Foundational Issues in Christian Spirituality and Ethics (Essay Sample)

Foundational Issues in Christian Spirituality and Ethics Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name Professor’s Name Date Foundational Issues in Christian Spirituality and Ethics Part One From the Christian perspective, God is an all-powerful and eternal Being. This means that God is the Supreme Being, and individuals must obey His commands. By following God’s commandments, individuals learn essential values and beliefs that offer to mean to their lives. When individuals are religious, the values and beliefs learned from the Scripture act as ethics that enable them to make life decisions. On the other hand, postmodern relativism claims that cultural values influence universal beliefs and knowledge (Zardosht, 2020). This means that the values individuals learn at young ages play a significant part in helping them make life decisions. Health care is an industry that involves multiple activities and operations intending to promote population health. From a Christian perspective, health care professionals must act according to the Scripture in caring for the needy and poor (patients). Proverbs 14:31 states, “Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors Him.” This means that health care professionals must care for patients by supporting them spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Additionally, health care professionals must adhere to the code of ethics provided to ensure their actions do not harm patients. Postmodern relativism expects healthcare professionals to perform their tasks and roles within healthcare facilities based on their cultures and values. This means that health care professionals raised in cultures that do not value compliance and cooperation with people from other cultures might negatively affect patients’ health. For example, suppose a patient from a different culture from a nurse is admitted into a health care facility. In that case, the nurse might not be interested in providing care to the patient due to their difference in cultural norms and values. However, from a Christian perspective, the nurse should have tried to look for a professional with diverse knowledge to assist the patient. This helps lessen chronic pain and promote wellness among all patients. Part Two Mayes et al. (2018) claim that scientism is the application of scientific methods, ideas, attitudes, and practices to human political and social concerns. For individuals to come up with political and social solutions to issues, the information must be factual, replicable, and testable. This means that a problem might exist, and scientific methods must be employed in all examination areas to solve it scientifically. An example of a scientific statement is “Community involvement in learning improves the quality of education that students receive.” This statement can be observed and tested to determine the role or effect of community involvement in learning on the quality of education. In testing this statement, the researchers can involve a sample population to determine the relationship between community involvement and the quality of education. Additionally, the researchers can involve a control group that helps determine the actual effect of the community in promising quality education in learning institutions. Although this theory is effective, it disregards personal opinions. For example, in determining whether the above statement is true, researchers might fail to consider rationalism since it might be negatively affected by human misconceptions, thus biased and inconclusive results. However, for clarity and reliability of the results, researchers will need to conduct an experiment involving a sample population to have access to unlimited ideas and information regarding the impact of community involvement in education. Secondly, this theory can be affected by the measuring instruments in a study or research environment, hence biased. For example, changes in sociocultural factors might air new information forcing the researchers to conduct a new study or incorporate new participants. If researchers do not consider new information due to budgetary constraints, the results might not be objective. Part Three Question One Ultimate reality is the certainty that something is final. For example, Christians believe God is the absolute foundation of everything. As a result, they are forced to obey and abide by His rules and commands. As individuals grow, they believe God plays a significant role in influencing their values and norms. Since the Scripture teaches Christians to be faithful, people grow up obeying such value only because they believe it to be final. Additionally, nature is an ultimate reality. This means that nature is propelled and determined by her laws. For example, as people constantly interact with the environment, they learn and experience norms naturally accepted by the community. This means that if an individual relocates to a community where drinking alcohol is immoral, they will have to adapt to such rules and laws since they are naturally recognized. Question Two The universe was created for human beings to care for and live according to God’s plan. However, people cannot adhere to the initial intention of creating the universe as God projected, resulting in multiple changes. These changes rely on energy. In the end, competition, evolution, and extinction are inevitable. Competition arises from unfair distribution and consumption of natural resources in different regions. As a result, those regions unable to compete for resources face extinction. This means that the minority or regions with limited resources cannot survive, which makes the majority take advantage of their situation. On the contrary, those with adequate resources have power that enables them to continuously invent new rules and resources, bringing evolution to life. As this cycle continues, the nature of the universe is attained. Question Three A “human being” is a term that can be explained from two perspectives: religious and biological. During creation, God created human beings in His likeness and image. His primary aim for humans was to take care of His creation while obeying His Commandments. From a biological perspective, a human being is a product of evolution. Since the first human, there have been evolutions where people develop higher thought processes that enable them to adapt to new environments. This means that individuals who can adjust to a new environment irrespective of their language and vocabularies are human beings. Among all creatures that exist, human beings have complex brains that make them dominant over others while developing advanced cultures, tools, and languages. Question Four Knowledge is a set of skills, facts, and information acquired through education or life experience. During childhood, education from family or learning institutions is vital in reinforcing values and beliefs vital f...