I belive that the ear is both a gift from God, and something that has to be developed. God gives us the potential, but it is up to us to fully develop it. 
Very well said. I give him all the glory for the talent with which he has blessed me. But I also put in a lot of hard work...especially on the front end when I was first learning to play by ear.
Does that make us lazy? I know some people that would say so.
Of course not. It depends on the venue and the need. When Jason White recorded "Thank You Lord" with Mary Mary, he didn't play it exactly like Kevin Bond did (I think it was Bond) back when the Hawkins' family recorded it. Whereas not every soloist is a strong enough singer to sing a song regardless of what the musicians are playing, some are. Por ejemple, when my church sang "My Heart's Desire" about 3 years ago, the other keyboardist played it and I played strings or something. This joker was nowhere close to playing it like the CD, but it was the song. The soloist was complaining because she had practiced it so much with the original recording. So she was waiting for certain piano cues and such and they weren't there. In situations like these, it helps to play as closely to the original as possible.
nah. I have to move on. You know how long it takes to get a song note for note! Those people dont have a good argument. Too many songs to learn, and so little time.
It depends on how long you've been at it. It doesn't take me much longer than a day or two (in actuality, a few concentrated minutes or hours depending on the complexity of the song) to learn a song note for note.
The only thing i always try to get note for note is the intro of the song so that folk can recognize what song it is. Otherwise just the chords and the right scale is fine for me.
Song recognition is very important! I'm not a big fan of taking songs way out in the ocean to where they are barely recognizable at best when someone is singing it.
Check how close these two versions are.
Kevim Bond:
Mike Bereal:
