The Christian perspective of the nature of spirituality and ethics in contrast to the perspective of postmodern relativism within the health care
Christianity offers a religious perspective on the nature of spirituality, where it contends that spirituality is the prism that exfoliates the notion of God in terms of who, how, and what. According to Christianity God is perceived as the eternal and all-powerful being, who is above everyone and everything. Christians have a developed belief system that is directed by the Bible. The systems expound more on the purpose of human life, the truth, and the meaning of life (Davis, Hook, McAnnally-Linz, Choe, & Placeres, 2017). With the awareness created by Christianity, humans can pursue and attain a transcendent state for their life experiences. This means that they can make choices about their lives, and remain grounded in following God’s guidance. This additionally makes Christians accept their life and accept God’s fate and obey anything permitted by God.
According to the Christians’ views, ethics entails decisions that abide by God’s teachings and instructions which are instructed in the Bible. The Christianity perspective on ethics relies on spirituality to conform to God’s expectations without room for ambiguity. The Christian perspective on spirituality and ethics has an implication on healthcare in that it guides decision-making through setting boundaries to accept choices and options when making such decisions. The perspective is mainly focused on ensuring lesser human suffering, restoring life, and augmenting wellbeing.
On the contrary, postmodern relativism presents more liberal comprehension of spirituality where it argues that there is no absolute truth. The perspective is ambiguous when arguing that God may or may not exist, where one of the clear options is that there may be a possibility of is existence (Deng, 2019). Concerning ethics, the perspective contends that contrasting ethical arguments could be either valid or invalid, where there is no absolute truth. According to the perspective, no single argument needs to be discarded just because it sounds contradictory. This is a perspective that is very useful in healthcare because it supports multicultural care delivery by allowing for diversity. Medical personnel who follow the perspective hence acknowledge that they do not have to have the monopoly of truth about ethics and spirituality, and will on the contrary use the most suitable approach to solve a health solution.
Scientism and two of the main arguments against it
According to scientism hard sciences are the only true source of absolute truths and genuine knowledge. Scientism explains that only hard science can aid in offering superior scientific knowledge. The hard science according to scientism offers factual, replicable, and testable data, hence meaning that the results are reliable. According to scientism, soft sciences are pseudosciences, which only present guesses and conjectures and are subject to change which may not offer real solutions, hence are inferior to hard science (Gasparatou, 2017). The major difference between the two is the perceived value of information that they provide. According to scientism, hard sciences offer valuable information, due to their reliance on objective skepticism, falsification, and experimentation as a way of explaining an issue or principle. Hard science hence offers greater intellectual authority over real knowledge, as compared to soft sciences.
One of the major arguments against scientism is the Christianity perspective, which subscribes to the notion that there is a supernatural being that controls us (Davis, Hook, McAnnally-Linz, Choe, & Placeres, 2017). According to the narrative, scientism is wrong in that it does not admit the supernatural being has powers that cannot be even with science. Science on the other hand tends to move away from such beliefs, and only believes that all life issues can be explained using science. A second argument against scientism states that it has adopted a tyrannical approach that is over-reliant on rationalism and disregards any personal opinion. This tyrannical approach then ends by limiting the discovery of new information, despite the changing times and advancing science.
Worldview questions according to own personal perspective and worldview
What is ultimate reality?
According to my perspective, ultimate reality is the belief that there is a supernatural being, who is God. He gives every human being a chance to do whatever he/she wishes, but as long as it is in line with his teachings. The ultimate reality is that God is omnipresent and knows whatever is happening in the world. In my perspective, there is a consequence for every action, where the righteous will be rewarded, while the sinners will be punished at the end of the day. This means that everyone has to abide by God’s teachings and do good in their time on earth.
What is the nature of the universe?
The nature of the universe has a huge correlation and tie with the ultimate reality. It was God who created the universe six days before resting. Human beings were made in the image of God, where both man and woman were made and instructed to fill the world. The open nature of the universe has led to multiple beliefs, which could not have existed in a closed world. The world was made to accommodate all God’s creatures, where it entails gases, water, and any other living organisms.
What is a human being?
A human being is the most evolved inhabitant of the earth. Just like other components of the ecosystem, a human being is a product of time and chance. A human is more superior to the rest of beings since he can do creative activities, think, speak different languages and also reflect on himself. The human brain has evolved and is protected greatly by God Since he was given the mandate of taking care of other living organisms, due to his higher IQ.
What is knowledge?
According to my perspective, knowledge entails a unique set of facts, information, and skills that a human cognitively acquires through either education or experience. Experience entails a practice of familiarizing oneself with knowledge, whereas education entails attending a formal or informal process to acquire theoretical knowledge. Knowledge aids a person to have a capacity thought process. An example is that an engineer can successfully manage a construction project, while at the same time is a doctor has acquired skills and experience of diagnosing and treating an ailment.
What is your basis of ethics?
According to me, there are two concepts of ethics. The first is a personal belief and understanding of what is right and wrong. It is the role of any given individual to do what he.se deems right, and what does not negatively affect another person. Doing wrong, on the other hand, means acting against the expectations of society, and negatively hurting others, without abiding by the rule of law. For instance, I believe that each person needs to do honest work as a way of earning a living without stealing what does not belong to them. The second concept of ethics is the public principles and beliefs. Despite having personal beliefs, they may not necessarily match with what the public deems right or wrong. Such is determined by public discussions and consensus. An example is that there may be ethical principles that require one to handle private information in a certain way within a professional environment, and regardless of what I believe, I am required to follow the principles to the latter. The two concepts hence interact and help in determining how to handle certain ethical situations.
What is the purpose of your existence?
I believe that my main purpose of existence is to do my best to make the world a better place than I found it. I believe that everyone has been created with different talents and abilities, which he/she needs to sue to fulfill, the purpose in life. I hence believe that through my skills, I will work towards ensuring that the world is a better place for everyone to live, by doing the little best I can to change it. I also believe that I exist to serve the purpose of serving God and obeying His commandments. This is since, God created us intending us to be His disciples all over the world, and serve the rest with humanity and dignity. I will hence strive to improve the lives of the less fortunate, helping those who feel lost and purposeless, and ensuring that everyone around me is happy.
