Free Essay On Health Care Provider And Faith Diversity

The health care providers are a group of professionals who work with the health profession. The health care providers are responsible for providing medical services to people. They are, therefore, tasked with maintaining the health of people. Faith diversity, on the other hand, is the varied beliefs that people have in various religions. Such religions include Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and others. This paper hence comparatively analyzes two faith philosophies towards providing health care. One of the philosophies is from the Christian religion while the other is from the Buddhism religion. Christianity is a faith in which its believers believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. They believe that God the Father and the Almighty sent His only begotten son to die for the sins of the people. On the other hand, Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development that leads to awareness of the actual being of reality (Chodron, 2012). The Buddhist practices such as meditation aim at changing someone to have the qualities of kindness, knowledge, and wisdom. They believe in Buddha (Narayanan, 2010).
There are various worldview questions that regard these beliefs in relation to health care providence. Such questions are drawn from different perspectives but mainly focus on providing health care services. Christianity views human beings as the bearers of the image of God on earth. While approaching medical care, they hold it that every human being should be accorded the medical assistance they irrespective of their religion or belief. They believe that people should not be seen as economic things but as the representative of God on earth and are made in His image. Due to this, their, their health should be maintained at all times (Gen.1:26; 1 Cor. 11:7; Jam. 3:9).
Christians have the Ten Commandments that Moses was given. One of the commandments tells Christians to love their neighbors as much as they love themselves. A neighbor, in this case, is anyone in need of one’s help. They thus believe in loving in loving one another. In this case, they hold that everybody irrespective of their beliefs and religions should be given the required medical attention. They love that love is of God and that it should not be limited to anyone (Chodron, 2012).
Christianity and its believers hold that they introduced hospitals. They believe that these other religions copied them and came up with theirs. Being the front runners in providing healthcare services, they do not believe in advancing the care to individual selected few individuals. They offer the services to every part of the world and every religious group. They believe in free and universal healthcare to everyone irrespective of their affiliations (Hollins, 2009).
On the other hand, Buddhist worldview is holistic and is based primarily on a belief in the interdependence of all phenomena and the correlation that exists between the causes and effects. The belief originates from the principle of dependent origination. This principle is also known as the law of the law of conditionality. The Buddhist worldview also has the belief in the law of kamma thus emphasizing on the correlation between a deed and the subsequent consequences. The Buddhist practice hence allows for a broad awareness of the cause and effect and giving an insight into the nature of conditioned interdependence. The Buddhist patient has to consider the choice and practice factors. They believe that a Buddhist patient who meditates and chooses skillfully, they suffer less and have a greater sense of confidence and wellbeing (Ferngren, 2009).
They believe that Buddhists don’t tell the patients the meaning of sickness. They believe in propagating the Buddhist belief in hospitals and helping patients accept why Buddhism is important. The Buddhists acknowledge the meditation even if one is not from their conviction. Furthermore, they argue that healthcare should be provided to everyone who is in their need. No description or any form of selective caring should be encouraged. They also advocate conventional medicine as much as one practices the Buddhism (Gaiser, 2010).
Christians also believe in conventional medicine. They believe that the medicine will only cure the patient if he has faith in God. This is because they argue that the medicine was made from plants or things that were made by God. Due to this God, cannot create things that are harmful to His people. He cannot allow for the production of harmful medicines, and that is why it is opposed to drug and substance abuse. It only advocates the rightful use of the drugs that are manufactured. They believe that health service providers, used by God as vessels through which He can cure His people who may be sick (Hollins, 2009).
.My spiritual perspective on healing is that God is the one who heals. He uses the medicine to show His power in healing His people who are sick. I can attest to the Christian belief in God healing the sick. That is why they are advocating many hospitals and health centers. It aims at attracting people to meet God and subsequently undergo treatment (Ferngren, 2009).
There certain factors that are critically common elements to all religions. Such factors include prayer, meditation, and belief among others. Prayer is something that is highly valued by the Christians. They believe that through prayer, they will be talking directly to God. Whenever they are sick, they will always turn to God and ask for healing. Whenever one undergoes treatment, they are prayed for so that the medication works. Also, in circumstances where the medical providers are preparing to work, they are required to pray and ask for the direction of God in the practice (Narayanan, 2010).
