Prayer and Wordcelibacy

 They say wisdom is watching a man's actions, not his words.
 Fun fact: the heavens are wise. They look at how you behave, not solely your explicit verbalizations. They gain insight into what you're thinking, not merely your overt claims.

 Wordcels frequently see prayer as not working, precisely because the prayer was answered. "But I didn't ask for this!" Your words did not ask for this, no. 

 Let's do a rather stupid example. Imagine a cliff. Dude stands on it. "I pray to be lifted through the air and land gently." He leaps from the cliff. His prayer is not answered, he goes splat. (If you've ever heard it, you know it really does sound like a splat. A wet towel slap, but so hard and loud you can't hear the bones snapping.)

 First exegesis: in fact, leaping from a cliff constitutes a prayer for death. This was in fact answered. The words are weak. The action is strong: he could have simply not jumped; it wasn't compulsory. The action dominates. Further, sub-rosa this man clearly did intend to get killed. He didn't think it in words, but he was thinking it in feelings. The very fact he prayed for flight shows that he knew that jumping unaided would kill him. He cannot possibly be confused or ignorant about gravity. The explicit words are overridden by the stronger implicit. He pretended he thought the heavens were stupid and gullible, but in fact knew they weren't.

 Second exegesis: the petitioner does have to listen for the answer. With a prayer such as above, there are two possible answers. "We're not going to do that." Or, "Here's how to be lifted through the air:" followed by instructions to the location of a hang glider or similar. The prayer was answered, but he didn't listen to the answer.
 The wordcel thinks, "Prayers are answered," means, "Prayers are answered in the way I intend them to be answered." Hubris. Jumped to a conclusion, didn't question. Goes splat.
 In fact this can be refuted using pure theorycel wordcelibacy. To start with, it's called [answer] not [miracle vending machine - 100% off sale]. The heavens are not your servant. When you say [jump me], they do not ask [how high]. The fact they have powers I do not is exactly why I'm asking them for things, and the fact they have powers I do not makes them superior to me, not inferior. I do what they tell me, not the reverse. (Or I regret it.) Moreover, they have powers I do not because they have wisdom I do not, and it is obscene foolishness not to respect this greater wisdom. I don't decide how prayers are answered, and what would even be the point of prayer if I did? 

 

 Actual real-life example. "Hey, remote view me the symbol on those cards." Answer: "You don't care what's on the cards." Got me good. Why am I even asking for such a stupid thing? Because I'm being stupid, duh. If I really want to know what's on the card so much, I can go over there and flip it. Using, like, my hand. Which I already have. 

 No, the weird time was the once I was spontaneously informed what was on the front of the cards. The backs large brown cardboard squares, and there was a prize for guessing correctly...although it wasn't my turn. I've never been so sure of anything in my life. I had direct gnosis, oneness with these dumb game pieces. I still want to know why I was told that. Did my curiosity even count as asking? Like...was the point solely so I could tell this story later? Did I momentarily develop prayer savantism? WTF?

 The heavens have even less patience with lying than I do. Liars cannot pray. Even if they do, the only answer they'll get is, "Stop lying."