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Summary of Christian Worldview versus Postmodern Worldview
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Kaley Brandt
School of Nursing and Human Sciences, Spring Arbor University
NUR 510: Moral and Ethical Decision-Making
Cynthia Van Wyk
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September 24, 2020
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Summary of Christian Worldview versus Postmodern Worldview
Question
What is
prime realitythe really
real?
Christian Worldview
Since I was a little girl I have been
told, “God is your savior”. Growing
up in a religious household, the
thought that there are people in this
world that continue to question God’s
existence just doesn’t make sense to
me. As stated in Sire (2009), “God is
the one prime existent, the one prime
reality, and the one source of all other
reality (p. 28). Having a Christian
worldview means that you have an
understanding of the importance to
have a personal relationship with
God. And that relationship is
something to be cherished and
protected. God is a being, he has
feelings, characteristics, opinions and
shows infinite love and forgiveness.
As Sire (2009) explains, he is similar
to all other human beings, but he is
the ultimate form of a human being.
God has shown to be real by
showcasing his ultimate knowledge
of all things. His knowledge knows
no bounds and he has continued to
prove that nothings is beyond his
reach (Sire, 2009). Not any other
creation in time has demonstrated the
love and sacrifice that God gives
each and every day.
Postmodern Worldview
Descartes’s famous quote, “I think,
therefore I am” has shown to be a
danger to those who are against the
postmodern worldview of thinking
(Haldane, 2011). In the postmodern
worldview of thinking things are
believed to be real if you feel they are
real. Knowing is put before being, it is
thought that what you know is what is
actually true (Sire, 2009). For
example, a person may tell
themselves, “I think I do not believe
in God,” in turn that person may
actually start to not believe in God,
simply because they think they don’t.
The problem is, it causes room for
doubt, and doubt can be a very
dangerous thing (Sire, 2009). By
following this way of thinking, I
believe a person could convince
themselves that almost anything is
real and right if they put forth enough
time and effort. Dangerous examples
of this can include pedophilia,
murder, and pornography.
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What is
the nature of
external
reality, that is,
the world
around us?
What is
a human
being?
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3.
“God is constantly involved in the
unfolding pattern of the ongoing
operation of the universe” (Sire,
2009, p.32). When I read this, I think
of the fact that God already knows
the ending to our story. Yes, we each
make individual decisions on a daily
basis that will affect the course of our
life, but ultimately God knows the
ending result. This idea that our
decisions have consciences is an
example of an open system. “The
universe is orderly, and God does not
present us with confusion but with
clarity” (Sire, 2009, p.32). As a
Christian woman I know that God
has a plan for my life. During the
hard times in life when certain things
are out of my control and do not go
my way, I have learned to except the
fact that it is part of God’s plan for
my life.
“Human beings are created in the
image of God” (Sire, 2009, p.32). A
human being is a living, breathing
individual that is capable of many
things. God created human beings to
be a lesser version of himself in the
sense that we are capable of being
like him in many ways (Sire, 2009).
As human beings we can learn from
our mistakes, know the difference
between right and wrong and we can
learn to treat each other with respect.
Unlike God, human beings are
capable of lying, being deceitful and
they can be influenced by evil (Sire,
2009). Lucky for us, all human
beings are worthy of forgiveness in
the eyes of Jesus Christ our savior.
The postmodern worldview mindset
believes in the idea that human beings
are just material creatures. The
worldview subscribes to the idea that
we are an unintentional creation from
an uncaring source (Sire, 2009). The
idea that what a person knows is not
as important as how that person
knows what they know is relative in
this type of worldview (Sire, 2009).
The opposite of a Christian
worldview, the postmodern believers
do not believe that there is a plan for
their life, they believe that they make
their own plan based on what beliefs
they choose to subscribe to.
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“There is no substantial self, human
beings make themselves who they are
by the languages they construct about
themselves” (Sire, 2009, p.226). The
postmodern way of thinking believes
that humans determine who they will
be based on what they choose to do
and how they choose to think (Sire,
2009). They refute the idea that God
knew who we would be even before
our birth. It is believed that whatever
language you use to describe yourself
is what makes you your truest self.
According to postmodernist, human
beings are “highly complicated
electrochemical machines whose
complexity we do not understand”
(Salladay, 2000).
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What
happens to a
person at
death?
The postmodern worldview has the
belief that when an individual dies,
their value of everything dies with
them, causing them personal
extinction (Sire, 2009). There is no
belief in an after world, or heaven or
hell. Therefore, the decisions you
make while on this earth do not affect
your afterlife, or where you will go
next. You are just gone. In my
opinion, this is a very sad ending. As
a Christian, it is promising to know
that Heaven will be what my life on
earth was all for. The postmodernist
does not believe in Heaven because
the idea of it cannot be fully known,
but Christians choose to believe in it
regardless (Sire, 2009).
Why is
it possible to
know
anything at
all?
“As he is the all-knowing knower of
all things, so we can be the
sometimes-knowing knowers of
some things” (Sire, 2009, p.36). God
gave human beings the ability to
know him because he created us to
do so, he created us in a way that he
would be able to communicate and
have a relationship with us. It is
possible to know anything at all
because there is something to know
about, God, and he is the one that
gifted us with the capacity to know
(Sire, 2009). God can do all things, if
he did not want us to know, we
would not know, we are capable of
having knowledge because he has
knowledge.
“The truth about the reality itself is
forever hidden from us” (Sire, 2009,
p.222). The postmodern worldview
ideals believe that we will never truly
know the truth about all things, that
all we can do as humans is tell our
stories and believe just those.