The concept of prayer has also been associated with many health concepts such as when one dies, God will be asked to keep their souls in eternal peace. God is never blamed on the Christian religion in case the patient does not pull through. Prayer in Christianity is thus a pathway of communication between the believers and God. They believe it is the direct connection with God. The prayers can be silent, verbal or spiritual. In other circumstances, wishes are also taken to mean prayers (Chodron, 2012).
In Buddhism, there also exists prayer. For instance, the prayer of confession and many others. The Buddhist religion acknowledges the Buddhist prayer as a focused expression of the sentiments of yearning for, appreciation and commitment. The prayer is distinguished by the fact that Buddhism pinpoints the divine in the life of the individual practitioner. The Buddhist prayer has the goal of awakening the innate capacities of strength, wisdom and courage rather than petitioning external forces. The Buddhist believes that prayer is very essential in the practice of Nichiren Buddhism. They believe in being offered earnest prayer or praying from the bottom of the heart (Gaiser, 2010).
Additionally, the Hinduism religion, which has no known founder or known date of origin, is also known to have prayers. The religion has several types of prayers that are in relation to different aspects. The Hinduism believers believe in one or more deities; also, they believe in reincarnation, do value the practice of meditation, and do observe festive holidays like Holi and Diwali. There are those who believe in God while others in God and other beings. They do have various kinds of prayers as is the case in Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and others (Hollins, 2009).
Furthermore, the religions do share meditation. In Christianity, the believers like carrying out meditation in isolated places and alone. They talk to God for a very long time and in most cases, it is about confessing. They will always meditate when confessing. Some churches have gone forward to build shrines and altars where people go, spend the time they need and talk to God in seclusion. This has proven to work as they believe it is a one on one session with God. After meditating, they remain optimistic that God will answer their prayers (Hollins, 2009).
In Buddhism, meditation is paramount. In fact, their form of prayer is majorly meditation. They will do it in their places of worship while always quiet. Only in rare circumstances would one see them meditating aloud. Buddhist meditation practices are techniques which encourage and improve concentration, emotional, clarity, calm and positivity understanding the true nature of things. In some circumstances, meditation is accompanied by yoga. There are two types of Buddhist meditation. These are vipassana (insight) and samatha (tranquility). The two are often combined or used after another. In japan and china, there are schools that are entirely dedicated to Buddhism and embrace meditation seriously. The Meditation is also practiced in other religions (Ferngren, 2009).
In is always necessary for patients from an individual religion to be cared for by health care providers from other faiths. Such patients stand to benefit from a lot of things. First, they can compare the difference in offering care from the other religion and theirs. They will learn new things from the other religion and try to apply them in theirs. This practice helps them in benefiting from two different perspectives (Narayanan, 2010).
Additionally, it assists them to benefit from the specialized treatment that is applied to the other religion. Most religions have specified ways of using the treatment to their patients either through herbal medicine or the conventional medicine. Additionally, it improves the virtue of kindness. The Christians, in this case, will be applying the love one another virtue. It reduces thoughts of fighting, war and many other negative things if they are integrated in such an area. It hence promotes harmony. (Chodron, 2012).
It embraces the idea of togetherness and interdenominational or interreligious relationship. It encourages believers to exist and work together as brothers and sisters. It helps them to reduce religious disharmony and increase the love. Also, being served by someone from a different religion strengthens the bondage and friendship that exists between them. Studies have shown that most of those who are friends from different religions become friends because of meeting in scenarios such as the hospital settings. Such friends who meet during the hard times have a stronger friendship irrespective of their religions (Gaiser, 2010).
In conclusion, from the research, I have learned various things. First, religions share a lot of aspects. Such aspects are prayer, meditation, Supreme Being among others. Also, I have learned that love is taught by all religions. They encourage their believers to love one another. Additionally, health care providing is a concept of worship. It was initially conceptualized by religion. These teachings can be applied in healthcare providing in such a way that the providers should know that nursing comes from faith. They should love the patients and give them the care they need irrespective of their religions. They should be aware that God is the one who heals.

References

Chodron, T. (2012). Buddhism for Beginners. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.
Ferngren, G. B. (2009). Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity. Baltimore: JHU Press.
Gaiser, F. J. (2010). Healing in the Bible: Theological Insight for Christian Ministry. Bloomington: Baker Academic.
Hollins, S. (2009). Religions, Culture and Healthcare: A Practical Handbook for Use in Healthcare Environments. Buckinghamshire: Radcliffe Publishing.
Narayanan, V. (2010). Hinduism. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group.