Working With Clients: Synergy and Challenges - Essay Sample

Synergy and Challenges While Working With Clients With Different Worldviews and Values

Summary of My Worldview

I am a Christian, and i believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and the only way to get to Heaven is through him. I also believe that through the stripes of Jesus Christ, we are healed from all our diseases and acquitted of our transgressions. I was raised in the Southern Baptist Church and Baptized in the Baptist Church. After 25 Years of being in the Baptist Church, I switched over to Presbyterian Church PCA because it had a different perspective towards the Christian dogma, but irrespective of the differences my affirmed faith in Christ is something that never changed.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

There are minor differences between the Presbyterian Church of America doctrine and that of the Baptist Church. As such, an amalgamation of the world view of these two churches makes up my worldview. My worldview is in resonance with the fact that God is the creator of this world and has power over everything. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and omnipresent. God loves us and is willing to draw near to us and forgive us of our sins every time we go the wrong way by sin. In addition to that, God sacrificed his own Son so that we could realize salvation.

It is important to note that even though God is all-powerful and can bend all of us to His will, He still gave us the freedom to draw close to him or not. He also gave us the knowledge of what is good and evil and blessed us with the spirit of discernment to choose good all the time. For cases where we stray, God allows us to mend fences with Him through repentance in the name of Jesus Christ. When God looks at the cross where his Son died, His wrath towards our sin goes away.

Jesus is the Second Adam who came to correct the mistakes of the first Adam. Adam sinned by defying God's instruction not to eat from the tree of life. Through his sin, the entirety of the human race was corrupted. The consequences of Eve and Adam decisions serve as a warning for readers on the moral breakdown that occurs when people or individuals engage in theology. If Adam can be likened to a human prototype and if humans were droids (robots), then a mistake in his programming made the entirety of the human race to be corrupted. After such act God deemed it fit to call on Jesus to save His creation; here Jesus plays the role of a software engineer that analyses 'the human system' and corrects the glitch that draws us far from God when we sin.

Analysis and Discussion of ACA Worldview

Owing to the diversity of the ACA as an organization, the worldview of the ACA articles is pretty much the same as that shared by the whole postmodern world. The world believes that there are many ways to the Father, i.e., God. Second, all the religions in the world are the same in purpose (to find God) irrespective of the different religious practices that define them. The ACA worldview treats religion like philosophy such that there is no religion which is wrong so long as its doctrines are backed up with sufficient supporting premises on the best way to find God.

In The Vanished Horizon Friedrich Nietzche affirms that Postmodernism, which is the view that most people in the world have today, promotes the idea that God is dead. Notably, Postmodernism does not explicitly posit that God is dead, but the actions and the sin it encourages through misleading philosophies surely draw people away from the Christian life, the commandments of God, and reverence for God at large. Friedrich Nietzsche was basically saying that a society in which God is dead cannot prosper in any aspect because when God dies, both the substance and value of everything dies too (Sire, 2009).

The text from The Vanished Horizon also affirms that Postmodernism has influenced a greater understanding of Christianity and other religions in general. However, one negative thing about Postmodernism is that it promotes many religions; even science is considered so much of faith to a point where the matter is today perceived as something that exists eternally. It is from this perception of matter that God and religion have been diminished. Note that if matter exists eternally, there has been no need for a creator from the beginning and the particles and cells that existed then developed to whatever is present today; this is the true definition of Darwinism (Sire, 2009).

In the second chapter of Christan Theism, the text affirms that the universe is charged with the grandeur of God. More specifically the main theme in the chapter resonates with the idea that: the world is charged with the greatness of God; God's greatness flames out like shining from shook foil; His grandeur gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil. The text poses a question asking human beings why they are not turning to God even though they are crushed. In addition to that, the author wonders why humans do not turn to God despite being well aware of His capacity to save them from misery.

Discussion of Similarities and Differences in Worldview

There are multiple similarities and differences between my worldview and that of the American Counseling Association. In terms of similarities, it is worth mentioning that my worldview and that of the ACA affirms the being of a higher power in the heavens, which is in control of every critical eventuality on this planet. Secondly, it is worth noting that both my worldview and that of ACA resonate with respect to the school of thought, which affirms that Heaven helps the man who helps themselves. What's more, both my worldview and that of the American Counseling Association agree on the idea that the universe is charged with the grandeur of God; that everything which breathes, the seas, and all the physical features owe their presence to God (Sire, 2009).

A different worldview that defies the worldview above affirms that matter is independent of God and has always existed on its own from the beginning of time. Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space, and it is from this school of thought that Darwin was able to promote the idea of cell evolution. It is not only Darwin, but proponents of the Big Bang Theory also attach an unrealistic eternity to matter; claiming that it has always been in existence and has occupied space from time immemorial. It is essential to mention that the reactions of theologians to Postmodernism have run the gamut; some accept it, but others refuse to accept it. All the same, is worth mentioning that other theologians try to strike a balance between Postmodernism and the traditional foundations of religious thoughts on God.

Summatively, it is tough to reconcile the different religious worldviews that individuals have. A lot of permissible differences exist between religious doctrines, and the truth is literally defined as what one chooses to believe. Liberalism and Postmodernism are what tampered with the original ideologies on God. In fact, they are the very reason why churches and cathedrals are being sold for other purposes such as opera stages and theatres where plays are presented to audiences.

In terms of different worldviews, there is plenty of synergy in theologies. If we were to use Christianity as the basic unit of religion, it is clear to see that just like in Christianity, people from other faiths believe that it is good and evil. Religions from the Far East such as Buddhism and Sikhism affirm the existence of Yin and Yang. Christian theologists have posited that in the same way we switch on a lightbulb to light up a room, the same room should be dark whenever the bulb is switched off. This is to mean that evil is necessary just as much as good so that the universe can achieve balance. An example of a premise that can be linked to the high school of thought is that if light (goodness) were the only thing that should be on the earth, there would have been night time or thee moon; all that would have been in the sun. Synergy in views, doctrine, dogma, and religious practices and premises make it easy to work with clients with different worldviews (Sire, 2009).

Conversely, it is very challenging to work with clients with different values and worldviews. For example, Christians have a firm belief that Jesus is the Son of God, and there is no way to the Father except through him. Second, Muslims perceive Mohammed to be a prophet that is just as important as Jesus, and since they do not pray to Allah through Mohammed, they do not understand why Christians say 'in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior' whenever they recite their prayers. Buddhists and Sikhs depend wholly on the religious teachings of entities such as the Dalai Lama and Buddha. The truth is that the many differences in religious views existing in people's minds, books, and media are very confusing to anyone that is looking to take religion seriously and to get to know God. People are basically spoilt for choice owing to the different doctrines that are at our disposition.

Conclusion

In summary, it is worth mentioning that it is hard to strike a balance between the different schools of thought that attempt to describe the origin of man, God (a higher power), and the universe at large. Postmodernism requires that all religious views are respected and given a chance of being heard. Traditional religions were founded on the idea that there is only one true God and arguments between believers of different sects argued on the basis that their God was the true one. Nowadays, the narrative has changed, and people argue on the basis of many different ways of finding peace and salvation.

References

Sire, J. W. (2009). The universe next door: A basic worldview catalog. InterVarsity Press.