Patty Houser

Subjective

Patty Houser — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 06:20:33 +0000

Subjective is a matter of personal opinion. “Chocolate tastes better than vanilla” is subjective.

Objective

Patty Houser — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 06:19:07 +0000

Objective is something is objective if it’s real or true independent of anyone’s opinion about it. Water is H₂0 and is an objective fact.

Purpose

Patty Houser — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 06:17:35 +0000

Purpose has to do with a goal or reason for something.

Meaning

Patty Houser — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 06:15:42 +0000

Meaning has to do with significance; it’s why something matters.

Reductio ad absurdum

Patty Houser — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 06:14:55 +0000

Reductio ad absurdum us a form of argument that proves a statement by demonstrating that its opposite is absurd.

Premise

Patty Houser — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 06:00:55 +0000

Premise is the steps of an argument that lead to the conclusion and are called the premises of the argument.

Relativism

Patty Houser — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 20:13:44 +0000

Relativism is the view that something is relative rather than absolute. That is to say, the thing in question (a truth, a moral value, a property) is the case only in relation to something else. For example, being rich is relative. Relative to most Americans, you’re probably not rich. But relative to the people of the Sudan, you are fabulously rich! By contrast, it is not just relatively true that the Cubs did not win the 2009 World Series. It is absolutely true that they did not win. Many people today think that moral principles and religious beliefs are at best relative truths: true, as they say, for you, but not true for me.

Value

Patty Houser — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 06:16:30 +0000

Value has to do with good and evil, right and wrong.

Secularism

Patty Houser — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:12:35 +0000

Secularism – Is the worldview that allows no room for the supernatural; no miracles, no divine revelation, no God.

Apologetics

Patty Houser — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:39:50 +0000

As I’ve been teaching and speaking over the past nine months, I’ve had a lot people ask me to define the terms I’m using because they don’t understand what they mean and therefore can’t fully understand the arguments I’m making. In response, I put together a list of 80 terms I’ve recently used along with their definitions to help those who have made the request.

I’m thinking that if such a list is helpful to my class, then such a list might be helpful to my readers as well. Therefore, I thought it would be fun to post terms that frequently pop up in the apologetics world with their defintions so that we are all clear about their meaning.

Remember, clearly defining our terms is essential for good communication. Why? If we are not clear on how someone is using a word, then we are not fully understanding what he/she is saying which means we end up talking past each other.

Here’s the first word: Apologetics – It comes from the Greek word apologia which means a defense, as in a court of law. Christian apologetics therefore involves making a case for the truth claims of the Christian faith.