Comments for Deon Barnard http://www.deonbarnard.net Atheistic ideas about everyday life Tue, 29 May 2012 15:07:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 Comment on How a pastor became an atheist by Deon Barnard http://www.deonbarnard.net/how-a-pastor-became-an-atheist/comment-page-1/#comment-798 Deon Barnard Tue, 29 May 2012 15:07:17 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/how-a-pastor-became-an-atheist/#comment-798 Tiens, I am full of awe and wonder about the universe I live in and really don't need any advice on personal freedom which I enjoy more than most believers. Your experiences don't demonstrate God at all, simply blind chance. When bad things happened to you it was cause and effect, and when good things happened to you it was equally cause and effect. Nothing you're saying is evidence for God. Tiens, I am full of awe and wonder about the universe I live in and really don’t need any advice on personal freedom which I enjoy more than most believers. Your experiences don’t demonstrate God at all, simply blind chance. When bad things happened to you it was cause and effect, and when good things happened to you it was equally cause and effect. Nothing you’re saying is evidence for God.

]]> Comment on How a pastor became an atheist by Tiens http://www.deonbarnard.net/how-a-pastor-became-an-atheist/comment-page-1/#comment-797 Tiens Tue, 29 May 2012 07:42:45 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/how-a-pastor-became-an-atheist/#comment-797 Haai Deon, Jammer dat jy nie die lig kan sien nie. Ek werk al vir die laaste 16 jaar orals oor in Afrika. Ek besoek geen kerk nie. Maar weet jy ou maat, God is met my orals oor. Ek was al in burger oorloe waar mense om my heen gesterf het. God se hand het my beskerm. Maak oop jou oe en kyk net na die natuur rondom jou. Evolusie? Nee maat God is in jou en oral rondom jou. Maak jou hart oop en glo! Mediteer en vra jou vrae. Jy sal elke antwoord vind in jou self. Die antwoord is daar glo my! As jy soek vir rykdom en weelde gaan jy dit nie vind nie. As jy soek vir innerlike vrede, rykdom van gees en n rede hoekom jy op hierdie aarde is GAAN jy dit vind. Die geheim is word stil. Mediteer en jy sal vind. Wonder bo wonder. Elke dag n nuwe openbaring! GOD is almagtig! Haai Deon,

Jammer dat jy nie die lig kan sien nie. Ek werk al vir die laaste 16 jaar orals oor in Afrika. Ek besoek geen kerk nie. Maar weet jy ou maat, God is met my orals oor. Ek was al in burger oorloe waar mense om my heen gesterf het. God se hand het my beskerm. Maak oop jou oe en kyk net na die natuur rondom jou. Evolusie? Nee maat God is in jou en oral rondom jou. Maak jou hart oop en glo!
Mediteer en vra jou vrae. Jy sal elke antwoord vind in jou self. Die antwoord is daar glo my! As jy soek vir rykdom en weelde gaan jy dit nie vind nie. As jy soek vir innerlike vrede, rykdom van gees en n rede hoekom jy op hierdie aarde is GAAN jy dit vind. Die geheim is word stil. Mediteer en jy sal vind. Wonder bo wonder. Elke dag n nuwe openbaring! GOD is almagtig!

]]> Comment on How to subscribe to your favourite podcast in Itunes… for dummies by Downloads 2012 http://www.deonbarnard.net/how-to-subscribe-to-your-favourite-podcast-in-itunes%e2%80%a6-for-dummies/comment-page-1/#comment-765 Downloads 2012 Sat, 19 May 2012 21:44:29 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/how-to-subscribe-to-your-favourite-podcast-in-itunes%e2%80%a6-for-dummies/#comment-765 <strong>Downloads 2012...</strong> [...]Deon Barnard » Blog Archive » How to subscribe to your favourite podcast in Itunes… for dummies - Atheistic ideas about everyday life[...]... Downloads 2012…

[...]Deon Barnard » Blog Archive » How to subscribe to your favourite podcast in Itunes… for dummies – Atheistic ideas about everyday life[...]…

]]> Comment on “Don’t generalize; we’re not all like that!” by chandra http://www.deonbarnard.net/%e2%80%9cdon%e2%80%99t-generalize-we%e2%80%99re-not-all-like-that%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-763 chandra Tue, 15 May 2012 03:15:55 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/%e2%80%9cdon%e2%80%99t-generalize-we%e2%80%99re-not-all-like-that%e2%80%9d/#comment-763 I believe in Jesus and i will keep this faith:)) I believe in Jesus and i will keep this faith:))

