Nursing, is it god's work?

Published

The original poster is someone who doesfeel that it was a calling. I am asking that those who do NOT share the original posters sentiments please walk away from this thread and NOT use it as a forum to debate the issue.

This is not a new topic for debate, please, if you want to debate it start a new thread (or better yet, revive an old thread).

Ok here is a new thread.. read this..http://www.atheists.org/

Specializes in ICU.

I think Deb in her post above has come close to the truth of why threads on religion and a "calling" to nursing tend to become very contentious - even if the original poster did not mean it to be.

I guess all of us at one time or another have had the assumption that we are in the field because of a "higher" duty or calling used against us.

Look at the nursing activism threads.

"Nurses shouldn't ask for better conditions since they are called to thier vocation"

"Nurses don't need overtime since they are called to thier vocation"

"Nurses don't need pay since they are called to thier vocation"

If it is not management touting this for thier own purposes to keep nursing cheap then it is the media simply pot stirring.

I think it is natural then that we may react negatively when the terms "nursing is a calling" is used.

This does not mean we should not debate why we are in nursing and what it means to us. Such debate reaffirms our own personal philosophy of care and work ethic.

However the best way to debate these issues is to simply state how you personally feel about them. Without rancour. Accept other people have other opinions than you; embrace that state your side and move on.

Is nursing a calling to me?

I work because I need to pay bills and live. However I believe we have to "pay" for the priviledge of living on this earth. The payment is given to whichever diety is cranking the handle that keeps the world turning. I pay my dues by going the extra mile. Smiling at the patient sitting in the middle of the worst BO ever encountered. Combing a patients hair so that they look "better" for the visitors. Ordering some sandwhiches so the patient has something to eat when they wake and won't go hungry. The little things that mean more.

Perhaps this is an answer to the wider issue as well. An answer to having the words "calling to a vocation" hanging over our heads. Divide the "calling issues" from the "bread and butter issues". We work for the bread and butter and these we can fight for as our right. Any "calling" we feel we channel into doing our job to the best of our abilities each and every day.:kiss:

Just a thought.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

Many great points have been made.LPN2be-I love your grandmom! If the mods wish to provide a forum for "Christian" nurses I can avoid it as I have no interests there.However if they do so I feel that they are condoning a certain image and it is one that I don't wish to be indentified with.Some of us may be "called" to nursing or feel as I do that we were "born to nurse" I still want fair pay,benefits and working conditions because I am NOT a saint.For every "saint" called to nursing I can name you a medical professional that killed their patients...Locking the other thread at the behest of a mod also smacks of censorship because there was no TOS violation and I want the mods and Brian to know exactly how I feel regarding this subject and hope the rest of you communicate your feelings to them as well...THis is just the kind of thing I was afraid would happen when the "We are Christian Nurses" thread was left open-if that type of thread is allowed then we'll see threads called "We are....republican,democrat,pagan,chinese,italian,pregnant,short and fat nurses,etc..The other thread was closed because the opions of others in opposition were being voiced and a mod did not agree.....Will we give only "Christians" and open forum here? I do not wish to be indentified as a "Christian" nurse but rather a professional nurse.....That's the image I wish to project-a kind,conscientious,caring and half smart nurse...not a saint

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.
Originally posted by gwenith

Divide the "calling issues" from the "bread and butter issues".

We work for the bread and butter and these we can fight for as our right.

Any "calling" we feel we channel into doing our job to the best of our abilities each and every day.:kiss:

Just a thought.

And a very GOOD thought. One I can agree with wholeheartedly.

Thanx, Gwen. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

KTWLPN you boviously have not read the entire thread carefully. Yes there are christian threads on this board and I think kudos to all who have not pot stirred to the point of having to repeatedly close threads such as that.

I, for one would be delighted to have threads exploring other religious beliefs. I have been reading Caroline's lovely posts on her own beliefs in Judaism and have found them enlightening.

If and only if we could gaurantee that a thread exploring religious beliefs did not rapidly wind down to a verbal slanging match with "soap box Sallys" posting every second post I would say go for it. Unfortunately history is against us. All too often religious threads deteriorate. That in itself is acceptable but what tends to happen is that the ill feeling generated within those threads can spill over to the rest of the board so that the general level of contentiousness increases.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

That's why i never posted an opinion on that other thread that closed, a lot of people (DID NOT SAY ALL PEOPLE) tend to take an expression of faith as their way of saying " i am ALWAYS right you are WRONG" when in actuallity it's just someone who is happy with their feelings and beliefs and wanted to express that, and thought other people might like to read it. What can i say, i like happy people.

Only problem i ever had with somoene's beliefs is when some find it necessary to lecture you about it. I've had it from both sides. Went to a church one time where the pastor flat out said i was going to burn in hell since i wasn't baptisted. When i was in school, the subject of G-d and religion came up and a student in the class who was a well-known atheist (because he took any and EVERY opportunity to get on his soapbox about it ) got in my face and said "your theory is full of holes, one of these days you will realize how wrong you are, clueless idiot".

The point.

Never assumed that this pastor was like all pastors.

Never assumed that this student was just like all atheists, althought i definately thought less of his opinion since he resorted to namecalling while getting his point across. Doesn't mean i think they all are like that one. God or not that guy was just a rude person.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The "Christian" nurses thread got really inapp., IMO. Look what happened to caroladybelle; she discussed her Judaism and was treated in anything but a Christian way, with one person even referring to her faith as a "bad habit." Excuse me?

Somehow, IMO, to suggest that one person is a nurse because he/she was "called" smacks of elitism. What does that say about the person who went into nursing for other reasons?

Some of these posts from Christians come really close to pharisaical, IMO.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

Umm Fabfourfan - I used to think I had a pretty good grasp of vocabulary but what does "pharasaical" mean?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Originally posted by gwenith

Umm Fabfourfan - I used to think I had a pretty good grasp of vocabulary but what does "pharasaical" mean? >quote

Phar-i-sa-ic [ fèrri sáy ik ] or Pha-ri-sa-i-cal [ fèrri sáy ik'l ]

adjective

1. associated with the Pharisees: relating to or characteristic of the Pharisees

2. Phar-i-sa-ic or phar-i-sa-ic or Phar-i-sa-i-cal or phar-i-sa-i-cal self-righteously obsessed with rules: acting with hypocrisy, self-righteousness, or obsessiveness with regard to the strict adherence to rules and formalities ( disapproving )

Up Vote Up Vote ×

It means to be hypocritically self-righteous. Derived from the Pharisees, a religious sect in the time of Christ.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

Thank-you I will remember that one for the future!:)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Did I miss something? Who was "pharisaical"? The original post was just one person's perspective on their reason for being a nurse. I didn't sense any hypocritical self-righteousness. Does not a person who feels as the first poster writes have a right to express those feelings? Do we not live in America?

And I never read that just because a person feels "called" into the nursing profession that then they must forgo a salary or benefits and work for free. You can feel "called" and expect to be paid for it too.

I don't know if I was "called" to be a nurse. I've always veered toward the "helping" professions . . . . my first major out of high school was Social Work. My "calling" the second time was to help my family out financially and nursing was sort of an accident. Or was it? Who knows?

But what is wrong with discussing it?

steph

Up Vote Up Vote ×

steph: There were a few posts in reference to the "We are Christian nurses" thread...that is to which I was applying the term.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion