Okay, I did a search for GOD and came up with 200 pages of 5492 threads. Perhaps what I am looking for was somewhere in there, but WOW! The closest I have come were these posts which clearly show than an abundance of people DO believe in God:
I am curious about the number of people who do NOT believe in a traditional Higher Power.
What brought me to this was a recent theological discussion with my Jewish girlfriend. We are basically on the same wavelength (so I suppose thats good for us), where she believes in the God who created everything but doesnt care about what happens in the world, only about the outcome, (sort of like a science experiment), and I believe only in the POSSIBILITY of such an entity but not in the context of any organized religion which I have come across thus far. (Satanism is the closest I have found to what I believe, though even that seems to not be all encompassing. I do not prescribe to any religion so please don't get hung up on a particular reference or lack of here and miss the point of my question.)
I DO BELIEVE RELIGION IS NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN CIVILIZED SOCIETIES!!! I just have no faith in the whole omnipotent, omniscient, loving God thing to whom we should devote our lives, depriving ourselves of certain experiences that seem to be the very nature of our existence, spending time on our knees seeking guidance from and worshiping. I AM NOT CRITICIZING ANYONE FOR PRACTICING RELIGION!!!
My question is this: do you all feel it is necessary for a care provider to believe in and/or have faith in God or does it matter if he/she believes there might not be a second chance in "Heaven" and have only one FINITE life to live so therefore it is mandatory to ensure everyone gets the best possible chance to be happy and make our marks (so to speak) the only time around?
I feel that if people think they are better than you because they believe in God, then they are wrong for doing so. I am strongly against "stereotyping." We are all individuals with different beliefs, personalities, styles, etc. That's one thing that makes the world such a wonderful "rainbow." I have met many Christians who I don't like or trust, and many non-Christians who are just truly wonderful people. And I don't believe that your spiritual beliefs affect what kind of nurse you are. I apologize if I offended you in any way.
I don't understand why people have to take religion and fight about it. I am a Christian. I try VERY hard not to knock anybody else's religion, even if I don't understand their views in the slightest. If you were to say to me, "I am a Buddhist, Satanist, insert your religion here", I would say, "Oh really? Tell me about it, what do you believe? How did you come to that belief?" in a sincere and inquisitive way. AND I would be sincerely interested. I believe my way, I would not change my beliefs, but I am quite curious about what makes others tick.
If I say to many people, that I am a Christian, that I believe in God and Jesus and the Bible, many times I get quite a bit of crap. "How can you believe THAT?!" like I have the IQ of a rabbit pellet.
You may say they have been turned off by hypocritical Christians. Well there are hypocrites in all segments of society and religions, not just Christianity.
But back to the thread topic, if a person is compassionate, intelligent and able to think on their feet, they will bring a good deal to their practice of nursing. BUT if a patient asks for prayer, what do you do? For Jews and Christians, I pray to God. If a Muslim asks, I tell I will pray to my God, whom they call Allah, since I have been informed that Muslims believe the Old Testament up until the story of Abraham and his sons, then they split off into their religion. If it's someone else, I tell them my religion is not theirs, and they may pray, or I will pray to my God for them. Usually this is met with agreement. My question is, if you are atheist or agnostic, or Buddhist or Hindu or whatever other religion than Jew/Christian, what do YOU do in this situation? Just curious. Do you pray? Do you let them and just be with them? Do you call someone for them?
It does seem it's politically correct to Christian bash on message boards. I've seen it elsewhere. I try not to do it myself, but have seen whichever message board I've ever been on. The reasons for it are many, and most of the time it's not called for. I do think some are overly sensitive, such as the one who called someone "hostile", I sensed no hostility, but the Christian did. All in perception I guess.
We have in-house chaplins to call for patients who request prayer. If someone asks me to pray for them, I always call the chaplin services. They are usually in-house because they must answer all trauma calls.
Strange but in my many years of nursing I've never been asked by a patient to pray with them right then and there. I've been asked "pray for me" and I answer simply, "I will". But never, "let's pray now, out loud" kind of thing. (I guess they can spot the evilness in me. :))
My question is this: do you all feel it is necessary for a care provider to believe in and/or have faith in God or does it matter if he/she believes there might not be a second chance in "Heaven" and have only one FINITE life to live so therefore it is mandatory to ensure everyone gets the best possible chance to be happy and make our marks (so to speak) the only time around?
Thank you in advance for your thoughts. [/b]
Have you given any thought to WICCA ? It is my belief and what keeps me sane. It is a love of the earth and all of nature. I have to believe something set all of this in motion, and it makes sense to me. :)
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
quote->You say you don't like people shoving their religious beliefs down other's throats, but you have made a point (a few times on this thread) to sarcastically shove your disbelief and distate of Christianity down ours. Why do you seem so hostile?.....................
quote>It does seem it's politically correct to Christian bash on message boards. I've seen it elsewhere. I try not to do it myself, but have seen whichever message board I've ever been on. The reasons for it are many, and most of the time it's not called for. I do think some are overly sensitive, such as the one who called someone "hostile", I sensed no hostility, but the Christian did. All in perception I guess.