]]> Comment on What’s it all about? by JP de Kreek http://www.deonbarnard.net/whats-it-all-about/comment-page-1/#comment-761 JP de Kreek Fri, 11 May 2012 11:54:53 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/whats-it-all-about/#comment-761 Dion, I could not agree with you more you and I are alike in the way we see and perceived situations. Society does by far condition and define but only because it it society itself who judge. To may people spent their lives working for things they never get to use because they are too busy working to pay for it all. We are conditioned to think this way. CAT Stevens..from the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen...be it our first day of school, work, military, married life these are all things we are told have to happen..and if we do not there will be consequence's but I do not believe. Corporations and banks no matter how we see it, It is fact they dictate who we are because without a monetary society there is true equality..They rule because they control the machines that print money. they place a value on it, without money in today's world we die! Your a slave to the money then you die is one of the best lines ever. We as people are forced to rely on Banks and Building societies...In order for you to own a piece of the very land your forefathers fraught for you need to lend and prove that you are good enough by having previously lent. Yet when their system fails OMG do one because they will take everything you have.... Dion, I could not agree with you more you and I are alike in the way we see and perceived situations. Society does by far condition and define but only because it it society itself who judge. To may people spent their lives working for things they never get to use because they are too busy working to pay for it all. We are conditioned to think this way. CAT Stevens..from the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen…be it our first day of school, work, military, married life these are all things we are told have to happen..and if we do not there will be consequence’s but I do not believe. Corporations and banks no matter how we see it, It is fact they dictate who we are because without a monetary society there is true equality..They rule because they control the machines that print money. they place a value on it, without money in today’s world we die! Your a slave to the money then you die is one of the best lines ever. We as people are forced to rely on Banks and Building societies…In order for you to own a piece of the very land your forefathers fraught for you need to lend and prove that you are good enough by having previously lent. Yet when their system fails OMG do one because they will take everything you have….

]]> Comment on Fine Weather Friends by Cathy Wagner http://www.deonbarnard.net/fine-weather-friends/comment-page-1/#comment-760 Cathy Wagner Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:28:15 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/fine-weather-friends/#comment-760 Deon, you are SO right! When I started being open about my atheism, I had so-called friends shout me down with their poorly thought out arguments for religion, and refuse to give me a chance to present my arguments in the spirit of mutual understanding. To those people I say, I'm tired of arguing. If they don't like me the way I am they can delete me from their contact list, and unfriend me with pleasure.... To be honest, I've already unfriended them! I will spend my time and energy on people with whom I can hold an intelligent conversation! Deon, you are SO right!

When I started being open about my atheism, I had so-called friends shout me down with their poorly thought out arguments for religion, and refuse to give me a chance to present my arguments in the spirit of mutual understanding.

To those people I say, I’m tired of arguing. If they don’t like me the way I am they can delete me from their contact list, and unfriend me with pleasure…. To be honest, I’ve already unfriended them!

I will spend my time and energy on people with whom I can hold an intelligent conversation!

]]> Comment on The “timeline” myth by lyndon http://www.deonbarnard.net/the-%e2%80%9ctimeline%e2%80%9d-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-720 lyndon Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:42:47 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/?p=152#comment-720 Most people around the world, live their lives in an almost silent desperation, which I think you've briefly touched on. The foundations upon which their lives rest, are generally determined by the social system where they are born and also heavily influenced by how they are socialised in to this world. Yet, more fundamental to this, is indeed the first of all relationships that one develops and that is the one that one holds with themselves. Consciousness, as we call it, in language, which is in itself very rudimentary unless you have a vast vocabulary and the means to express it, quite weird in its own way. A notion, I do believe, is either developed or thrust upon most people, and that is one which leaves them feeling as if they're an alien species on a planet inhabited by several other creatures of lesser "intelligence" and importance than themselves, instead of being one of many, with perhaps the greatest of all responsibilities. To care for this planet. Ironically enough for us to achieve this, and care for everything else around us, we need as a species or race, to care for each other. However under which ambit will this be done? Religion? For many that has failed, yet to mock it, is a little childish, I feel. I consider atheists who behave like fundamentalists, equally as gullible of buying in to their own mantra as those they mock. The sun, we might imagine is not jealous of the moon and vice versa. They simply exist or coexist. They also in context to one another, as part of an expressive whole. Religion to me is as naturally occurring as the tides or stars, yet I do not worship either. I don't look at the physics either of them and regard those descriptions with any more aggrandisement than the precepts of any one religion. Whatever exists or we perceive as existing is natural. What we decide to do with it, is something else. If we base our lives in the tides as they flow, we are making as much sense to do the same with laws or rules given by an organisation that is meant to determine our "spiritual wellbeing" - rather nonsensical to say the least. Anyway, I am digressing. I do believe that we have all the opportunity to make choices at least about our attitudes and then what circumstances we may find ourselves in, regardless of whether or not we are slaves or slavemasters, we cannot be robbed of our dignity. Without that we are nothing. If we cannot face life, regardless of the situation without some heart, we are lost, not to others, but to ourselves and therein lies a whole world waiting to be explored of depravity, violence and disorder. That sort of chaos can only destroy, instead of create. So perhaps, we are here to create the world we want to live in and find that we are indeed the source of what is commonly called "God" - the creative. That's me for now. Most people around the world, live their lives in an almost silent desperation, which I think you’ve briefly touched on. The foundations upon which their lives rest, are generally determined by the social system where they are born and also heavily influenced by how they are socialised in to this world. Yet, more fundamental to this, is indeed the first of all relationships that one develops and that is the one that one holds with themselves. Consciousness, as we call it, in language, which is in itself very rudimentary unless you have a vast vocabulary and the means to express it, quite weird in its own way. A notion, I do believe, is either developed or thrust upon most people, and that is one which leaves them feeling as if they’re an alien species on a planet inhabited by several other creatures of lesser “intelligence” and importance than themselves, instead of being one of many, with perhaps the greatest of all responsibilities. To care for this planet. Ironically enough for us to achieve this, and care for everything else around us, we need as a species or race, to care for each other. However under which ambit will this be done? Religion?

