This is a paper that is focusing on how Christians view Christ’s death and Resurrection. The paper also provides a brief preview of the assignment question to use in writing the paper.
How Christians view Christ’s death and Resurrection
If we ask about religion in America, you can see the conclusion which I must draw. The God whom Americans worship as the final and absolute reality is the power of death. Here I do not use the term god to designate the divinity revealed in Jesus Christ. I use the word in a more open way, to name what a people believe to be the final, the ultimate reality which controls their lives. Many Americans (notwithstanding their dedicated commitments to the ethics of success and resistance) still believe that death is the ultimate reality that will finally and permanently determine their existence. (McGill, 1987, p. 18)
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “Oh death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 14:54–57, English Standard Version)
Essential Questions
Firstly, how does a Christian worldview, especially the Christian doctrine of Christ’s death and resurrection, give new meaning to death? What affect does this have on health care?
Secondly, what is the difference between cardiopulmonary, whole-brain, and higher brain criteria of death? Additionally, what worldview assumptions inform the definitions behind each of these criteria for death? Also, what are the clinical tests used to confirm the criteria for whole-brain death?
What should the Christian response be to euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and withholding and withdrawing life-supportive therapy?
That are the stages of grief, and how can knowledge of these stages assist a health care professional in counseling the dying and their families?
What does it mean to die well according to a Christian worldview?
