Your instructor will assign and send you a peer’s paper from the Health Care
Provider and Faith Diversity: First Draft assignment. Your job is to critically read
the assignment and make corrections/comments using Track Changes in Microsoft
Word.
Assess the paper on the following content:
1.Does the paper provide sufficient evidence for its hypothesis or claim?
2.Does the flow of the paper and sentence structure make sense?
3.Should it be organized in a different way?
Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity: First Draft
Introduction
Health care professionals encounter people from many different walks of life each
day. These people may be from different parts of the world, they may speak different
languages, and they may practice different religions too. By taking the time to understand
other cultures and religions, health care professionals can deliver the best possible care to
those that are recovering and also to those that may be nearing the end of life here on
Earth. This paper will compare Christianity and Buddhism. Christianity and Buddhism
are two very popular religions in Hawaii and the health care worker would benefit from
knowledge of both religions.
Christianity
Christianity is a religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ during his earthly
life more than 2,000 years ago. The teachings of Jesus Christ are documented in the Bible
with the followers of Jesus Christ known as Christians. Christians believe that although
each person is unique in creation (no two people are exactly alike),God loves each of
them equally. They also believe that God has a predestined plan for each and every one
of them, just as he had a plan for Jesus. Christians consider it of utmost importance to
treat others just as Jesus did – to show kindness to others, even your enemies, and to
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always speak the truth. The Bible says in Luke 6:27-28, “But to you who are listening I
say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray
for those who mistreat you” (New International Version).
Although God no longer has a physical presence here on this earth, he does desire
to have a relationship with each person. In order to have a relationship with Christ and to
be sure one is heaven bound after this life, one must confess his or her sins and
acknowledge Christ as Lord and Savior. Christians believe that God is ever present and
deeply cares about what is going on in their day to day activities. He knows when people
are sick. He knows when people choose to do wrong. He allows people to experience
trials and challenges in life as a way to help build their character and their faith in Him.
When Christians get sick or have family members who are sick, they pray.
Christians value quiet prayer time. Prayer is a form of communication with God that
gives them hope. They ask for healing (Cunningham, 2006). They ask for God’s best in
their life. Even though they may not always be healed, they believe that God is in control
and God sometimes decides to grant eternal rest in heaven over healing. Earth is seen just
as a temporary home. Most Christians do not fear death. However, they do fear what may
happen before death – they fear suffering an illness or feeling pain prior to their passage
into eternal life (Thornton, 2016).
When a person takes his or her last breath in this world, they may be dead on
Earth, but very much alive, well, and whole in Heaven. Death reunites believers with
Christ. The suffering and pain that they may have experienced while here on Earth was
only temporary and is no more. In Heaven, all they will know is joy. For those
unremorseful sinners who chose not to believe and denied God, they go to Hell.
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Buddhism
Unlike Christianity, Buddhists do not serve a god. Rather Buddhism is a
combination of traditions and beliefs incorporated with spiritual practices. The teachings
of Buddhism are largely attributed to Gautama Buddha. Buddha meaning “the
enlightened one.”
The Buddhists do not believe that people were created by God. Instead, they
believe in evolution. Evolution is the theory that states today’s human beings originated
from simpler life forms. These simpler life forms began as very primitive and continued
changing in order to adapt to their environment.
Buddhism teaches how to reach a state of enlightenment. Enlightenment is an
awakening of an awareness. Buddhism has four Noble Truths. The first Noble Truth is
the truth of suffering. The second Noble Truth is the truth of the end of suffering. The
third Noble Truth is the truth of the end of suffering. Lastly, the fourth Noble Truth is the
truth of the path that frees us from suffering.
Buddhists value mindfulness. They like tranquil, peaceful, and quiet environments
for meditation. Buddhists usually want to experience the moment. The writer has had
many Buddhist patients and observed that most of them refuse pain medication. A
Buddhist coworker of the writer mentioned that most Buddhists do not want pain
medication because they would like to be fully alert and pain medications usually make
them groggy and sleepy. Complete awareness is an important part of Buddhism (Ehman,
2012). The use of incense is another important part of Buddhist rituals.
Other considerations for Buddhist patients include diet, modesty, and emotional
reservation. Most Buddhists are vegetarians and refuse dishes containing meat. They are
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also very modest. They prefer health care providers of the same gender if possible.
Buddhists are also emotionally reserved people. Most Buddhists even distance
themselves from someone who is dying. This is done in order to allow the dying person
an uninterrupted transition into death. After a Buddhist person has died, they also believe
that the body should not be touched or moved immediately because rebirth does not occur
instantaneously and any disturbances could prolong the process.
Conclusion
The writer is Christian and is therefore familiar with Christian values. Learning
about Buddhism enabled the writer to have a deeper understanding of a religion different
from his own. By knowing what other cultures or religions practice, health care
professionals can be more appreciative of the world’s diversity and to remember to be
respectful when one’s beliefs may greatly differ from your own. One similarity that stood
out for both Christianity and Buddhism is the need for quiet time to pray or meditate.
This illustrates the importance of hospitals providing a quiet environment and minimized
distractions during recovery or at the end of life. Comparing these two religions allowed
the writer to see the differences and similarities.
Comments
- This paper captures the subject of discussion by providing sufficient evidence for
its hypothesis. However, it is important to develop a strong thesis statement of
the paper. The body of the paper then builds from the thesis by stating a point and
providing supportive evidences in every paragraph. - It is also important to consider that paper depicts a solid flow of thought. The
sentences provide a complete thought on the subject. In advancing this paper,
there is need to consider the use of compound sentence structures to support the
argument.
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- The entire paper does not need to be organized in a different way. However, the
student would make some slight changes that include the building of a stronger
thesis on the subject.
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References
Cunningham, W. R. (2006, February 26). A Christian perspective of healing: Part 2.
Sermon, Pursuing the Truth Ministries.