Being a born again believer in The Lord Jesus Christ, has been good for me. I am a nurse, and every nurse may at some time or other experienced the frustrations, stresses, dissatisfaction, that is experienced by many nurses. Despite it all, I just love nursing. I love to see when my intervention make someone happy. I love to make patient or people in general feel important. When I smile to people, i love the way they respond. The joy I see on their faces makes it very rewarding, even when it seemed that they are angry. I have come to understand how to treat others with kindness even when they may be rude or unfriendly. You may ask, Why? My relationship with the Lord has made it all possible. I just finished studying for my Bachelors Science in Nursing, and I must say, without my solid foundation. I would have been pulling my hair out. I remained positive, while at the same time encouraged other nurses to look on the bright side. I firmly believe, having a relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ will make one a better nurse, because of the love, compassion, empathy, understanding, calmness, and seeing people as unique human beings. All these can be yours when one accepts the Lord in ones life.You want to be a better nurse? Trust in the Lord!
Well I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your reply, I have to wonder what there is outside of those three metrics that causes one to believe. (Aside from tradition)
Comfort- A firm belief in God and an afterlife is often put forward as the most significant factor that helps people through difficult times in their life. Death becomes less unbearable with the belief that and eternity of peace and joy awaits on the other side. Tragedies are minimized by the understanding that it's all a part of "gods will", and therefore has a purpose beyond what we currently can comprehend. We are absolved of personal responsibility when we fail, because after all, it's just god testing you.
Utility- you get a built-in support structure from faith and religion. It provides a structure to your schedule and a social bonding network of fellow believers. Friendships are solidified from these social networks. Business opportunities present themselves as a result of the familiarity with the group and the shared morals you all possess. "That Johnson is a real stand-up fella. I know he'll be a great pick for the job, after all, I know what sound character he has from seeing how devout he is. And hey, even our kids play in the church softball league together!"
Attractiveness- you are automatically granted membership in the "moral majority". Your beliefs represent those of the VAST majority of the country. Your religious ideologies inspire and push legislation that fits within that chosen belief system. Yet somehow, through the power of televangelists, media pundits, and politicians, you've managed to proliferate the perception that you're victims.
I fail to see what could possibly be unattractive about such a life. And I would venture that the only part of life that would be easier would be not having to defend your indefensible beliefs to those that would challenge you and point out the logical failings of your positions.
You're a better nurse as a result of your training, experience, and personal commitment to excellence in your career. Enjoy taking credit for that accomplishment instead of thanking god for something "he" has nothing to do with.
These are all qualities that people seek when joining a cult. Comfort is nice - I get it from my friends and treat our relationships as precious. Business opportunities and the rest of it you can find in a book club. The irritation comes from the smugness that "my religion is true". If God send down a Bible that was personally inscribed to you and you watched a magic pen write all by itself, well that might give me pause. However, any rational person knows that the Bible was originally written by scribes. The scribes were hired by people with agendas. From Hebrew to Greek to Latin to every other language in the world, every translation was different so who can know what God's intent was?
I don't need to believe in an afterlife to enjoy a little peace while still alive on earth. When I die, I will be converted to some inexpensive minerals. What I contributed while living is my only memory left. That I was lucky enough to love and be loved , that I tried hard not to just take up space on earth and my family will go on happily without me.....these are the things that give me peace. Not some belief in a piece of paper that has no common understanding. Having said that, Psalms are the most beautiful poetry every written. Did King David really write them? Prove it.
Personally, I don't consider my religion to be open to debate - nor does anyone else owe me an explanation/justification of theirs.
I understood the OP's post to be one of witnessing, which is encouraged by a number of Christian sects. It is not clear to me why telling about the ways her religion helped her be better at her job constitutes a statement that others, with other beliefs, cannot be as good as she.
I can certainly understand the urge to challenge the OP. After all, I single-handedly killed a thread by challenging the behavior of a certain small segment of the Christian community. In this case, however - I reviewed all the OPs posts and could find no assertion that her faith is the only way to be a better nurse. That a number of us read that into it is interesting to think about, but that's another thread, I think.
There has been some recent speculation in some scientific circles regarding the genetic basis for religious experience. This has included some twin studies that seem to indicate that genetics has a pretty significant effect. If true, this raises some very interesting questions for me.
The big one is what would be the survival value of such experiences?
I definitely empathize with the discomfort rationalists feel when discussing faith. However, I'm also uncomfortable with the assertion that there is only one way for the human mind to experience/understand reality.
If the Flying Spaghetti Monster floats your limbic boat, have at it!
Personally, I don't consider my religion to be open to debate - nor does anyone else owe me an explanation/justification of theirs.
