Henrietta Ayinor Topic 1 DQ 1Spirituality in my worldview has

Henrietta Ayinor : Topic 1 DQ 1
Spirituality in my worldview has a great connection with faith,
and a search for meaning and purpose in life, connection with
others and surpassing Oneself. This results in s sense of inner
peace and wellbeing. A strong spiritual connection may improve
can improve an individual's sense of satisfaction with life or
enable accommodation to disability (Delgado 2005)
Phenwan et al. (2019) Spirituality is the essence of a human
being The meaning of life, feeling of connectedness to the
transcendental phenomena such as the universe or God. This
connectedness may or may not be part of any religions. It is also
part of comprehensive palliative care, defined by the World
Health Organization. An individual's spiritual well-being is a
feeling of one's contentment that stems from their inner self and
is related to their quality of life
SSorajjakool (2017) Religious beliefs and customs can
significantly shape a nurse- patients relationship this can also
influence the expectations of the nurse and patient as well as
their wishes and personal boundaries regarding daily routines
such as dressing, diet, prayer and touch. Undoubtedly, the
sensitivity with which clinicians communicate with patients and
make decisions regarding appropriate medical intervention can
be greatly increased by an understanding of religious as well as
other forms of cultural diversity. As a nurse caring for a patient
will be deliberate in making effort to understand a patient's
religious preferences this way, I will not impose my religious
believes on the patient while helping them to access and receive
preternatural care as a provide my nursing care this is beacuse
different patienst have their spiritual prereferences and health
and illness means dieferent things to dieferent people
spiritually.

Delgado C. (2005). A discussion of the concept of spirituality.
Nursing science quarterly, 18(2), 157–162.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0894318405274828
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15802748/
Phenwan, T., Peerawong, T., & Tulathamkij, K. (2019). The
Meaning of Spirituality and Well- Being among Thai Breast
Cancer Patients: A Qualitative Study. Indian journal of
palliative care, 25(1), 119–123.
https://doi.org/10.4103/IJPC.IJPC_101_18
SSorajjakool, S., Carr, M. F., Nam, J. J., Sorajjakool, S., &
Bursey, E. (Eds.). (2017). World religions for healthcare
professionals. Taylor & Francis ISBN 1317281020, 9
781317281023
Retrievedfromhttps://www.routledge.com/World-Religions-for-
Healthcare-Professionals/SSorajjakool-Carr-Nam-Sorajjakool-
Carr-Bursey/p/book/9781138189140
Yenly Fernandez Rodriguez
1 posts
Re: Topic 1 DQ 1
Topic 1 DQ 1
Individuals hold different worldviews about spirituality. The
spiritual worldview of an individual depends on various factors,
such as family beliefs, origin, and culture. In the world,
multiple religions exist to influence an individual's connection
with a supreme being (SSorajjakool, Carr, Nam, Sorajjakool &

Bursey, 2017). For instance, the denominations include
Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Atheists. Consequently,
as a Christian, I believe spirituality is the belief in God, the
creator of heaven and earth. In addition, I live my life according
to his words and the teachings of the bible. Even though I hold
a different worldview of spirituality, I respect others' spiritual
beliefs and faith.
The role of spirituality in nursing is of immense value,
especially when the patient holds the same spiritual worldview.
According to Ho et al. (2016), spirituality had a significant
impact on the healing process of individuals with schizophrenia;
thus, the research affirms the effectiveness of spiritual beliefs
in nursing. Spiritual care is another way of providing care to
our patients who needs it. In the nursing career, we meet
patients who need medical care and spiritual care during
instances such as trauma, disappointment, disillusionment, and
mental issues. According to my conception of spirituality, I
believe that nurses should provide the best care to patients
because it is a delegation of duty from God. Therefore, working
in a health facility, I would improve the patient's quality of life
for the patient by providing holistic care and creating a strong
team for completing God's assignment (Conte, 2013).
Additionally, during my service in this profession, I would seek
the patient and family members' views regarding the treatment
method used because it is an act of goodwill and openness in
whatever we are doing.
References
Conte, M. (2013). Spirituality in Nursing. Retrieved from
https://www.spiritual-healing-for-you.com/spirituality-in-
nursing.html
Ho, R. T., Chan, C. K., Lo, P. H., Wong, P. H., Chan, C. L.,
Leung, P. P., & Chen, E. Y. (2016). Understandings of

spirituality and its role in illness recovery in persons with
schizophrenia and mental-health professionals: a qualitative
study. BMC psychiatry, 16, 86. doi:10.1186/s12888-016-0796-7
SSorajjakool, S., Carr, M. F., Nam, J. J., Sorajjakool, S., &
Bursey, E. (Eds.). (2017). World religions for healthcare
professionals. Taylor & Francis ISBN 1317281020,
9781317281023
Hope Fisher
1 posts
Re: Topic 1 DQ 1
Spirituality, in my opinion, is linked to religion, being
religious, and adhering to the rites and traditions associated
with religion. Spirituality, on the other hand, implies many
things to different people, with different definitions and
meanings all sharing the idea that there is something beyond the
physical world. It is defined as spiritual means that relate to an
individual's thoughts and beliefs rather than their body and
actual environment, for example. Nurses' spiritual care practice
patterns can be divided into two categories: religious and
nonreligious interventions. Patients' religious views are treated,
they are given opportunities to interact with God and share their
goals and values, they are encouraged to exercise their faith,
and they are referred to clerical and religious authorities (Dawn
M. Hawthorne, 2019). Nurses' presence for patients and their
families, direct eye contact when interacting with patients,
sympathizing with patients and their families, attentive listening
to patients and their families, and having love and passion are
all nonreligious interventions. Spirituality can have an impact
on how patients are cared for in the following ways: It improves
people's stress levels, spiritual well-being, the feeling of
integrity and excellence, and interpersonal interactions.
Spiritual care intervention can also promote a sense of well -
being for nurses.

REFERENCES:
Dawn M. Hawthorne, S. C. G. (2019, November 28). The
invisibility of spiritual nursing care in clinical practice . SAGE
Journals. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08980101198897
04.
Daniel Altmyer
1 posts
Re: Topic 1 DQ 1
Spirituality in Nursing
A worldview includes underlying, often unconscious,
assumptions about reality that a person holds. These
assumptions inform how a person determines what thoughts and
actions are morally right and wrong. They also influence
whether a person has positive or negative thoughts about the
future (GCU,2020). A person using their own viewpoint to
determine care of a patient may not lead to a good outcome in
the matter of opinion of that patient. Sure, the patient may from
a medical standpoint be healthy but the treatment itself may not
align with their moral, ethical, or spiritual beliefs. I am a
catholic, my beliefs differ from a Jehovah Witness. Due to
beliefs of some religion such as Jehovah Witness does not
accept blood products to improve their health or save it even.
My beliefs would lead me to be able to receive blood products
that would from a medical standpoint improve my health. My
duty as a health care provider is provide care that will do no
harm and if I were to push my beliefs on someone with different

beliefs, I may not cause medical or physical harm, but a
psychological and spiritual effect may occur.
References
Grand Canyon University (Ed). (2020). Practicing dignity: An
introduction to Christian values and decision making in health
care. Retrieved from
https://lc.gcumedia.com/phi413v/practicing-dignity-an-
introduction-to-christian-values-and-decision-making-in-health-
care/v1.1/#/home
Hope Fisher
1 posts
Re: Topic 1 DQ 2
I find it fascinating how closely science and medicine are
linked. It takes a spiritual person to admit that the body was
designed to heal itself, and when body systems are examined, it
becomes clear that the body was designed to exist indefinitely.
We have learned how to extend our lives and assist the body in
self-repair thanks to science. After all, when science fails, a
person's trust in God and acceptance of death are the only
things that can help them cope with the inevitable. One of the
difficulties that physicians encounter is assisting patients in
finding meaning and acceptance while suffering from chronic
illness. Religious and spirituality are the foundations of
meaning and purpose for many people, according to medical
ethicists. Science and spirituality are both involved in disease
and healing (Puchalski, 2001). Science can assist with the
physical aspect, while spirituality can assist with emotional
adjustment. Many people are unable to recuperate emotionally
from certain stresses, and science can do little to remedy this.

