Calling all Buddhist, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Agnostics, etc.!

Dave and I just did a small roundtable discussion with several atheist members of ATS. Now it's time to get the 'flipside' of the coin and get a faith/spiritual-based roundtable. What were hoping is to be able to get a Christian, a Buddhist, a Jew, Muslim, etc., all sharing their views at one sitting in a civil way by means of a conference call which will be recorded for a future upcoming ATSmix show segment.

If you think you can conduct yourself in a civil way while discussing your belief system with others at the table, then "you" are what were looking for.. People, this is not a debate, nor will we allow it to become one (hopefully). We want to know what "YOU" believe in, it's just that simple. No hidden agenda's, no secret plots, no pre-planned questions, we simply want to hear your views on what you believe in.

Send a U2U to me (JohnnyAnonymous) and tell me what faith or spiritual belief system you lean towards and the length of time doing so. Were hoping to complete this quickly and painlessly. You'll also need to include you phone number and/or SKYPE name (if you have one). Please "copy and paste this small segment into your u2u (with the areas filled in of course):

"My name is (Insert member name here), I've been a member of ATS for ?years/months, am a Single/Married/Divorced Mother/Wife/Husband with ?/no children. I've been a believer of (insert belief here) for ?months/years. I think that we humans are here because (insert small brief summary here).

All these discussion are done over the telephone or by use of a program called "Skype" (which is free but requires a microphone and a pair of headphones).

Thanks,
Johnny



[edit on 17-10-2007 by JohnnyAnonymous]

I hate to be a bother, but isn't the Buddhist religion an atheist religion? It has no god.

Correct me if I am wrong.

True, but it does believe in spirits migrating from the body into another incarnation and thus is not purely a form of philosophy.

In Buddhism the difference as far as I can see, is that we do not believe that God is something separate from our own essence.

We don't believe that we are judged by a supreme being, but rather that our own conduct in life and the wisdom we attain, or don't attain dictates the progress of our souls after death into the next existence.

It is essentially a belief of do unto others ....

There is a difference too with the Judaeo-Christian concept of sin.

In Buddhism it is not the act per se which is a sin, but rather the purpose and intent behind an action which indicates whether it is evil or good.

Rather than believing in the accumulation of sins, Buddhists consider bad deeds (or Karma) as like a mountaineer striving to climb a mountain picking up ever more rocks to carry up the slope. If you pick up too many rocks (bad karma) then you become too exhausted to keep climbing.

Using the same analogy, good deeds or good karma is like offloading the rocks which you have picked up so that you can start to make more progress.

Thant's very simplistic rendition.

Folks... it's called RADIO. Expressing your opinions HERE doesn't get it to millions of subscribers world wide. If you want to be considered for your religion, U2U Johnny. Save the written debates for the other boards please. This forum is for RADIO.

Thanks....

Dave

[edit on 9/30/2007 by Dave Rabbit]

Originally posted by Kacen
I hate to be a bother, but isn't the Buddhist religion an atheist religion? It has no god.

Correct me if I am wrong.

We do believe there is a God. It is an impersonal. A God that cannot save us for we must save ourselves through control of our minds. Buddha Sakyamuni, Siddartha Gautama, uplifted the Human Race, and empowered it.

I sent the U2U I am Christian and Buddhist. It seems like a contradiction but my U2U would explain this.

I would nominate myself as the Christian representative, however, my views of Christianity are not the normal Christian views. They are not Evangelical in nature, Conservative in nature, or Catholic in nature. Nor are they lumped under any denomination, except "Monotheist who thinks Jesus is Messiah".

In that respect, I guess I'm kinda like those "Jews for Jesus"? lol.

And so I don't feel like I'd be fairly representing the Christians here as my Christian theology tends to be quite different, almost Unitarian like.

I am an Arian Christian, those who followed Arius in the first centuries after the Crucifixion. Arius of Libya, who was eventually denounced and who's doctrine was "Hereticized" by the Church.

en.wikipedia.org...
This article is about theological views similar to those of Arius. Aryan is an unrelated linguistic and ethnic concept.

The term Arianism is also used to refer to other nontrinitarian theological systems of the fourth century, which regarded the Son of God, the Logos, as a created being (as in Arianism proper and Anomoeanism) or as neither uncreated nor created in the sense other beings are created.

en.wikipedia.org...

The Arian controversy describes several controversies which divided the Christian church from before the Council of Nicaea in 325 to after the Council of Constantinople in 383. The most important of these controversies concerned the relationship between the Creator and Logos, or between God the Father and God the Son.

