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M: An argument isn't just contradiction.
A: It can be.
M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A: No it isn't.
M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
A: Yes it is!
M: No it isn't!
A: Yes it is!
M: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.
(short pause)
A: No it isn't.
First of all, that bit (”The Argument”) by Monty Python is one of my favorite comedy sketches of all times. I first heard it in about 1973 or so on one of their albums, which I still have in my LP collection. It is one of the cleverest comedy sketches ever written, in my opinion.
As to why you cited it, I don’t know, because I would argue it applies to your side of this debate. I submitted for consideration the irrationality of the wild statements attributed to Jesus in the Bible regarding the efficacy of prayer. Your response was that I misinterpreted what Jesus was saying, arguing that Jesus said that prayer had to be “for him,” or some such nonsense. I pointed out that there is, in fact, no such qualification in his statements about prayer in Scripture. Your response now, referring to the Python colloquy about the definition of an argument, only proves my point. You have nothing to contradict my assertions, other than your insistence that the Bible says something other than the plain meaning of the words in it.