REFERENCES:
Puchalski, C. M. (2001, October). The role of spirituality in
Health Care. Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center).
Retrieved October 4, 2021, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1305900/.
Yenly Fernandez Rodriguez
1 posts
Re: Topic 1 DQ 2
Topic 1 DQ 2
The readings have various interesting topics that an individual
would wish to learn more about; however, the role of
spirituality in healthcare is the most interesting aspect of
reading that I find worth reading. This reading shows that
physicians have tried to balance their care over the past few
decades by reclaiming the more spiritual roots of medicine and
recognizing the linkage between spirituality and modern
healthcare (Sandage, Rupert, Stavros & Devor, 2020). The
search for truth is the main contribution of spirituality i n
contemporary healthcare; thus, God's belief affects how people
require health care and understanding of healthcare and disease
among the providers. For instance, when providing care to a
religious individual, nurses should confirm the importance of
belief in the healing process. In many Christian hospitals, an
individual will always spot common writing on the walls, such
as "we treat, but God heals, " therefore strongly encouraging the
patient to believe in God.
My views on the analysis of disease and healing stem from
various factors that spur debates between individuals who
consider nursing art and those who view it as a science. On the
subject of healing, it has continued to confuse its
understanding, yet it primarily focuses on delivering quality

healthcare (Firth et al., 2015). Since healing is a transformative
process involving the recovery and repair of the mind from a
specific disease, the nurses should mandate a holistic approach
when listening to the patient's case. On the contrary, individuals
view illness as a condition that can be eliminated through
healing and curing (Weathers et al., 2016). Healthy life
stimulates human beings, both spiritually and psychologically;
therefore, the healthcare sector's focus should be eliminating
the disease through efficient healing processes.
References
Firth, K., Smith, K., Sakallaris, B. R., Bellanti, D. M.,
Crawford, C., & Avant, K. C. (2015). Healing, a Concept
Analysis. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 4(6), 44–
50. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.7453/gahmj.2015.056
Sandage, S. J., Rupert, D., Stavros, G., & Devor, N. G. (2020).
Relational spirituality in psychotherapy: Healing suffering and
promoting growth. American Psychological Association.
Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/0000174-000
Weathers, E., McCarthy, G., & Coffey, A. (2016). Concept
analysis of spirituality: An evolutionary approach. In Nursing
Forum (Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 79-96). doi: 10.1111/nuf.12128.
Mini Research Project:
Case Study of a Recent Real-World Data Breach / Hack
Objective:

The goal of this research project is to give the students an
opportunity to independently investigate a
recent real-world case of data breach and/or hack using the
knowledge acquired in the course. In
particular, the student is expected to find and research various
online sources in order to gain in-depth
understanding of the given breach/hack, including: when and
how the breach/hack occurred, who the
main stakeholders of the breach/hack were, what the most
significant consequences and lessons of the
breach/hack are, etc. The findings of the research will be
submitted for evaluation in the form of a written
report.
Timeline & Deliverable:
• September 15: The student receives an email from the course
instructor with the name of a specific
real-world data breach or hack which he/she is supposed to
independently investigate, as well as a few
initial references pertaining to this incident.
• October 15: The student submits a written report on his/her
main findings about the given incident.
The first page of the report should provide some general
coverage of the incident (essay style), while
the reminder of the report should give very specific answers
about the following:
1) Was this incident a hack or a breach? Justify your answer!
2) Who are the main ‘stakeholders’ in this incident (who is the
adversary & who is the victim)?

Note: In cases when there are multiple adversaries and/or
victims, they all have to be clearly
enlisted.
3) When did the incident happen? When was it discovered?
4) Which vulnerability in the target system was exploited by the
adversary during the incident?
5) How, exactly, did the adversary exploit the vulnerability?
What was the main attack vector?
Note: For an exhaustive list of attack vectors see:
https://www.upguard.com/blog/attack-vector
6) What did this breach/hack target in terms of CIA?
7) What has been the actual loss suffered by the victim due to
the incident (monetary, functional,
reputational, … )? Note: In most cases the victim suffers a
combination of different types of loss,
and they all should be enlisted. Also, if there are multiple
victims, the losses of each particular
victim should be specified.
8) How did/can the victim ensure that the same type of
breach/hack does not happen again?
9) Was the adversary prosecuted, and if so what were the
penalties (if known)?
10) What can other similar potential victims learn from this
incident?
The list of all researched references should be included in the
report. The minimum acceptable number
of references is 10!
The report will be evaluated for the following:

1) Clarity of communication (Does the provided information
render a clear understanding of the
incident? Are the report’s organization and grammar
satisfactory?)
2) Completeness (Is all relevant information included in the
report? Are all/most of the 10 questions
answered?)
3) Correctness (Is the information provided in the report
actually correct?)
https://www.upguard.com/blog/attack-vector
View "Literary Styles in the Bible" on the Bible Project website
(2018).
URL:
https://thebibleproject.com/videos/literary-styles-bible/
View "The Story of the Bible" on the Bible Project website
(2018).
URL:
https://thebibleproject.com/videos/the-story-of-the-bible/
View "What Is the Bible?" on the Bible Project website (2018).
URL:
https://thebibleproject.com/videos/what-is-bible/
Read "What Is Scientism?" by Burnett, on the American
Association for the Advancement of Science website (2018).
URL:
https://www.aaas.org/programs/dialogue-science-ethics-and-
religion/what-scientism
Read "10 Things You Should Know About Scientism," by

Moreland, on the Crossway website (2018).
URL:
https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-
about-scientism/
oundational Issues in Christian Spirituality and EthicsBy David
W. Bogue and Michael Hogan
Without a biblical worldview, all the great teaching goes in one
ear and out the other: There are no intellectual pegs … in the
individual to hang these truths on. So they just pass through.
They don't stick. They don't make a difference [in how humans
interpret existence and order their lives]. George Barna (as cited
in Colson & Pearcey, 1999)
Essential Questions
· What difference does your worldview make in daily life, and
in how you perceive your future?
· What is the definition of spirituality from a Christian
perspective? How does this compare to your own definition of
spirituality?
· How would you categorize your worldview: atheism,
pantheism, or theism?
· After reading this chapter, does your current worldview pass
the three tests (coherence, correspondence, and practical)? If
not, what might you need to change?
· How does ethics influence one's worldview?

· Does right or wrong depend on individual subjective opinions
or is it about something deeper?
· How does ethics relate to medicine and health care?
· Can one know what is right or wrong or is it just what one is
feeling in the moment?
Introduction
·
·
The world is complex and sometimes confusing. Information is
created and disseminated at a rate no one can completely
comprehend. It is like trying to drink from a fire hose. Ethical
dilemmas clamor for resolution. How can one make decisions
that are right and morally good, beneficial and not harmful?
How does one make sense of this fast-moving world's
experiences and events?
Medical practitioners make decisions every day that are laden
with moral and ethical importance. Patients' lives may be at
stake, such as the elderly whose last days are near, children who
are born with severe disabilities, the unborn and their anguish-
filled mothers, and people who suffer from chronic pain or
mental illnesses. Ethical questions abound, such as is euthanasia
a morally acceptable choice? If not, then why not? If yes, then
on what basis? Is it ethical to remove life-saving treatment from
a dying patient and administer palliative care if needed? Is
abortion a moral and ethical option, and if so, what limits, if
any, should be imposed? Medical professionals at all levels of
decision-making face these dilemmas regularly. How are nurses,
with direct access to patients' needs, to decide what is right and
wrong? How one answers these questions matter in all areas of
life. Professional morals cannot be separated from personal
conduct. The importance of having a foundation and a
framework from which to make true and good ethical decisions
in both one’s personal and professional lives is the reason for
ethical and spiritual decision-making in health care.
This chapter will help nurses think through how they view and

interpret the world and the events and experiences of life.
Nurses will come to understand how to answer ethical questions
and address patients, families, and others when crises arise. The
first questions to ask include:
· What is a worldview?
· What is my worldview?
· How does my worldview shape my spirituality?
The next questions often include:
· How do the three major worldviews, atheism,pantheism,
and theism, see the world?
· How can one determine one's worldview using the six basic
worldview questions?
· How is one to test one's worldview for coherence, practicality,
and correspondence?What is the basic Christian view of the
world (i.e., the Christian worldview)?
· What is the foundational meaning of the biblical narrative,
which is the heart of the Christian worldview?
Following these initial questions, one must further ask, what
are ethicsin general and what is the basis of Christian ethics
portrayed in the biblical narrative? What is the Christian moral
order in the practice of medicine, and how does
the resurrection of Jesus Christ inform this unique moral order
in a holistic manner? These, and many other concepts, will
provide valuable tools, in the form of understanding worldviews
and ethics, to enrich and bring clarity to one's life, and to
benefit patients who need thoughtful, ethically-informed
medical practitioners to assist them.
What Is a Worldview?
·
A worldview is a point of view for understanding one's personal
experiences and the events of societies and history (Vidal,
2008). Every person who has ideas about what reality is and
how to interpret the experiences of the world is operating out of
a worldview. This is true whether the person understands his or
her worldview or not; everyone has one (Taves, Asprem, & Ihm,
2018).

Think of the lens of a camera: A photographer places the lens
against his or her eye and views the world through the lens. The
photographer assigns meaning to what the lens reveals. A
worldview is not a physical lens but, rather, a philosophical and
intellectual lens though which a person sees and interprets
everything one encounters. It helps a person accumulate and
interpret how human beings gain knowledge, the area of study
known as epistemology, and what one knows to be true about
the world, others, and oneself. Worldview determines what one
does and does not value and find meaningful in life.
A worldview includes underlying, often unconscious,
assumptions about reality that a person holds. These
assumptions inform how a person determines what thoughts and
actions are morally right and wrong. They also influence
whether a person has positive or negative thoughts about the
future. Sandy Gibson (2011) conducted a study on male
prisoners of various ages and discovered that internally held
worldview assumptions informed how they viewed both their
present circumstances and future possibilities. To put it simply,
worldview will influence one's sense of hopefulness or lack
thereof.
Why do some people look forward to the future while others do
not? Such worldview assumptions are shaped over a lifetime
(Gibson, 2011) and may be additionally influenced by adult
experience, such as religious experiences or traumatic events.
Other studies conducted by Edmonson, Chaudoir, Mills, Park,
and Bartkowiak (2011) and others demonstrate that trauma can
play a significant role in worldview formation. When a person
cannot integrate a traumatic event in his or her worldview, then
posttraumatic stress disorder may occur, which can change the
person's ability to handle daily activities and shape how the
person interprets events and assigns meaning to experiences
(Edmonson et.al., 2011). According to Clément Vidal (2008),
those who possess coherent, practical, and consistent
worldviews tend to experience less stress, are more open to

encountering others in the world, and have a greater sense of
trust and hope (Vidal, 2008). Hence, it is important to think
through and hold a worldview that is clear, consistent, and
matches reality.
Worldviews come under two broad categories: religious and
nonreligious. This text has further divided those two worldview
categories into three: atheism, pantheism, and theism. Most
people hold worldviews compatible with these three.
Atheism
·
The word atheism comes from two words: A, which means "lack
of" or "no," and theism, which means "God." The simple
rendering of the word is "no God." Atheism is a philosophical
worldview, the central feature of which is a lack of belief in a
deity. Atheists come from a variety of backgrounds and may
hold divergent views from one another; they do not always
agree with each other in the areas of politics, ethics, and
cultural issues (American Atheists, n.d.a). For example, the
atheist response to religion is not unified. Some atheists are
indifferent to religion and are not disturbed that others believe
in a deity. Others are adamant and assert the nonexistence of a
God (Coleman, Hood, & Streib, 2018) and make it a cause to
disprove the existence of God. According to the American
Atheists (n.d.a), "The only common thread that ties all atheists
together is a lack of belief in gods" (para. 13).
Some atheists claim that their worldview is not a belief system
or religion. They state, "If Atheism is a religion, then not
collecting stamps is a hobby" (American Atheists, n.d.a, para.
3); however, Coleman et al. (2018) disagree with this
assessment because a belief system is a part of every
worldview. It simply means that a person has particular beliefs
about the world, meaning that believing that there is no God is a
belief about the world. Beliefs shape how a person assigns
meaning to the world and the events of life. In the atheistic
worldview, there is no God. The belief that no deity exists is, in
fact, a lens for viewing the world, and it shapes how atheists

interpret life events (Coleman et al., 2018).
Looking at the world through the lens of a godless existence,
atheists believe that the material world is all that exists; there
are no outside forces or entities influencing the world. Whereas
Christians hold that a personal God created everything that
exists, atheists believe that the world came into existence as a
result of natural forces alone. If there is no God, then there is
no Creator. If there is no Creator, then how did the universe
come into existence? To answer this question, atheists hold to
the concept of naturalism, which states that the physical
universe is the entirety of existence (reality); therefore, only
what can be discovered through the empirical sciences can be
called truth.
Atheism holds that there is no life beyond the physical world.
This means that atheists believe that humans themselves invent
morals and ethics, thus determining what is right and wrong.
There is no God to reveal and teach right from wrong. For
example, Caldwell-Harris (as cited in Coleman et al., 2018)
says, "Without belief in any divine authority, atheists are more
likely to view morality and meaning in life as self-constructed"
(p. 204). Atheists look to culture and human reason, including
science, to construct a moral and ethical framework; therefore,
unlike theists, who look to a deity to learn about right and
wrong, good and bad, atheists look to themselves to create such
values and virtues. Humans, then, are responsible only to
themselves. Ancient philosopher Protagoras reflects this
perspective in his still famous phrase, "Man is the measure of
all things" (Taylor & Lee, 2015, para. 4). If human beings are
the highest authority (the measure of all things), then humanity
must create its own morals and values, which the atheistic
worldview, in fact, advocates (Coleman et. al., 2018). This
leads to the charge against the Atheist worldview of moral
relativism. Moral relativism holds that no truth applies to all
people. This view claims that truth is created from one's
circumstances and culture; therefore, what is true varies across
cultures and groups.

Moral relativism states that one group may not be qualified to
judge the ideas of another group because the first group has not
experienced life in the same way as the group they are judging.
This view becomes problematic, for example, when dealing with
issues of life and death. If one group or culture believes that it
is right to murder people of different ethnicities or religions,
then those who hold to moral relativism have no ground to
argue that this kind of action is genuinely wrong. Because that
particular culture believes murder is right, that belief is true
relative to them. Because there are no broader standards by
which to judge besides that which is relative, moral relativism
is, on its face, a dangerous view to hold (Davis, 2016).
Many atheists deny that their worldview leads to moral
relativism, asserting that their worldview possesses the
foundation for objective morality. Objective morality refers to
moral codes that apply to all people in all times and places,
regardless of culture or religion. The website for the Atheist
Alliance International (n.d.) states, "there are objective moral
truths that can be discovered using reason (and science), and the
process does not require belief in a god" (para. 20). Arguably,
the assertion that God is not needed for the existence of an
objective morality is hard to maintain.
If humans formulate their own morality, then humans are free to
change what is right and wrong as they wish, which is arguably
the logical outcome of the atheist worldview. And if humans are
free to change what is right and wrong, then oppression of an
unwanted minority group in a culture can be justified by those
in the majority. For example, if a religious or ethnic group that
makes up the majority of a population decides to rid their
society of a minority religious or ethnic group, then on what
grounds can one say that this is wrong? Humans decide based
on their own subjective preferences and nothing deeper.
Consider the oppression people endured in Germany under the
Nazi regime, the African nation of Uganda under Idi Amin, or
the North Korean nation under Kim Jong Un because human
beings determined what is right and wrong without the guidance

of God.
This demonstrates the importance of one's worldview when
considering human value. Christians believe that every human is
made in the image of God, which causes human individuals,
regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, to
possess innate dignity and worth. These unique traits of dignity
and value are given by God, and they cannot be removed. When
there is no outside authority (i.e., God) who assigns human
beings' their value, then assigning human worth is left to other
persons.
Although atheists might claim to assign value based on science,
there is not an actual basis to do so. Science is limited to claims
about what may be tested using empirical methods. Values
cannot be tested using scientific instruments or mathematics.
Atheistic attributions of value work well when those who make
such assignments are good and a positive influence on
individuals and societies. It has had tragic consequences when
leaders are tyrants who rule their people with absolute power.
When human worth is assigned by God, it cannot be taken away.
When it is assigned by human authorities, it is never secure.
Pantheism
·
Pantheism is a family of worldviews that focuses on the
intertwining of God and nature. The word pantheism is a
composite of two Greek words: pan, which means "all,"
and theism, from the Greek theos, which means "God." The
intent here is to say that God and nature are one and the same.
In other words, nature is god (Drees, 2017). According to
pantheism, mountains, trees, rivers, and anything one may
encounter in nature are deities.
In the pantheistic worldview, God is nature, such that God’s
action is simply the natural operations of nature. This means
that because nature is malleable, God is also malleable. As
nature changes, God also changes. As nature progresses and
evolves, God also progresses and evolves. This means that God
is incomplete and still growing. One outcome of this view is

that God cannot ensure a particular future, either good or evil.
The world might end in a perfect paradise, in a fiery disaster, or
in a quiet, slow death as its energy dissipates.
Likewise, God may sympathize with human suffering, but God
is unable to intervene and relieve that suffering. In the
pantheistic worldview, God is loving, but is not all powerful.
Although morals and ethics and right and wrong may come from
God, because God is constantly in flux, as is nature, notions of
right and wrong will also change over time. With the evolution
of nature and the accompanying evolution of God, what was
once immoral may become moral. Pantheism is not consistent
with a Christian biblical worldview, which holds that God
is transcendent and not enmeshed with creation. God is
sovereign and omnipotent. God does not change, nor do God's
commandments.
Theism
·
Theism is a worldview that focuses on the existence of a
knowable, personal deity to whom humans are accountable and
with whom they may have a relationship. Judaism, Islam, and
Christianity are examples of theistic religions. God is perfect
in essence and morality. God is omnipresent,omniscient,
omnipotent, all-good, and eternal (Swinburne, 2016). God is not
in process but is complete in Himself. God is in no way limited,
unlike the view of God in the pantheistic worldview. God is
outside of time-bound creation, although He exercises
providential authority and guidance over all things and
creatures He has made. This separateness from thecreationis
called God's transcendence (Pinto, 2018).
As Creator, God is never to be confused with what He has
created. God's sovereign rule of the universe and all creatures in
it comes from the mind and person of God, which is distinct
from what God created. Christians look to the Bible to
understand the attributes of God, in which there are numerous
supporting passages that speak to God's independence from the
creation, including His independence from human beings. 1

Chronicles 29:11 (English Standard Version) states: "Yours, O
Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the
victory and the majesty…. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
and you are exalted as head above all [emphasis added].” Psalm
8:1 says, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all
the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens [emphasis
added].” In Isaiah 55:8, God speaks to the people of Israel, "For
my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my
ways." While God may reveal Himself through creation, "The
heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work
of this hands" (Psalm 19:1), God is not to be confused with
nature.
Nevertheless, this generic form of theism requires more
information. The views of the nature and character of God in
theism are different from religion to religion. William Drees
(2017) is right to state that the generic concept of God does not
offer much practical or spiritual help unless God is described.
Theism believes in only one God, and a Judeo-Christian
understanding of God is that God is personal, transcendent, and
love.
Islam also believes in one God, but this God does not have a
son and did not come to sacrifice himself for the sins of the
people. The God of Islam, known as Allah (the Arabic word for
God), is not known as a God of love nor is he known as Father.
Both are distinctive descriptions of God as a person in the
Bible. Muslim theology emphasizes obedience of human beings
to gain Allah's favor. There is no emphasis on Allah's love and
grace as a free gift. The Qu'ran, the Islamic sacred text, does
not explicitly promise individual salvation. Rather Allah sent
prophets, the foremost and final of which was Mohammed, and
the Qu'ran to teach his followers obedience and proper worship
(Schirrmacher, 2012).
The Christian faith is described far differently. Christians
believe that God is one, and this is similar to the Islamic
understanding of God; however, Christians believe that God has
revealed himself through both the created world and the Bible,

which contains both the Old and New Testaments. God brings
individual salvation through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus, on
the cross. Through the incarnation of his Son and the coming of
the Holy Spirit, God revealed his triune nature. The above
description demonstrates the need, as theists, to define and
describe the specific attributes and teachings of one's God. This
text will focus on the Christian understanding of God.
The transcendence of God evokes awe and worship from God's
people. As Christians worship God, they can experience an
uplift of spirit and sense the wonder of the transcendent God
(Sproul, 2012). Christians believe they can approach God with
the deepest respect and stand in awe of His holiness and majesty
because God is both the creator of life and complete essence of
love. Christians know God through the experience of holy and
redeeming love in relationship with the spiritual presence of
God. The opening paragraph of the Nicene Creed (325 AD)
speaks of the Christian view of God: “We believe in one God,
the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things
visible and invisible” (Christian Classics Ethereal Library,
n.d.).
Although God is separate from the world, the world relies upon
God for all of life. God is intimately involved with the world,
and God's Son, Jesus, holds the universe together with the
power of his word (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3). This close
involvement of God is known as God's immanence, meaning
that God has come near in order to save His people who have
fallen into sin and death. God's immanence is demonstrated
throughout the Bible, when God communicated directly to
human beings, such as Adam and Eve (Genesis 1-3), Abraham
(Genesis 17), and Moses (Exodus 3). The central example of
God's immanence is seen in the birth, life, and death of Jesus
Christ. Christians believe that Jesus is God come in a human
nature and form. In this way, God enters fully into the broken
world of humanity.
At this point, a more in-depth study of the Christian worldview
will provide a fuller understanding of how Christians view the

world and find meaning in the events of life.
The Foundations of Christian Spirituality
·
The Christian worldview is founded upon certain ideas about
God and humankind. This chapter will examine each of these
ideas briefly.
The Trinity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion. Adherents looks to what
is called the Shema, the Hebrew word for "listen" or "hear,"
based on the first word in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one." This is considered to be the
central monotheistic declaration of the Bible. This is the clarion
call of both Judaism and Christianity. For Christians, there is
only one God, the God revealed in the Bible. In ancient Israel,
the monotheistic declaration stood against
the polytheistic religions in the ancient Near East.
Christians believe in this same God, but over time and through
the study of the Bible, they came to comprehend the one God as
three distinct persons known as the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit: God in three persons. Through the incarnation of his
Son, God revealed his triune nature, and by God sending the
Holy Spirit, the three persons of the Trinity are made evident.
Theologian Wayne Grudem (1994) explains that each of these
three statements is true and essential to a Christian
understanding of God:
1. God is three persons.
2. Each person is fully God.
3. There is one God.
Christians describe God as one essence in three persons, not
gods.
An essence is an entity about which something can be said. A
person is a distinct bearer of an essence. Applied to the Trinity,
it means that Father, Son, and the Spirit are distinct persons,
each with his own personal attributes, while each share equally
the attributes of deity (i.e., the divine essence). (Horton, 2011,
p. 97)

The Nature of Jesus
Christians believe that Jesus is both the Son of God and fully
God at the same time. This understanding of the nature of Jesus
Christ is described in more detail in the Chalcedonian Creed
from 451 A.D.:
We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent,
teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in
manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational]
soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father
according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according
to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten
before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in
these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin
Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and
the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged
in two natures, unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly,
inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken
away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being
preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence,
not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same
Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as
the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning
Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the
Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us. (Monergism,
2013)
Simply put, the Chalcedonian Creed describes the unity of the
three persons of the Trinity. It describes the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit as coequal with one another. It defines the nature of
the Son, Jesus Christ, as possessing both fully human and fully
divine attributes. These attributes cannot be separated. They are
both always a part of who Jesus is.
Michael Reeves (2012) uses the Gospel of John as an example
of trinitarian unity:
John wrote his gospel, he tells us, so states, "but these are
written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son

of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name"
(John 20:31). But even that most basic call to believe in the Son
of God is an invitation to a Trinitarian faith. Jesus is described
as the Son of God. God is his Father. And he is the Christ, the
one anointed with the Spirit. When you start with the Jesus of
the Bible, it is a triune God that you get. (p. 37)
The person of Christ is known as the second person in this unity
of persons, within what is also called the Godhead. Jesus is
described as the "word made flesh" (John 1:14), that is, God's
active voice that brought all of creation into existence from the
beginning of time. Jesus had always existed as the second
person of the Trinity having no beginning or end; however, He
was known as the Christ, which is the Greek word for the
Hebrew word Messiah, until his incarnation. The incarnation
was when Jesus the Christ was introduced into the world, to
save the world, allowing God full access to all peoples who
would believe.
The Christian understanding of the Trinity then, is the basic
doctrine for the Christian faith (Horton, 2011). From this
understanding of God comes the Christian view of how the
Trinity exists and interacts with human beings through the
person of Christ in both an individual and corporate experience.
Now, consider how God reveals himself through the Christian
sacred text: the Bible.
Christian Scripture
The scriptures of the Christian worldview are called the Bible.
The Bible is a collection of 66 books, comprised of the Old
Testament and New Testament. Christians view the scriptures as
the sacred Word of God, a special means by which God has
revealed himself to the world. The scriptures bear witness to
God's Creation of the world, the fall of humanity through sin,
the redemption of sinful humans through Christ, and
the restorationof all things to come in Christ.
In the scriptures, a true, but not exhaustive, picture of God is
found. Through the Bible, the attributes of God, the great works
of God, and the commands and love of God can be learned. One

can learn what God loves and what he does not love. Knowledge
about God's Son, Jesus, and his work on behalf of humanity, as
well as the power and work of the Holy Spirit in the world and
in the lives of people is given. Knowing this, God's Word is
sufficient for the Christian believer, bringing hope when facing
all challenges, including evil and suffering in the world.
Christians believe that God inspired human authors to write
both for their own time and historical setting and, in some
cases, for future generations. The scriptures are the most
authoritative source from which Christian morals and ethics can
be learned (Horton, 2011). According to 2 Timothy 3:16, "All
Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." The
Bible serves as the primary authority and representative of
God's Word and will, (Horton, 2011).
The Christian Biblical Narrative
Creation
Christian believers who believe in the Bible as God's Word
believe that God created the universe ex nihilo(from the Latin
meaning "out of nothing"), meaning God did not use already
existing materials to bring the creation into existence. Genesis
1–2 describe the events of creation. (Grudem, 1994).
God created the universe to display his glory. The created world
is of such magnificence and complexity that human observers
stand in awe of what God has made. A sense of the grandeur of
God, his power and creativity, is seen in creation. Creation also
gives a sense of how worthy God is of worship and gratitude. In
the creation, God provided an environment in which all of his
creatures could prosper and enjoy a relationship with him.
Psalm 29:1–2 says, "Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly
beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.Ascribe to
the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the
splendor of holiness."
When God first created humanity, he set them in the Garden of
Eden (Genesis 1 & 2). The Garden was perfect in every way and
stands as a metaphor for the perfection that existed between

God and God's highest order of creation, human beings,
fashioned after God's own likeness. This was intended to be a
life that served God's desire to love and brought forth
everything that was delightful and right for all time.
This Garden contained all plant and animal life necessary to
sustain life in all aspects. In this perfect place, there was no
pain, illness, or wrongdoing to cause anxiety or suffering. The
first humans, Adam and Eve, enjoyed a life of peace and
harmony with the earth, all animals, and with God. God and the
first humans enjoyed a close personal relationship unmarred by
sin and death. Life in the Garden overflowed with more than
physical abundance; it was full of spiritual satisfaction, as
nothing came between Adam and Eve and their Creator. None of
the sin and wrongdoing that interferes with human peace and
joy was present.
Human beings did not argue or hurt one another. They
experienced no guilt or shame because no sin existed in the
Garden to destroy God's magnificent work. Instead, truth,
beauty, and the loving ways of God saturated life in this
glorious place God created for the benefit of humanity. The
created order was truly good in every sense of the word.
Unfortunately, this ideal state would not last.
The Fall
Genesis 3 records the occasion on which temptation, sin, and
death entered the
perfect world. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. God had told
Adam and Eve to enjoy the fruit of every tree in the garden,
except one: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God
told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate of the
forbidden tree, but by obeying God, they would live forever in
bounty and peace (Genesis 1–2). Here is how temptation and sin
occurred. Genesis 3:1 says, "Now the serpent was more crafty
than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, 'Did God actually say, "You shall not eat
of any tree in the garden?" ' "
The enemy, known to Christians as Satan or the devil, came to