Plus, the Atheist ATS Members you had a round table discussion with are the same ones that are on the opposite side of most theological discussions that occur here. So it would be naturally rehearsed, lol.

Really, being that I do not accept Trinity doctrine, I'd love to defend Monotheism and the aspects of it but I cannot be made a representative for Christian ATS members due to this rejection of Trinity doctrine.

The Father always existing, created the Son through his power (virgin birth). Therefore Jesus is not literally God in the flesh. It even states in the Bible quite often that Jesus was exalted to sit at the right hand of God. Jesus was a regular human being in regards to his appearance, anatomy, biological make up, etc. If you found a remnant of his flesh, you could map his specific, unique DNA, and it would be as that of a normal man. His "powers" of healing and miracles to perform, such as walking on water, turning water to wine, and multiplying the fish to feed more people are what many call the "Holy Spirit", the third part of the trinity. In actuality, the Holy Spirit is merely God's will being enacted on Earth, or alternatively, God's power. When God uses his power we call it the "Holy Spirit", a third entity when there are really only two entities, the Father and Son, and only one of these, the Father, is the actual monotheistic "God" YHWH.

This doesn't go over too well with Catholics, lol.

PS: The reason I briefly explained my views is because if I were to be considered for the discussion, I wouldn't want to unfairly represent ATS Christians, having views much, much different.

[edit on 10/1/2007 by runetang]

oh wow this is gonna be good, I'll be sitting on the edge of my chair for this one, I need some popcorn.

May the Force be with you. you will need about 30 people just to represent Christianity.

[edit on 7-10-2007 by LDragonFire]

Sent my info.

Can there be a date/time con-
firmation ?

Lex

Originally posted by Kacen
I hate to be a bother, but isn't the Buddhist religion an atheist religion? It has no god.

Correct me if I am wrong.

buddhisim is not a religon its is a common mistake people make for darma. buddhisim would imply you worship buddah not the case.. i wish people would get this straight before they comment on it, yeah i know that everyone calles it buddahism but they are all wrong it is in fact DARMA..

Any update on the date/time ?

I'm not a friend of my phone,
but I'd love to participate.

reply to post by DaleGribble


I hate to bust your bubble but its not spelled darma, its spelled DHAMMA, in the buddhist/taoist context. And about Buddhism, we do not 'worship' anything in Buddhism, Most buddhist sects do not believe in a God as in the Creator being, But rather Causuality, or cause and effect. Although some buddhist followers choose to believe in a creator being. Most monks and teachers of the Dhamma do not. And buddhism is called buddhism because it is based on the Teachings of Siddhartha Guatama, or the "Buddha" The awakened one. Dhamma or "darma" was taught by the Buddha. Just to clear this up.

Dave, and/or Johnny,

I've sent my info.
I've sent my number.

I've asked Dave in a U2U
for a date/time.
He said, U2U Johnny.

Johnny was off-line.

All I ask for is some type of
communication.

Both of you have my number.

At least be a gentleman, and call.

Frustrated,
Lex

It has been addressed.... THAT is why I HATE U2U's.

Dave

I'd like to remind our members that a member does not have to be online to send or receive a U2U. It's like a email (so to speak). A mass U2U was sent to those that were slated to be in all our roundtable discussions.

And yes, please let me re-emphasize the patience factor as there are many that are involved in this venture, and we are finding it difficult to find everyone to be "in tune" and on time with everyone else's schedule. We are doing the best we can (considering).

If you did not receive the mass U2U, my apologies and we thank you for your continued compassion and consideration.

In short, please U2U me... not Dave. I handle all the scheduling.

Thank You

I think no one is nominating b/c they dont want to get crucified by questions, har har :x

Is it a telephone conversation or a microphone/speaker conversation?

If microphone, I need to go cop one real quick and then I am down, otherwise I am down anyway, to represent the Arian viewpoint of Christianity. I can even give the folks the history on Arius and his unfortunate death in Constantinople. Hehe.



[edit on 10/12/2007 by runetang]

Why not read out some of the comments that you find here?

It's difficult for me to 'tune in'.

reply to post by runetang


You give us a CONFIDENTIAL PHONE NUMBER, we call you and whomever and do a CONFERENCE CALL from your TELEPHONE.

Dave

reply to post by mr-lizard


We are RADIO. We have found in the last 3 months of the ATS MIX Show that the most listened to shows have MEMBERS telling things in their OWN WORDS.

Dave