I understood the OP's post to be one of witnessing, which is encouraged by a number of Christian sects. It is not clear to me why telling about the ways her religion helped her be better at her job constitutes a statement that others, with other beliefs, cannot be as good as she.
I can certainly understand the urge to challenge the OP. After all, I single-handedly killed a thread by challenging the behavior of a certain small segment of the Christian community. In this case, however - I reviewed all the OPs posts and could find no assertion that her faith is the only way to be a better nurse. That a number of us read that into it is interesting to think about, but that's another thread, I think.
There has been some recent speculation in some scientific circles regarding the genetic basis for religious experience. This has included some twin studies that seem to indicate that genetics has a pretty significant effect. If true, this raises some very interesting questions for me.
The big one is what would be the survival value of such experiences?
I definitely empathize with the discomfort rationalists feel when discussing faith. However, I'm also uncomfortable with the assertion that there is only one way for the human mind to experience/understand reality.
If the Flying Spaghetti Monster floats your limbic boat, have at it!
Personally, I do not appreciate being told I am full of sin and incapable of meeting my full potential without swearing an oath of obedience to the OPs god. That is what I find to be offensive. I do not ask that the OP defends their faith. I do ask that they refrain from telling me how horrible people are without their god. I am doing much better as a happy little druid than I ever was as a christian, and would never presume to have all the answers for someone's life difficulties all packaged into one neat package o' god.
Witnessing may be a requirement for their religion, but has no place in the workplace nor is it to serve the purpose of shaming others and making one selves haughty in their piety of the lord.
I took the last line of the OP: "Want to be a better nurse? Trust in the Lord!" as being a pretty obvious and clear-cut assertion that Christians make better nurses than non-believers.
Imagine if I had started off a thread saying "Want to be a better nurse? Renounce the Lord!".....
Making such bold assertions is the right of anyone in a free society. But it frustrates me that so many Christians refuse to engage in debate over the nuts and bolts of their belief system.
And that's really the crux of my issue with organized religion. Christians say a virgin gave birth to the son of god and people can live in whale bellies. Mormons say the native Americans came from Isreal. Wiccans claim they can practice earth goddess magic. Fine, whatever, but when one makes outrageous claims, one ought to try to back them up.
You say one's faith isn't open for debate. Why? It seems any religion that can't withstand scrutiny must be pretty weak.
Well, I meant more in general terms. Religions as a whole respond to questions and debate with evasiveness or hostility.
Individual people, of course, might or might not want to debate the particulars of their religion. I understand that religion can be a private matter.
What's frustrating is when when people are very vocal about their religion (like, say, the OP). They make bold and controversial claims, but clam up when others challenge them. Again, make a bold claim in a public forum you should be prepared to back it up.
Well I meant more in general terms. Religions as a whole respond to questions and debate with evasiveness or hostility. Individual people, of course, might or might not want to debate the particulars of their religion. I understand that religion can be a private matter. What's frustrating is when when people are very vocal about their religion (like, say, the OP). They make bold and controversial claims, but clam up when others challenge them. Again, make a bold claim in a public forum you should be prepared to back it up.[/quote'] But can you, or anyone else here, prove that her religion is false?
But can you or anyone else here, prove that her religion is false?[/quote']
No,
I can't prove anyones's religion as false - or true . I also can't prove that the Michelin man is not at this very moment making spaghetti on the dark side of the moon. I can say that there has been a long history of 'us vs them' r/t religions, geography, color, ...
I can also say that I get frustrated with dogma in general .
But can you or anyone else here, prove that her religion is false?[/quote']
The onus lies with the person making the assertion. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Thus, to make such a bold statement as "Accepting Jesus Christ will make you a better nurse" , one must be willing to engage in a debate as to what evidence supports such a statement.
subee, MSN, CRNA
1 Article; 6,120 Posts
These are all qualities that people seek when joining a cult. Comfort is nice - I get it from my friends and treat our relationships as precious. Business opportunities and the rest of it you can find in a book club. The irritation comes from the smugness that "my religion is true". If God send down a Bible that was personally inscribed to you and you watched a magic pen write all by itself, well that might give me pause. However, any rational person knows that the Bible was originally written by scribes. The scribes were hired by people with agendas. From Hebrew to Greek to Latin to every other language in the world, every translation was different so who can know what God's intent was?
I don't need to believe in an afterlife to enjoy a little peace while still alive on earth. When I die, I will be converted to some inexpensive minerals. What I contributed while living is my only memory left. That I was lucky enough to love and be loved , that I tried hard not to just take up space on earth and my family will go on happily without me.....these are the things that give me peace. Not some belief in a piece of paper that has no common understanding. Having said that, Psalms are the most beautiful poetry every written. Did King David really write them? Prove it.