For many that has failed, yet to mock it, is a little childish, I feel. I consider atheists who behave like fundamentalists, equally as gullible of buying in to their own mantra as those they mock. The sun, we might imagine is not jealous of the moon and vice versa. They simply exist or coexist. They also in context to one another, as part of an expressive whole. Religion to me is as naturally occurring as the tides or stars, yet I do not worship either. I don’t look at the physics either of them and regard those descriptions with any more aggrandisement than the precepts of any one religion. Whatever exists or we perceive as existing is natural. What we decide to do with it, is something else. If we base our lives in the tides as they flow, we are making as much sense to do the same with laws or rules given by an organisation that is meant to determine our “spiritual wellbeing” – rather nonsensical to say the least.

Anyway, I am digressing.

I do believe that we have all the opportunity to make choices at least about our attitudes and then what circumstances we may find ourselves in, regardless of whether or not we are slaves or slavemasters, we cannot be robbed of our dignity. Without that we are nothing. If we cannot face life, regardless of the situation without some heart, we are lost, not to others, but to ourselves and therein lies a whole world waiting to be explored of depravity, violence and disorder. That sort of chaos can only destroy, instead of create.

So perhaps, we are here to create the world we want to live in and find that we are indeed the source of what is commonly called “God” – the creative.

That’s me for now.

]]> Comment on 3 Reasons to turn off the TV by Brett Melton http://www.deonbarnard.net/3-reasons-to-turn-off-the-tv/comment-page-1/#comment-656 Brett Melton Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:49:15 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/?p=141#comment-656 I agree with Deon. I learn a lot from Yahoo, YouTube, Wikipedia and other great sources. I just wish being on computers all day could be my job :) Brett Melton Home is Here: (<a href="http://www.brett-melton.com/washington-illinois/" rel="nofollow">washington il photos</a>) I agree with Deon. I learn a lot from Yahoo, YouTube, Wikipedia and other great sources. I just wish being on computers all day could be my job :)

Brett Melton
Home is Here: (washington il photos)

]]> Comment on 3 Reasons to turn off the TV by Lyndsey L http://www.deonbarnard.net/3-reasons-to-turn-off-the-tv/comment-page-1/#comment-655 Lyndsey L Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:39:22 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/?p=141#comment-655 Sometimes, I need to just read because too much television warps my brain. Plus mostly what you read in books is more educational than movies and t.v. shows. right? Anyways, Reading is very healthy and I love it. Lyndsey L Physician Recruiter (<a href="http://www.adkissonconsultants.com/physician-recruiters.cfm" rel="nofollow">Physician Recruiting</a>) Sometimes, I need to just read because too much television warps my brain. Plus mostly what you read in books is more educational than movies and t.v. shows. right? Anyways, Reading is very healthy and I love it.

Lyndsey L
Physician Recruiter
(Physician Recruiting)

]]> Comment on “Don’t generalize; we’re not all like that!” by Dianne http://www.deonbarnard.net/%e2%80%9cdon%e2%80%99t-generalize-we%e2%80%99re-not-all-like-that%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-648 Dianne Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:20:31 +0000 http://www.deonbarnard.net/%e2%80%9cdon%e2%80%99t-generalize-we%e2%80%99re-not-all-like-that%e2%80%9d/#comment-648 The only reply to the rather tepid claim that “Not all Catholics are bad”, or, “Not all Catholics abuse children” is yes, that is true. The same argument applies to Muslims, Scientologists, astrologers, homeopaths, chess players, Secular Humanists, Marxists, Julius Malema supporters, people with tattoos and jazz lovers. Policies, however, that both officially and in practice deliberately discourage or impede the investigation of child abuse or increase the chances of individuals contracting life threatening diseases are bad. In fact, they are not just bad, they are despicable (I´d love to say diabolical but that would just be evil). Perhaps we should ask our not-all-catholics-are-bad counterparts to examine the tradeoff they are receiving for their loyalty to an institution that is clearly guilty of such a charge. The only reply to the rather tepid claim that “Not all Catholics are bad”, or, “Not all Catholics abuse children” is yes, that is true. The same argument applies to Muslims, Scientologists, astrologers, homeopaths, chess players, Secular Humanists, Marxists, Julius Malema supporters, people with tattoos and jazz lovers.

Policies, however, that both officially and in practice deliberately discourage or impede the investigation of child abuse or increase the chances of individuals contracting life threatening diseases are bad. In fact, they are not just bad, they are despicable (I´d love to say diabolical but that would just be evil).

Perhaps we should ask our not-all-catholics-are-bad counterparts to examine the tradeoff they are receiving for their loyalty to an institution that is clearly guilty of such a charge.

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