Eve and tempted her to question God's rule and commandment.
The enemy called into question the truth of what God had told
her. Eve gave in to temptation and ate from the forbidden tree.
She then took the fruit to Adam and he ate. Both Adam and Eve
were equally guilty of disobeying God. Immediately after they
had eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,
"Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they
were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves loincloths" (Genesis 3:7). They sinned; guilt
weighed them down and made them afraid of God (with whom
they had shared a good and wonderful relationship), and they
hid from God.
God found them hiding and confronted them with their sin.
They admitted their disobedience, but now sickness as well as
both physical and spiritual death infected the world. Adam and
Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden and were sent to
live in pain and toil (Genesis 3:23). They would eventually die,
as all humans do today. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God,
they effectively tried to become their own gods; they believed
that they knew best what was right and wrong, with tragic
consequences. Michael Reeves (2015) writes, "Adam did not do
what God had commanded, precisely because he no longer loved
the Father" (p. 36) in purity and perfection. Adam's sin brought
a distortion of love into the world that ultimately chose to do
things without God. While Adam could still love, he and all
humans after him could no longer love perfectly. This is known
as the fall because humans fell from their sinless state.
The image of God (see Chapter 2) in humanity, while not
destroyed, was distorted and broken, leading to subsequent
generations of broken and sinful people. Historical and present
ramifications of Adam's sin, including murder, abuse, greed,
and manipulation, show that humanity has had a significant
problem with evil and sin. One must only watch the evening
news to see the ongoing effects of the fall. In the fall, all of
creation was influenced by death. The human body became
susceptible to disease, aging, and death. The human mind

became able to conceive of and carry out evil deeds. Lies,
manipulation, murder, racism, and other attitudes of hatred and
jealousy changed human life in devastating ways. The fall
distorted the human ability to decide what is right and wrong.
Sin became a prison from which humans could not escape on
their own. Human attempts to rise above the fall have failed.
Evil still exists both in the human heart and consequently in
human societies. Humanity needed someone to take away the
guilt and punishment of sin; they needed a savior to rescue
them.
Redemption
God did not leave His creation, including humanity, to simply
receive His punishment and die in sin without hope. God sent
his Son "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3) to deal
with sin once and for all. The Incarnation occurred when Jesus
was born to a young woman named Mary in the city of
Bethlehem in the land of Israel. This is how God entered the
world as a human (Reeves, 2015). Jesus grew up experiencing
every form of human existence except one: He did not sin
(Hebrews 4:15). In John 1:1–2, 14, the Bible describes both the
eternal nature of the Son, the second person of the Trinity, and
human nature of the Son in Jesus Christ:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. . .
and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw
have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth [emphasis added].”
The means by which God redeemed his people from guilt and
punishment for sin is through the Atonement.God is holy, which
means that sin and evil cannot exist in the presence of God. God
is pure and possesses no evil. The word atonement means that
God became a man for the purpose of restoring people to
relationship with God. The Bible teaches that all people have
sinned and need God's forgiveness (Romans 3:23). The
punishment for sin is death, but God made a way of forgiveness
by sending his Son, Jesus, to take on the punishment himself:

Romans 6:23 says, "but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord." When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, God
became a human being to bring back eternal life to those
separated from Him by sin. How did the Son of God, Jesus,
accomplish this?
Jesus Christ, God become a man, lived a sinless life. Christians
believe that the Son of God's life in human flesh was central to
the plan of God to bring redemption to humankind (Horton,
2011). Jesus submitted himself to crucifixion at the hands of the
Roman authorities who occupied Israel in the first century A.D.
Rather than doom humanity to punishment for their rebellion
and sin against him, God took the punishment on himself, in his
Son, Jesus. 1 Peter 2:24 states, "He himself bore our sins in his
body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed [emphasis
added]."
The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross is at the heart
of the Atonement. He took the penalty for sins and suffered the
punishment of death on behalf of all humanity. He was the
perfect sacrifice, the sinless lamb who took the sins of humanity
on himself (John 1:21). When Christ shed his blood, he made a
way for people to enjoy reconciliation with God again and to
have eternal life (Grudem, 1994). As the Apostle Paul stated in
Romans 10:9, "because, if you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved.”
Jesus, The Lamb of God
The roots of understanding that Jesus Christ is the sinless lamb
of God who was sacrificed to save his people from their sins
comes from the story of the ancient Israelites. For 400 years,
the Hebrew people were held in slavery by the Egyptians
(Exodus 1). God chose Moses, a Hebrew who had been raised in
Pharaoh's (the King's) palace, to lead the people out of slavery.
After inflicting many plagues as motivation for Pharaoh to
release the slaves, all of which were unsuccessful, Moses told
the Hebrew slaves to dress for their escape, sacrifice pure,

spotless lambs, paint the blood of the lamb on the door posts of
their houses, and take shelter inside. The blood of the lamb on
the house would protect them from the death that would come
that night and take the lives of all of the first-born livestock and
children of the Egyptians as both judgement and punishment.
After this final plague, Pharaoh released the Hebrews, but only
temporarily. As they traveled, Pharaoh’s army chased the
Hebrew people across the desert to the shore of the Red Sea.
Pharaoh’s army drowned when the miraculously parted waters
of the Red Sea collapsed on his men after the Hebrew people
had safely escaped to the other side. This event is a
foundational account for Jews today, as God provided safety
through this symbolic blood anointing. Jesus Christ is said by
Christians to be the perfect Lamb, sacrificed to set hi s people
free from the slavery of sin and eternal death because of his
symbolic blood shed for those who choose to trust in him.
Christ's death constitutes a legal transaction in that he paid the
condemning penalty for all sin. It is also substitutionary i n that
the sin for which he received punishment belonged to the entire
human race. Substitutionary atonement lies at the heart of the
Christian worldview, which reverses what was inherited by all
persons since the fall.
TheResurrectioncompletes the understanding of redemption.
Three days after the death of Jesus Christ, God the Father, in
the power of the Holy Spirit, raised Jesus from the dead (John
20:1-10). The death and resurrection of Jesus are inextricably
linked. Christians hold that both are of equal importance. In his
resurrection, God demonstrated his power over death and
"Hades" (Revelation 1:18). Jesus said, "Because I live you also
will live" (John 14:19). Those who are in Christ possess eternal
life and, although they will eventually undergo physical death,
they will be raised up to eternal life by the Holy Spirit—the
same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11).
The atonement and resurrection serve as the core, or foundation,
of Christian hope (Horton, 2011). This hope gives one
confidence in the face of worldly challenges and empowers the

Christian to live in love and new possibilities for service and
mercy (Fortin, 2017). Although humanity continues to live in a
fallen world, and this life contains suffering, God has promised
his followers that through his grace and forgiveness,
demonstrated in the work of Jesus Christ, their sins are
forgiven. Followers of Christ will enjoy life with him forever
because of the resurrection of Christ (Revelation 21; Horton,
2011). Through Jesus Christ and his saving work on the cross
and resurrection from the dead people have access to new lives,
an entirely new inner nature, not only in the present, but in the
world to come.
Restoration
The Christian worldview, informed by the Bible, looks forward
to a new heaven and a new Earth. Not only will human souls be
saved from death and given eternal life, but also the entire
creation will be restored in Christ (Romans 8). In this restored
condition, there will be no more sin, pain, death, war, greed, or
sin of any kind. Rather, Christ will usher in a new world order,
the fully realized Kingdom of God. Restoration is not a human-
designed and enacted utopia, as all such attempts have failed
and usually ended up in death. The restoration brought by and
through Jesus Christ will be God-designed and Spirit-enacted.
Christ will rule directly, and his people will join him for an
eternity of joy and peace.
The Christian biblical narrative provides a clear, consistent,
practical worldview that answers the major questions of life's
meaning and purpose. The three major worldviews encompass a
range of ideas about how the universe exists and operates. They
offer answers to life questions of the past, present, and future:
How did human beings come to be? What purpose, if any, does
life in the world have? Is humanity accountable to an outside
being or accountable only to themselves? What lies ahead for
the universe and human existence?
One's worldview also determines how one understands whether
objective good and evil, right and wrong exist. A worldview
answers questions such as: Is it right or wrong to take the

possessions of others? Is it better to care for those who suffer or
simply leave them to their own devices? How are people to live
a good and virtuous life? These remarks demonstrate the
importance of formulating a good worldview. Christian
worldview shapes how Christians are to act in the world.
How Do People Determine Their Worldviews?
·
·
This text uses six questions to help students determine their
worldviews. These questions are designed to help them create a
clear and coherent worldview. By answering these questions,
students can understand what they believe about the world and
adjust their worldviews to give it strength and clarity.
What is Ultimate Reality?
History shows that people have sought to understand ultimate
reality since ancient times. The first recorded account for the
search of ultimate meaning occurred some 5,000 years ago
(Swidler, 2013). To consider ultimate reality, one must engage
in the field of metaphysics. Metaphysics is the study of what
exists and what the nature of existence is. How one answers this
question will shape the entirety of one's worldview, as they
influence what one thinks is right or wrong, what a human being
is, and whether or not human life has innate value.
Ultimate reality is the search for the highest authority—the
overarching principle of the world and life. It is the primary
source of what is right and wrong, good and bad. It is a person,
object, or foundation beyond which no one can appeal for truth
and knowledge. It is the answer to the questions: From where,
or from whom, does the source of highest and final meaning
come? What is really real? How one answers these questions
necessarily shapes all subsequent questions about life and
meaning.
For example, atheism holds that ultimate reality is found in the
material world. This shapes how they view everything from
ethics to the nature of human and animal life. This nonreligious
worldview holds that the physical universe is the sum of

existence. There is nothing beyond what science can measure
using empirical research methods. In this view, human beings
are the highest moral authority. Some believe that the human
conscience is ultimate reality (Tolson, 2012). The human mind
determines what is true or false, right or wrong. There is no
outside or higher authority than the human mind.
Others believe that an energy exists that forms a unifying
ultimate reality. Such a view of ultimate reality is not a person,
but rather an impersonal force. The American form of Buddhism
is one such worldview (Han, 2017). A still different view is
pantheism, which believes that God operates in concert though
nature. Pantheists attribute spiritual forces to nature and find
ultimate meaning in the natural world.
There are others who look to a personal God. This is called
theism. Christians believe that ultimate reality is the person of
God, with whom they have an individual and unique
relationship. Christians believe that one God created all fr om
nothing. Humans creations are able to be in relationship with
God and are accountable to God for how they live. God is the
author of morals, for all that is right and wrong. Christians
stand in awe of the creation, but they do not believe that the
creation is God, as they see it is the product of God's creative
power. Human beings might be made in God's image, but they
are not divine. Human persons look to God for all of life,
including the ability to work and make a living, love, forgive,
demonstrate mercy, and show compassion. They also look to
God for the ability to think and reason and explore the world
around them, even to understand the workings and diseases of
the human body and mind to help alleviate suffering. Christians
also look to God for eternal life without pain, disease, or the
existence of evil, and the hope that God will deliver on his
promises.
What is the Nature of the Universe?
The nature of the universe is closely tied to the question of
ultimate reality. One may see the universe solely as natural
matter. Atheism usually believes that atoms make up all of the

