Questions with hypothetical examples

Question

See instead: What exactly is a pastoral advice question?
This question should be put on hold until that question is resolved.

Since we talked about pastoral advice questions recently, the label is being used a bit more often on the site. Sometimes, this might be problematic. Adapted from a recent question:

Joe and Martha have been dating for four years, both of them were raised as Catholics but not baptized. Joe was the one interested in dating and so forth. Now Joe sees that both want to continue, but they are not getting married. Instead, they had been living together for a while now. If Joe did want to propose marriage, would it make a difference to Joe and Martha if they got Married (as a Sacrament) before being Baptized, or after?

At this point, we might want to say: "Question author... are you Joe?" But we should not ask that, because it is not our business. Nor is it our business to suggest that this might be a personal problem that the author is facing. He might not be facing any such problem. (Incidentally, the question does have a very clear answer from the Catholic perspective: if both parties are not baptised, they do not receive the Sacrament of Marriage.)

The question, as written, is a hypothetical scenario. Hypothetical scenarios are not pastoral advice questions. As far as we are concerned, the following types of question give no indication, one way or the other, that the author is soliciting pastoral advice:

1. Questions that tell a contemporary story or describe historical events.
2. Questions that are about family and interpersonal relationships, common situations that a person might "run into on the street", or deal with "practical matters" in general.
3. Questions that use the word "I".

We can present scenarios, we can talk about practical matters, and we can use the word "I" in giving background. None of these are on their own or together reasons to close a question or mark it pastoral.

In a pastoral advice question:

1. The author self-identifies as being as the one
2. actually involved in and having some control over
3. the problem discussed in the question

A question can have many other problems: it might still be too localized, or off-topic. So feel free to comment, downvote, or close for those reasons. But unless the question at least meets this definition, it is not a pastoral advice question. In particular, we must not assume that any "hypothetical scenario" actually applies to the person asking the question, since they might not be involved in any such problem. If they do not profess involvement (pastoral advice questions are recognizable because so much involvement is being professed) we should not assume involvement.

Additional clarifications are very much welcome.

Answer 1

I think you've missed the main point in what a "pastoral advice" question is. Personal involvement has little to do with it. Of course those are the obvious cases to spot, but it really doesn't matter how many layers of abstraction you put the problems through they still aren't good fits for our site. It doesn't matter if your asking on behalf of somebody else or dreamed up an imaginary situation or read about a case in the news. Questions where the expected answer is actionable advice about a personal, relational or faith issue are off topic.

The questions we handle are about the documented doctrine, tradition, and practice (usually corporate) of Christian groups, not the actions of individuals. The exception to that is notable historical figures, with emphasis on historical.

At some level, spotting what we are labeling as "pastoral advice" is a matter of intuition and the line is fuzzy, but the concept is pretty easy to grasp if you recast in a different context. The two obvious ones that come to mind are legal and medical advice.

Here's what the difference might look like in legal terms:

• Not pastoral advice: Has the supreme court ever overturned a case involving Law XIV?
• Pastoral advice: Should somebody convicted of Y try to appeal to a higher court?

Or medical:

• Not pastoral advice: What are the stages of kidney failure typically associated with Diabetes?
• Pastoral advice: Should someone with Hematuria add tomato juice to their diet?

Note that all of the above could be cast with or without real or hypothetical examples and it wouldn't make much difference to what the core question was. The presence or lack of a case study is not what makes a question pastoral advice or not.