According to postmodernism
thinking, “nothing we think we know
can be checked against reality” (Sire,
2009, p.223). There is no such thing
as the ultimate truth, just stories. And
once a story has gained enough
believers, the storyteller will gain a
certain level of power (Sire, 2009).
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5.
“At death people are transformed into
either an existence with God and his
people, or they enter an existence
forever separated from God” (Sire,
2009, p.41). As stated above, as
human beings we are ultimately
responsible for the actions and
decisions we make. After death we
will have a day of judgement, we will
be judged on those decisions and our
ultimate decision of who we choose
to follow during our time on earth.
“Hell is God’s tribute to the freedom
he gave each of us to choose whom
we would serve” (Sire, 2009, p.41).
Many believers will use the
statement, “I am not afraid to die”.
This is because as believers of Christ,
we know where we will be going
once that day comes, and we know
that Heaven will be a glorious place
of God.
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How do
we know
what is right
and wrong?
“Ethics, like knowledge, is a linguistic
construct. Social good is whatever
society takes it to be” (Sire, 2009,
p.228). Rather than believing the
difference between right and wrong is
taught, postmodernism views believe
that right and wrong is whatever a
person’s languages decide it to be
(Sire, 2009).
What is
the meaning
of human
history?
“The actions of people are part of a
meaningful sequence that has a
beginning, a middle and an end”
(Sire, 2009, p.43). As humans it is
important to be able to look back and
reflect on the decisions we have
made, learn from our mistakes and
find the areas where growth is
needed. History and forgiveness go
hand-in-hand. Our God can look at
our beginning and compare it to our
end. He can forgive us for our sins
we made in the beginning and he can
recognize that we learned and grew
during our time on earth. “History is
the divine purpose of God in concrete
form” (Sire, 2009, p. 43). History is
eternal, it cannot be changed, nor
altered, it is a tool and should be used
for everlasting good and not evil.
“Postmodernists, in short are
committed to an endless stream of
shifting “whatevers”” (Sire, 2009,
p.229). Because the postmodern
worldview is so widespread in the
sense that individual “languages” are
both encouraged and accepted, it is
hard to determine what value they see
in the role of human history (Sire,
2009). Christians have the bible, in
which their core beliefs and standards
are derived from, the bible is not
something that changes.
Postmodernism viewpoints do not
come from one single area of
literature, beliefs are widespread and
different among individuals.
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“God is good and expresses this in
the laws and moral principles he has
revealed in Scripture” (Sire, 2009,
p.42). God is right, the devil is
wrong, the birth of a human being is
right, killing a human being is wrong,
it should be that simple. God should
be our moral standard for what is
right and good (Sire, 2009).
However, too often in today’s society
humans are not using the judgement
of God to determine what is right and
what is wrong. God has laid out his
standards for us in the bible, he has
taught us what is right and what is
wrong, it is just a matter of if we’re
willing to listen.
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You have received a discharge order for a homeless patient hospitalized for pneumonia. You
know the patient needs further care that will not likely be delivered at home. You also know the
bottom financial line is that the patient has used up the days allotted for the medical condition
and discharge is imminent.
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Having a Christian worldview in this
scenario, I would look for resources
to help this homeless patient.
Resources that would help deliver
positive results that would be “real,”
meaning the results can be observed
and are measurable (Salladay, 2000).
As a nurse, it is our responsibility to
always advocate for our patients.
There are two routes I would look to
first when going about helping this
specific patient. The first would be to
speak with my direct supervisor about
possibly getting the hospital ethics
board involved to find a safe solution.
No patient should be discharged early
from treatment just because of
financial reasons. Another resource
would be to communicate the
situation with a hospital care
manager. Care managers are helpful
when looking for community
resources. I would be hopeful that this
patient would agree to show up for
outpatient antibiotic infusions, if
those are needed, or any other
medication administration he might
need. Also making sure he has a place
to stay while recovering, a local
shelter would be an option. As nurses
it is our responsibility to be concerned
about our patient as a whole and that
includes what happens to them once
they leave our care. All of these
solutions above can be determined
either successful or not. When
treating our patients, it is important to
be able to have “concrete” results that
hopefully bring our patients the
positive outcomes they hope for. An
example of this would be the
homeless
patient
successfully
showing up for his outpatient
antibiotic infusions, this is an
observable,
desired
outcome
(Salladay, 2009).
As stated in Salladay (2000), “A
hallmark of postmodernism’s impact
on nursing is the preeminence of
holistic therapies and self-healing
techniques” (p.44). A postmodernism
inspired nursing intervention would
be to help their patient “create their
own healing,” meaning the patient
can use interventions such as yoga to
help in their path towards healing
(Salladay, 2000). In this specific
scenario, having postmodernism
worldviews would impact nursing
practice by the nurse focusing on
holistic, self-healing remedies rather
than physical, pharmacological
treatments. The postmodern
practicing nurse believes in the idea
that illness can be treated by the
patient having acceptance and
opening themselves up to the power
of healing (Salladay, 2000). This
“healing” will not be measurable, it
is largely subjective and often
unknown (Salladay, 2000).
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How do these
worldviews
impact decision
making about
the practice
issue, above?
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References
Haldane, E. S., & Ross, G. R. (2011). The philosophical works of Descartes (2). Nabu Press.
Salladay, S. A. (2000). Healing is believing: Postmodernism impacts nursing, The Scientific Review of
Alternative Medicine, 4(1), 39-47.
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Sire, J. W. (2009). The universe next door (Fifth ed.). InterVarsity Press.
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