Free Essay on Ethical Dilemmas - Christian Worldview/Bible Study

An ethical dilemma refers to a situation in which an individual gets subjected to an issue that demands proper decision-making. Nearly all of us, in one way or another, have been subjected to an ethical dilemma, and during such situations, we were forced to choose or to take one direction. (Russett,2015) This paper will look at the ethical dilemma issue and specifically analyze how Sarah manages the ethical dilemma. In relation to Sarah's case, core beliefs, resolution, evaluation, and comparison will be made as a conclusion.

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

Order now

Ethical Dilemma

In this case, Sarah, who has been trying to get a child for many years, finally gets pregnant. Sarah is subjected to a blood test, but unfortunately, she receives news that the baby has Down syndrome. The doctor suggests to her that she should consider having an abortion. Sarah has been living a successful life in his career and wants to maintain a balance between her family and career life. Since she feels very uncomfortable with abortion, she decides to get a piece of advice from one of the influential professors of biology called Richard. He advises her to abort.

The ethical dilemma that Sarah faces here is whether to abort the fetus, although she understands how she has been trying to get a child for a long time. The other option is to keep the pregnancy and gives birth to a child that has Down syndrome hence allowing the baby to leave a life full of suffering

Core believes

When it comes to the Christian worldview, there are certain beliefs and values that are very crucial in the Christian life. Those believes and values guide Christians when making some of the decisions that may contradict the bible or Christian values. (Blakney 2019). There is a way that God expects Christians to live and not to disobey the expectations that are have been highlighted in the bible.

One of the core values that is depicted from the bible if for instance, in the book of genesis, there is a command stating that 'you shall not kill.' This commandment is crucial since killing is prohibited, and is a sin that Christians should avoid by all means. God is angered by people breaking such commandments, and if one breaks it, then it results in punishment from God. Christians, therefore, are afraid of any nature of killing regardless of whether it is a fetus or an adult. In this scenario, Sarah is advised by Richard to abort the baby, which is a difficult decision.

Another core value that is drawn from the bible is for instance when God says that human beings were created from the likeliness and the image of God and therefore despite the stage of the baby of Sarah being a fetus, he or she was created in the image and the likeness of God. Aborting the baby, therefore, is violating Christian values, and it is regarded as a sin. Christians sometimes find themselves in such a scenario, and it requires them to make a decision that will ensure that they do no violates Christian values, and that is how those values have an impact during decision-making.

Resolutions

When it comes to resolving an ethical dilemma in the Christian worldview, Christians are encouraged to ensure that they do not go against the values regardless of the circumstances. There are also encourages to evaluate the circumstance they are in and take into consideration Christian values before making a decision.

According to the Christian worldview, the way Sarah is expected to act is to continue keeping the pregnancy until the day that the baby will be born despite having Down syndrome. Since Christians believe that God heals, the child will be prayed for, and God will prevail, and the child will be healed and thus bringing joy into the family. (Brown 2015). Sarah had received advice that she should abort the child, but abortion is considered as a sin in the bible. It is a violation of Christina's values. Christians are prohibited from engaging in any form of abortion or killing. It angers God because if one aborts a child, then he or she is breaking on of the commandments in the bible, and in the end, it will result in punishment during the judgment day, therefore keeping the pregnancy is the best course that should be taken by ant Christian.

Evaluation

In the case of Sarah, she has received advice from Richard that she should abort the child so as to prevent the child from suffering in the future. Richard argues that people should try and prevent suffering by all means, and instead, they should concentrate on being happy in life. In the Christian worldview, aborting is considered as a sin. It is a violation of Christian values. If one commits abortion, then he or she will be punished by God during the judgment day. Apart from that, in this case, if Sarah were to abort, it will have resulted in guilt associated with wrongdoings. She would have still lived a life full of shame. (Morgan et al. 2016) Guilt sometimes may affect one psychologically, and thus leading to one being uncomfortable there if Sarah could have proceeded and aborted the child with the aim of her being happy in the future, she would have still ended up unhappy because of the quilt.

Comparison

In the worldview like an atheist, for instance, Sarah would have been allowed to go ahead and abort the child. Atheists do not believe in the existence of God, and in this case, assuming that Sarah was an atheist, then after receiving advice from Richard, who is a professor of biology, Sarah would have proceeded with abortion since the act would have been justified by Richard. Considering that Sarah had received confirmation from the doctor that the baby is suffering from Down syndrome, she would have considered getting rid of the baby and avoid future suffering as advised by the doctor.

When it comes to the Christian worldview, abortion is a sin that is not advocated for in the bible. It is a violation of Christian values, and thus if Sarah was a Christian, she would have gone ahead and kept the pregnancy after evaluating the circumstances that she was in. She would have given birth to the child despite having Down syndrome disease.

Conclusion

Everyone in one way or another may sometimes find themselves in an ethical dilemma situation that requires them to make a difficult decision. The decision one makes, therefore, is based on various aspects such as cultural or religious values. In the above case, Sarah is advised by Richard to abort the child despite her having tried to get a child for a long period of time. In a Christian worldview, Sarah would have been expected to neglect the advice and keep the pregnancy, although she had found out that the child is suffering from Down syndrome. I suggest that Sarah's case is only one of the ethical dilemmas that Christians find themselves in. There are other ethical dilemmas that an individual may face in life.

As Christians, when faced with an ethical dilemma, it is important to remember that God exists and seek Him for help. Some situations may be hard, but with God, everything is possible, and thus, God is able to help Christians make the right decision. Unlike atheism, which does not believe in the existence of God, Christianity is one of the religions that strongly believe in the existence of God, and they believe that they were wonderfully and fearfully made. Human beings are supreme creatures when it comes to God's creation and should always be respected.

References

Blakney, T. C. (2019). The Interaction between Bible Knowledge and Worldview in Freshmen Students at Southwestern Assemblies of God University. Southwestern Assemblies of God University.

Brown, S. (2015). What Was I Thinking?: Things I've Learned Since I Knew It All. Simon and Schuster.

Morgan, J., Clark, D., Tripodis, Y., Halloran, C. S., Minsky, A., Wildman, W. J., ... & McNamara, P. (2016). Impacts of religious semantic priming on an intertemporal discounting task: Response time effects and neural correlates. Neuropsychologia, 89, 403-413.

Russett, B. M. (2015). Ethical dilemmas of nuclear deterrence. In Bruce M. Russett: Pioneer in the Scientific and Normative Study of War, Peace, and Policy (pp. 153-168). Springer, Cham