objects that exist in the world. Was the formation of the
universe a purely natural process, unrelated to God's action, or
is it the result of a deity who created all that is, but then
stepped away and has no more to do with the universe and those
in it? This is the view of deism, which holds that God exists,
but is completely absent from the workings of the universe and
life.
Is the universe the result of a God who not only created all that
is, but also rules over all? Theists believe that God is personal.
For theists, existence consists of both the physical world and
the spiritual world. Theism states that while humanity occupies
the material reality of the earth and uses its resources, there is a
greater portion of existence, which consists of the Spirit of God
and the spirit of human souls interacting with one another. This
is the view of the three major world religions: Judaism, Islam,
and Christianity.
What is a Human Being?
In the atheist worldview, a human being is the result of purely
natural biological and chemical evolutionary processes without
God's actions. In this view, human persons do not possess a soul
that is eternally upheld by God. Their existence is limited to
this life only, and after physical death, life is extinguished.
There is no afterlife, ongoing consciousness, or existence. If
this is true, it is arguably very difficult, if not impossible, to
assign innate value or worth to human beings on the atheistic
worldview.
In contrast, the Christian, theistic, worldview holds that human
beings are a part of God's creation. God caused humans to exist
and desires to be involved in every aspect of their life. God
instilled in each person what is called the image of God. God is
Spirit; therefore, the image of God does not mean that people
physically look like God. Rather, they have in their being
attributes of God, which are freely given by God: the ability to
love, forgive, reason, possess wisdom and knowledge, and enjoy
a personal relationship with God (Horton, 2011).
What is Knowledge?

How does one know what he or she knows? Is knowledge
strictly limited to the physical world? Is what one knows
strictly the result of what science has discovered, or does
knowledge come from both physical and spiritual/divine
sources? Atheism tends to rely on a combination of empiricism,
which states that knowledge can only be known through the
senses and human reasoning to "know" the world. This view has
limits. It cannot speak to issues of morality and ethics.
Theists look both to the natural sciences and to a deity for
knowledge, believing that God has given humans the
intellectual capacity to explore and understand the physical
universe. This method of knowing includes both empirical
discovery and knowledge that is revealed in sacred texts, such
as the Islamic Qu'ran, the Jewish Tanakh and Talmud, and the
Christian Bible containing the Old and New Testaments.
The Christian view holds that the empirical method can provide
accurate knowledge of the physical universe. Humans’ ability to
access this knowledge is in itself a gift from God. This is why
Christians do not view science and Christianity as inherent foes;
however, science has its limits. Science cannot speak to issues
of morality and ethics, right and wrong. While science can
design technology, it cannot answer the question of whether the
use of such technology is morally right. Christians look to God
for guidance. Although Christians do not believe that they can
fully comprehend God, they do believe that what God has
chosen to reveal about himself is true and sufficient for life and
redemption. God has revealed Himself both through the creation
(the grandeur, complexity, and power of God) and through the
Bible (the personal, saving love of God through Jesus Christ).
The Basis of Ethics
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Ethics form the basis of what is right and wrong, and how
humans ought to think and act. How humans formulate their
ethics depends on their worldview. If a person holds an atheistic
worldview, then the basis for ethics will be human reason. This

is generally true of all nontheistic worldviews. Without a
knowable, personal deity to offer ethical standards or guidance,
humans must decide for themselves how they ought to act
toward others and nature.
This way of determining how to act is largely subjective, or
relative to individuals or societies; however, subjective
truths change based on the thought of the individual who holds
them. For example, one group may decide that it is good and
right to raid a neighboring society and take possession of its
people and property. Truth, here, is subject to individual or
societal desires and thinking; it is not guided or governed by an
outside, or objective, authority. In this worldview, no truth is
universal, and truth may differ from individual to individual and
society to society. Subjective truth provides no solid foundation
on which to base one's worldview and life. It leaves its
adherents to make morality up as they go through life.
Theistic worldviews hold a divine foundation for ethics. This
means that Christians believe in objective morality. Truth is
universal and applies for all people. For example, Christians ask
the questions “What does God want me to do? What kinds of
attitudes does God want me to have?” (Grudem, 1994). This is
seen in the Bible passage from Micah 6:8, "He has told you, O
man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to
do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your
God?" This is an ethical mandate from God to humanity.
Christians believe that truth is universal and applies to all
people in all time and places. For example, killing other
humans, stealing, and dishonoring parents are always wrong,
while protecting the weak and attributing innate value and
dignity to others are always right.
The Purpose of Existence
One may have many missions in life that bring purpose, such as
finding a good job, living in a nice home, and taking care of
family. The question, however, asks about an individual's
primary or highest purpose for living.
The answer to this question also hinges on how a person

responded to the preceding question. In the atheist worldview,
humans decide for themselves what their purpose is. Some who
hold this worldview believe that life has no ultimate purpose
and that any purpose that does not harm others is valid. This
could be living to the fullest by enjoying as many positive
experiences as possible, such as traveling the world, finding a
loving friend or partner, and raising children to pass on the
family name. Some pursue wealth and fame and want their
names to live on after they have died. Some people live to serve
others; they find satisfaction in helping people succeed in life in
a variety of ways, such as becoming nurses or firefighters. They
may or may not be motivated by conscious spiritual or religious
reasons.
For theists, the purpose of existence is central to their view of
God's character and nature. For example, Christians see the
highest purpose of life as serving and loving God, even as they
experience similar desires of life. One Christian teaching tool,
the Westminster Shorter Catechism, first published in 1649 and
still in use today, explains this foundational belief in its first
question and answer which reads, “Q: What is the chief end of
man? A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him
forever.”
Under this overarching purpose, Christians believe that all
activity should serve this purpose, which is demonstrated
through one's worship, vocation, relationships, and use of
resources; it is a total reliance upon God. Because God is the
creator of human beings, humans operate in greatest harmony
and in greatest fulfillment when they honor God with their
lives. Christians hold that a life lived loving, worshiping, and
obeying God is the highest form of life possible. Flowing from
this love and honoring of God comes love of people (Matthew
22:36-40).
Life in Christ, which means loving, honoring, worshiping, and
obeying God through faith in Jesus Christ, includes all of life's
good existence in all that humans experience. This may also be
seen in ordinary life while traveling the world, finding a loving

friend or partner, raising children, firefighting, and in a health
care profession such as nursing. However, these are not done
only for the sake of personal gain and pleasure, but they also
point to a still higher purpose, which ultimately brings
tremendous benefits to one’s psyche, that is, the soul. A person
receives personal satisfaction not only in what he or she does,
but in the person that he or she is and becomes in Christ.
Christians similarly see in the Bible that the way God relates to
human beings is through covenants, or binding agreements. A
covenant consists of promises between two parties, and biblical
covenants are uniquely made between God and humanity. God
promises to do something for man (e.g., benevolence, care,
salvation), and in return, people act in a particular way toward
God (e.g., love through worship and obedience) (Horton, 2011).
God reveals how humans are to act in the world through the
Bible. When a man asked Jesus which of the commandments
was the greatest, Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second
is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'On these
two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets”
(Matthew 22:37–40). This latter commandment is also an ethical
mandate.
How Is Worldview Tested?
Many have not given much thought to their worldview and its
implications. They operate under a set on unconscious
assumptions that determine their view of the world. It is
important, though, to think through what one believes to be sure
that the worldview is reliable and true. There are three tests for
determining the veracity, value, and utility of worldviews.
The Coherence Test
The coherence test evaluates the internal consistency of a
worldview. The answers to the previous six worldview
questions should be consistent with one another. The answer to
one question should not contradict the answer to another
worldview question. For example, someone with a naturalist

view of the universe cannot logically state that humans are
made in God's image. These answers contradict one another.
The naturalist perspective holds that only the physical universe
exists. There is no god to assign value to anything, including
human beings. The physical world does not speak to issues of
value. The examination of the world reveals only the physical
attributes of what is observed or measured. It does not reveal
information about right or wrong or what is valuable and what
is not.
In the naturalist worldview, persons decide what is valuable.
They may say that the human race as a species has evolved over
time to possess superior intelligence; therefore, humans possess
value. However, this value cannot be an innate value because it
is based on a human judgement. Persons may well change their
minds about whether certain people do not have value, such as
determining value for those who do not meet a particular IQ
threshold. They may even change their minds about whether or
not intelligence is the right category to be measuring for value,
and perhaps value is more a matter of power, or wealth, or
physical strength. This means that the value assigned to human
beings by other human beings is not innate. For example,
individuals could decide that physically or mentally challenged
persons are a drain on society's resources. Such thinking is not
merely theoretical but is currently advocated by some. Professor
Peter Singer's view of human value allows that one may hold
that mentally challenged infants are not truly human persons.
His view permits the involuntary killing of mentally challenged
infants (Pauer-Studer, 1993).
Innate value is different. It is not assigned by individuals or
people; therefore, it cannot be removed by any personage or
party. This value is given by God to every person based simply
on a person's existence (Reeves, 2015). Therefore, it is not
consistent for an atheist to state that there is no God, but then
claim that all beings have innate value. A strong true worldview
is coherent.
The Correspondence Test