........................................................................................................I admit I have BIG problems with several so called "Born again Christians" in my family and at work.(many reasons but these people are some of the meanest and hypocritical folks I have ever known) I stay away from the "We are Christian Nurses"thread because I don't think it would be appropriate for me to go there and start a flame war.But I will speak to the subject and the effects of any religion on the care I give me patients.But I don't think it is appropriate for anyone to "bear witness" in the middle of this type of thread.There are many message boards,chat rooms etc that cater to every interest-find one....
What an interesting discussion..............it has made me do lots of brain racking to remember some things I have read over the years. It seems to me that in an introduction to a C.S. Lewis book I came across some information that has sort of stuck in the back of my brain. Seems he (or someone he was referring to ) was an agnostic but began to study the possibility of a higher power. I can't remember exactly how it went, but the gist of the story is, in the end this person decide that they "would rather spend a lifetime believing, than an eternity regretting that they had not."
Another thought that I have often pondered is that, If man is so wise and wonderful, (and now can even create life outside the womb,) how is it that no one as yet has been able to recreate water?
I myself have always had a great faith though I am an infrequent attendee at Church.
Addressing this thread in the form of a question leads me to believe that you may be searching. I only advise that you stay open and continue your search.
Thank-you for causing me to wander through the dusty files of my memory to bring forward the memory of C.S.Lewis. I now plan to reread his books.
You have been a blessing to me .....................
Another thought that I have often pondered is that, If man is so wise and wonderful, (and now can even create life outside the womb,) how is it that no one as yet has been able to recreate water?
O.K., I'm not a chemist, but can't one make water if one has hydrogen and oxygen? Maybe I'm missing something.....
It does seem it's politically correct to Christian bash on message boards. I've seen it elsewhere. I try not to do it myself, but have seen whichever message board I've ever been on. The reasons for it are many, and most of the time it's not called for. I do think some are overly sensitive, such as the one who called someone "hostile", I sensed no hostility, but the Christian did. All in perception I guess.
Actually it also seems to be politically correst to bash non-Christians. The "how can you be moral without believing in X" ideas on many boards exemplify that.
From what I see, everyone feels persecuted at one time or another - Gays, Bis, Straights, Men, Women, Transgendered, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greens, Independants, Isolationists, Non-Isolationists, etc. etal.
Another thought that I have often pondered is that, If man is so wise and wonderful, (and now can even create life outside the womb,) how is it that no one as yet has been able to recreate water?
Ah, but man has not created life. He has taken cells (that he has not personally built) and combined products (that he has not personally created) to create entities. The life was already inherent in them - he did not "create" anything, much less life.
As to the Great Architect of it all that man uses the products and the energy of, well that is the crux of the issue.
And water, is the byproduct of many of man's mechanical activities, however, still using products created by the same Great Architect.
It's not politically correct to bash ANYONE, plain and simple.
Only time i've ever done that was if people were asked to back off twice and didn't.
Someone's an atheist? Someone's a Christian? Someone's anything else? Fine. I don't push my beliefs upon anyone, i expect the same courtesy. And absolutely NO generalizations or stereotypes, not because it's PC, it's common courtesy, the dying art.
I feel that if people think they are better than you because they believe in God, then they are wrong for doing so. I am strongly against "stereotyping." We are all individuals with different beliefs, personalities, styles, etc. That's one thing that makes the world such a wonderful "rainbow." I have met many Christians who I don't like or trust, and many non-Christians who are just truly wonderful people. And I don't believe that your spiritual beliefs affect what kind of nurse you are. I apologize if I offended you in any way.
I wasn't offended by what you said, no apology necessary. I think it's wonderful that here England (don't know about the US, have never been, but would love to visit NY - another time, another thread!) most of us accept other religions, cultures etc etc and I personally think that it enriches us as a nation. I know there are always the racists/bigots/zenophobes/little-englanders who think otherwise, but they are just narrow-minded ignorants. All beliefs are equally valid whether we agree or not.
I may say I am atheist, but there is one small solace I get out of God. My dad died in 1998, and I believe he is in Heaven, being entertained by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and all the other singers and entertainers he loved, and watching Joe Louis and other boxers. And now being entertained by Johnny Cash (RIP). He's having a great time!
In know it's a crutch and in my heart of hearts I know I don't really believe it's true, but it's a nice thought.
(Well, Frank Sinatra is probably "in the other place" anyway )
)
Dixen81
415 Posts
I feel that if people think they are better than you because they believe in God, then they are wrong for doing so. I am strongly against "stereotyping." We are all individuals with different beliefs, personalities, styles, etc. That's one thing that makes the world such a wonderful "rainbow." I have met many Christians who I don't like or trust, and many non-Christians who are just truly wonderful people. And I don't believe that your spiritual beliefs affect what kind of nurse you are. I apologize if I offended you in any way.