose in any sphere of public opinion using his type of rationale. You will lose if every argument you make is, "That word could mean something else!" or "You don't know for sure that's what it says!" People you are trying to convince don't go with that. I told the peron that we should go have the debate in front of people and see who they sided with because arguments that rely on "You don't know for sure!" are weak and foundationless and people who aren't stubbornly entrenched in a view simply for the sake of argument will adhere to logical and deductive reasoning.

- later, gators.