How does a person's worldview correspond to what really is, to
what human's experience in the real world? For example, if one
holds the atheist view of the world, which states that only the
physical is real, true, and reliable, this person must ask if that
view explains all of life. For example, an atheist worldview that
holds to naturalism can explain how stars form in the universe.
Such phenomena are observable and measurable by scientific
instruments; however, can the atheistic worldview explain why
evil exists? Can a worldview explain why people fall in love?
Historically, love has been a far more powerful motivation for
human action than simply a biological urge to reproduce.
Can one's worldview explain why people feel guilty in the depth
of their hearts when they have done wrong? They are ashamed
of doing wrong, not just being caught. Humans view people who
commit vicious crimes but feel no guilt as evil. Can one's
worldview explain why? Why is any person so concerned with
right and wrong, good and evil? Science alone does not speak to
morals and values, right and wrong, yet people know that
morals and ethics exist and play a significant role in human life.
Humanity concerns itself with issues of right and wrong each
day. Everyone makes moral decisions. If one's worldview states
that only what can be known through empirical evidence is real
and true, then one's worldview does not explain the entirety of
human experience, and it does not pass the correspondence test.
If such gaps are found, then one might need to pause and
rethink his or her worldview.
The Practical Test
The practical test asks the question, "How does one's worldview
work in the world?" Is deep and satisfying meaning found
because of one's worldview? Are the big questions of life
answered:
· Who are we?
· How did we get here?
· What has gone wrong with the world?
· What can be done to make things right again?
Can one's worldview provide rich and satisfying answers to

these questions?
One's worldview should provide meaning for life. It should give
a solid foundation and intellectual framework for understanding
life and interpreting the events that are experienced. For
example, the news is filled daily with accounts of suffering and
tragedy. One's worldview interprets the meaning of these
events: A shooter kills students who are exiting a school. An
observer’s worldview may ascribe the shooter's actions to
natural phenomena alone, such as mental illness or a
dysfunctional upbringing, or an observer’s worldview may
ascribe the actions to evil, a moral failure due to the sinful
nature of humanity, which introduced suffering and death into
the world? Of course, both could be causes for the terrible
event. One's worldview gives an intellectual framework by
which to make sense of life's events.
The results of putting one’s worldview though these three tests
will determine whether the worldview is reliable, true, and
good. A consistent, clear, and practical worldview provides
people with the intellectual means to evaluate what is right and
wrong, how the world operates, who they are and what purpose
their lives have. Answering these questions in a thoughtful,
consistent way will help people to live meaningful and good
lives.
Case Study: Death, Dying, and Worldview
Karen is a 29-year-old single woman with a younger brother,
Max, and parents Louise and Bill. Karen lies in the intensive
care unit of a Level 1 trauma hospital with a severe brain injury
suffered during a car accident three days earlier. She is
intubated and unconscious. Her body is battered and bruised,
and her family has been at her bedside since her admittance.
Her parents and brother return to the waiting room of the ICU to
speak with the doctor away from Karen's presence. The
attending physician, Dr. Alexander, tells them that there is no
hope of Karen surviving her injuries. In his professional
opinion, it is the humane approach to remove all support and let
Karen die in an unconscious state. He asks them to think about

their decision and leaves them to consider this grave step.
Alone, the family's tension rises. Max paces back and forth
while Bill and Louise sit next to one another holding hands. The
family has swung between hope and fear, but now dread and
terror seem to prevail. Max blurts out that they should do what
the doctor advises. There is no sense, he says, in allowing
Karen to suffer if the situation is hopeless. She has had a good
life even though it has been cut short. Louise begins to pray
softly, lowering her head and asking God for help. Max tells her
to stop. If God cared, says Max, he would not have let this
happen in the first place. Karen, he says, wasn't religious
anyway and would not want any prayers. She did not believe in
magic. Louise protests that Karen was raised a Christian. Max
responds that that was a long time ago, and since college, Karen
had outgrown superstitious notions of God and miracles. The
world is what we can see, feel, smell, and hear with our senses,
Max states as he paces back and forth.
Bill puts his arm around his wife's shoulder and tells Max that
prayer will not do any harm. Who knows, says Bill, there mi ght
be a God, and if there is, isn't it better to be on God's good
side? Bill tells his son to leave Louise alone. Louise cries
harder and prays louder. She pauses and looks at both her
husband and her son; she tells them that she knows there is a
God and that he loves Karen. She says that although she cannot
explain why this is happening to Karen, she has faith and
believes that God is there in the room with Karen. She tells
them quietly that Jesus died for their sins. If God loved them
enough to send his Son to die on the cross to save them, God
wouldn't let them down, no matter what happens in the hospital.
Louise looks up through tear-stained eyes and tells Max that
God is still able to save Karen. Max leaves the waiting room,
clearly frustrated.
Bill says that he doesn't know what to believe; he just wants his
daughter to be all right. He puts his arm around Louise again, as
she continues to pray for Karen.
Reflection Questions

1. Based on what you have read, and the six worldview
questions, describe the worldviews of each of the three family
members and the physician. Specifically, how would each
person answer the questions, "What is ultimate reality?" and
"What is your basis of ethics?"
2. How would Christian spirituality and atheism address the
issues the family is facing?
3. How might the nurse offer comfort to this family given the
differences in worldviews between the family members?
Answers
1. Louise: Karen's mother clearly believes in God and is a
Christian, which comes under the general category of theism.
Max: Karen's brother seems to hold an atheistic worldview. He
does not believe that God exists and refers to prayer as magic.
Bill: Karen's father's worldview is unclear. He is neither a
Christian nor an atheist. He is open to prayer, but as a kind of
gamble just to be on the right side if it turns out that God does
exist.
2. Postmodern relativists would hold that the decision of
whether or not to remove Karen from life support is subjective;
whatever decision the family makes will be right for them.
There is no set path of right or wrong here. Christians would
look to God and their understanding of what God has
commanded to guide them in how to make this important
decision. The answer could vary among Christians, some
holding that God does not want them to use technology to keep
Karen's body alive when she has no hope of recovery. Others
believe that the family should do everything they can to
preserve Karen’s life. This would include Karen’s mother, who
asks for more time hoping that God will intervene.
3. A nurse could begin by offering general compassionate care.
The nurse could then ask Louise if she would like a hospital
chaplain, or if she can call a clergy person for her. If the nurse
believes in God, then the nurse could quietly encourage the
parents to trust God and gently suggest that no matter what
happens, Karen is in God's care. Max, who does not believe in

divine intervention, would need nonreligious compassion. The
nurse could ask Max about his sister and say something like,
"You love her very much. It sounds like the two of you are very
close." This could give Max an opportunity to share with
someone the relationship he has with his sister.
flip text
Ethics
The previous sections laid out a detailed picture of what goes
into a worldview. It first presented the three major
worldviews—atheism, pantheism, and theism—and highlighted
important aspects of the Christian worldview. This led into the
six basic worldview questions that any worldview must answer.
Some of those questions included asking what ultimate reality
is, what is the nature of the universe, and what is the purpose of
one’s existence. One of the six questions addressed the basis for
ethics—that is, having to do with what is right and wrong. This
had to do with providing a foundation for ethics.
The focus of the next two sections is to think more deeply about
what ethics is and the relationship between ethics and the
Christian worldview. The first section dives into the field of
ethics. It looks at what ethics is and what it is not. It also
presents whether ethics is based on personal opinion or rooted
in something deeper. This section also looks at how one can
know right from wrong. With so many people seemingly holding
conflicting moral beliefs, how can anyone know right from
wrong?
The second section focuses specifically on the relationship
between ethics and the Christian worldview. It looks more
deeply at how humans are created to know right from wrong and
how God is the basis for right and wrong. In the latter part of
this section, the connection between Christianity, healing, and
medicine is made. In a world filled with hurt, pain, and
destruction, Christianity can shine a light and bring true healing
and restoration.
Defining Ethics

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·
The complexity of the world challenges one's understanding of
what is morally right and wrong. Some actions, such as
genocide and rape, are clearly wrong while others, such as self-
sacrifice and saving another's life, are clearly right. But what
about actions like terminating the life of a patient who is
experiencing great pain and suffering? Or what about saving the
life of a mother by performing an abortion? These are
challenging moral questions where one needs an ethical
framework in which to determine an outcome. The term ethics is
often used rather broadly. It is sometimes used to refer to a
company's code of ethics, which are the rules employees of the
company should follow. It is also sometimes used in reference
to the law, as in, "It is wrong to kill an innocent person
according to the law."
This text will use ethics more narrowly. Understood
here,ethics meansa branch of philosophy that provides a
systematic understanding of concepts of right and wrong,
principles of moral behavior, and the intentions and actions of
moral agents. The terms ethics and morality are used
equivalently throughout the book. The definition rules out many
examples of the way ethics is often understood, in which ethics
is equated with the law, tradition, and cultural etiquette;
however, ethics is deeper than these three.
Consider first the law. While most laws, at minimum, have a
moral component, what is moral does not always make
something legal. Exceeding the speed limit could cause an
accident and harm someone. Yet, on freeways, it is not
uncommon for cars to drive well over the speed limit without
getting ticketed. Law enforcement sometimes allows drivers to
exceed the limit because of the flow of traffic and other times
not. While the limit has some wiggle room, the underlying
moral component is the safety of all drivers.
Furthermore, what is legal does not always make something
moral. For example, consider slavery. At one point in the

history of the United States, it was lawful to own people of
color as slaves. Surely the laws of that time did not make
slavery moral. It was morally wrong regardless of what the laws
said. Or consider a more contemporary example of abortion.
Abortion is legal across the nation, but many think it is morally
wrong. For these people, making abortion legal does not mean it
is now somehow morally right.
Sometimes, even the law has nothing at all to do with morality.
For example, in the United States, it is illegal to drive on the
left side of the road because drivers are supposed to drive on
the right side of the road; however, in England they drive on the
opposite side of the road and it is illegal to drive on the right
side. Of course, if one knowingly decided to drive on the left-
hand side of the road here, they might endanger the lives of
others and themselves, which would be morally wrong. But
there is nothing moral about which side of the road a society
decides one should drive on. A society’s decision about which
side of the road they want people to drive is merely a matter of
convention.
Next, consider tradition. There have been traditional cultural
practices that are deeply immoral. The ancient Chinese practice
of foot binding produces a much smaller foot by curling a young
women's toes under her feet and then tightly bound to produce a
much smaller foot (Yen-Wei, 2015). It was typically done for
reasons of beauty (Yen-Wei 2015). The practice causes major
damage to the women's foot and body. It should be quite clear
that such a tradition was wrong and harmful despite being
practiced for millennia. This is one of many examples of other
comparable practices that are part of a culture's tradition, but
deeply harmful to the people of that culture making it immoral.
Figure 1.1
Images of Foot-Binding
Note. Adapted from “Foot Loading Characteristics of Chinese
Bound Feed Women: A comparative Analysis,” by Y. Gu, Q.
Mei, J. Fernandez, J. Li, X. Ren, and N. Feng, 2015, PLoS One,

10(4), p. 13. Copyright 2015 PLoS One. Adapted with
permission.
Finally, consider cultural etiquette. Often in different cultures
one's manners are equated to what is morally right and wrong.
For example, it is proper etiquette in some cultures to place the
silverware on a specific side of the plate during mealtime;
however, where the fork or knife are positioned does not
determine anything specifically moral. One has not done
something wrong by inadvertently placing the fork on the left
side of the plate instead of the right side.
Notice that in all these examples, ethics is more than just what
is legal, cultural, or conventional. Ethics is grounded in
something deeper than all of these. Ethics is primarily about
what is right or wrong, but rightness and wrongness are not
ultimately dependent on what the law, culture, or convention
says. Right or wrong may be reflected in the law or a culture’s
values, but it is nevertheless deeper than them. It is also deeper
than one's individual subjective beliefs about the law, or
cultural beliefs, or traditional beliefs. The next two sections lay
out how ethics is so different.
The Is/Ought Distinction
Facts about the way things are or physical facts give descriptive
information about the world. However, descriptive information
alone cannot tell one what is the morally right or wrong thing to
do. Moral facts do not simply describe the way the world is, but
rather they prescribe the way the world ought to be. This is
known as the is/oughtdistinction. The is/ought distinction in
ethics says that no amount of descriptive facts can tell someone
whether it is morally right, for example, to help a person in
danger or morally wrong to break a promise. Descriptive facts
merely describe the world while moral facts tell what one ought
to do. Ethics, then, is about right and wrong. It is beyond the
bounds of what science can determine because science can only
describe what is the case, but it cannot prescribe what morally
ought to be the case.
To illustrate, imagine a paratrooper dropped from a plane into

Nazi Germany just after the German government surrendered to
the United States at the end of WWII. This paratrooper comes
across one of the concentration camps where the Jews were
gassed and killed. No one from the outside world at this point
knew what exactly these camps were like. There was no social
media or even the kind of journalism of today's news. When the
paratrooper returns from war, he begins to describe what he saw
down to the minute detail: the skeletal-like bodies of the starved
Jewish prisoners, the stench of bodies just gassed and burned.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. If you were the paratrooper, what would a scientific
description of what you saw mean about whether those things
described were good, bad, right or wrong?
2. If you were the paratrooper, imagine what would be going
through your mind and body. What feelings are present? Would
those feelings alone determine whether what you saw was right
or wrong?
3. Does it make a difference that these events happened years
ago, in a different time, place and culture? Is what happened
still wrong today? Think about why that might be the case?
Cleary such events make one recoil with anger and moral
outrage. This event in human history was deeply immoral;
however, where is the fact that "genocide is wrong" to be
found? It is not merely in the descriptive details of what is
being witnessed. The point is that no amount of descriptive
information can say anything about the morality of an action.
The fact that genocide is wrong is very different from what the
concentration camp looks and smells like. This is because
wrongness has to do with moral value; however, moral value is
not something one can physically describe. Thus, something
being wrong, such as genocide, states what morally ought to be
the case (i.e., one morally ought not commit genocide) while
something smelling or looking a certain way tells about what
isthe case (i.e., that is a starved body, or those are German
soldiers fleeing). These are entirely different kinds of facts.
The examples of what ethics is and what it is not show that

ethics is about right and wrong. It is not about cultural
etiquette, societal convention, or what the law says. Ethics is
much deeper than these things. Consider next a framework
overview of ethics, and its relationship to worldviews.
The Worldview Foundations of Ethics
Recall that the question of ethics is one of the six worldview
questions. As such, how one answers the other worldview
questions will affect what one thinks about right and wrong, and
vice versa. In this sense, one’s worldview is truly the
foundation for thinking about right and wrong. In what follows,
it will be seen that the question of what it means to be human is
fundamental to ethics. In addition, this section will survey three
general areas or subdisciplines of ethics—metaethics, normative
ethics, and applied ethics—to see their influence on one’s
worldview. The atheistic worldview will be contrasted with the
Christian worldview to show such influence.
The Question of Human Nature
A fundamental question for ethics has to do with human
nature—that is, what kind of a thing is a human being? This is
not to be confused with what is often called the "sin nature" of
human beings, which is a way to describe the human tendency
toward evil and away from God. This is because the kind of
thing something is determines whether it has a proper function
and purpose and what that proper function and purpose might
be. In regard to ethics, this question is really asking whether
human beings have a proper function and purpose and, if so,
what that might be. To put the point differently in terms of
ethics, the question asks whether there is a way that human
beings ought to live (i.e., proper function) and why (i.e.,
purpose). Are human beings merely the blind product of
mindless natural evolutionary forces that happened over
millions of years, or are human beings created with a special
and unique purpose? An atheist who does not believe in the
existence of God would likely say that human beings are purely
the product of naturalistic evolution and are animal organisms
like anything else, while a Christian would say that human

beings are special and uniquely created in the image of God.
Which view one takes matters a great deal ethically. For
example, an atheist who thinks that human beings are products
of random chance evolution will likely think that morality is
just about one's survival and self-interest, very similar to how
animals act. In this view, a person is simply an animal organism
such that one’s proper function is that he or she ought to ensure
survival and reproduction by any means necessary because there
is no grander purpose in life other than seeking one's self-
interest before dying and ceasing to exist. However, the
Christian who thinks human souls have been created on purpose
by God will have a vastly different view of right and wrong.
First, God has not only created all people, but he has designed
them for specific purposes. Things that are designed have a
nature that reflects their function or purpose. For example,
when a skilled craftsman designs and creates a knife, the nature
and design of the knife reflects its ultimate function and
purpose, which is to cut things. Analogously, the nature and
design of all humanity reflects their ultimate purpose, which
primarily is to love God and enjoy him forever.
Second, when a human being lives in accord with his or her
nature, the result is joy and flourishing. Joy and flourishing in
this context do not simply mean happiness or selfish pleasure,
but rather living in the fullness of what one was created to be,
which certainly leads to a sense of wholeness and satisfaction
and may include happiness and pleasure.
Consider that sometimes physicians describe the state of
premature babies who are not growing, receiving nutrients, or
otherwise maturing, as "failing to flourish." In their weakened
state, these children are not physically moving toward the
proper function of their design, which includes, but is not
limited to, physical growth, maturity, and health. In the same
way, failing to live morally according to one's nature will not
lead to flourishing, but to a kind of damage to the person, or a
failure to flourish in every aspect of one’s being and design.
In the Christian worldview, a human being's nature is what

describes the ways in which human beings can flourish in every
aspect of their being. Thus, the way human beings ought to live
reflects the kind of thing human beings are and the grander
purpose of human life, meaning that human beings are creatures
made in the image of God who ought to live in relationship with
and in obedience God. Whether there is a genuine design and
purpose for every individual, and how one can come to have
knowledge of that design and purpose, are questions addressed
in branches of ethics.
Metaethics
Metaethics includes the study of the nature and being of right
and wrong, as well as how one can come to have knowledge of
right and wrong. In this sense, metaethics asks questions of
right and wrong that are deeper than what one might be used to
asking, but that are nevertheless very important. Instead of
asking "what is the right thing to do?" or "what is the w rong
thing to do?", metaethics asks questions such as, "does right and
wrong even exist?", "what kind of thing is right and wrong", or
"how can I know what is right and wrong"? These are deeper or
meta questions of ethics.
A major issue in metaethics is whether morality is objectively
true. In this sense, objectivity has to do with whether right or
wrong is dependent on one's beliefs, desires, or preferences
about what is moral. Recall that right and wrong are not
dependent on tradition, cultural norms, and the law. In the same
way, it seems that right and wrong are not dependent on one's
beliefs, desires, or preferences, but are rooted in a deeper
reality.
To give an example, imagine someone said, "I do not believe
that violating one's rights is morally wrong." Even if one
actually believes this, it is still wrong to violate another
person’s rights. That is because objectivity has to do with the
way the world is in reality. This is very similar to scientific
claims like the earth is round or gravity is real. Imagine a
person decided not to believe in the existence of gravity and
jumped off a tall building believing he or she could fly. Not

Henrietta Ayinor Topic 1 DQ 1Spirituality in my worldview has

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