Hey, I'm Adroit.
Offline Hey, I made a post awhile ago but then got off the website for a few months. I go by Adroit. Not the French word but the less common English Word.
Well I was a pretty big Jesus freak for a long time of my life. I actually have a neon-green shirt that says Jesus Freak in huge letters in my closet. I need to redo my closet with some clothes i can actually wear. I think im going to buy a shirt that says "Smile 
There is no hell!" I started losing my faith around 17. I live in a small town that is primarily republican. My family owns Springfield Armory which is a very big gun manufacturing business. We have a good amount of money but my cousins are very rich. My dad got into the business later so he isn't a Co-owner. So I basically live in a small republican gun-nut area, oh there are also a lot of active catholics here to.
I think this was my main problem. It took me longer than it should have to realize how ridiculous the whole thing was. I think if i was in a normal environment i would have found it out around 11-14 yrs old. I guess if i was in a normal environment I would be an Atheist still.
Im not sure when it happened but id say i lost my faith almost a year ago.
It was a big deal to me because i was a very spiritual person, so it was a tough thing to realize.
I needed a passion to replace the passion I had for God. I didn't need it to make sense, or have purpose. I picked up gaming. I play video games. I have a team I am in and we play Team Fortress 2. I get on voice chat with them and practice and play in tournaments against other groups. There is a server company that sponsors us so i dont have to help pay for any of the servers we use. Sometimes there are people who spectate the matches and broadcast them on their website while giving live commentary. An average of about 300 views are on each one. It may be ridiculous but I enjoy it a lot, and what more reason do i need?
I don't intend on staying in the family gun-business as easy as it would be. I plan on going to college to learn computer programming. One reason is i don't think i could handle creating machines that can kill people. The second thing is I don't consider myself part of a family. I see everyone as individual people and I don't like the idea of inheritance.
So I guess that is it, i'm glad to be here and after being down about losing my faith i'm starting to see all the great things about being an atheist, and the world seems to be so much more beautiful and interesting. I think i'll start being an active member on these forums.
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"I guess if i was in a normal environment I would be an Atheist still."
I was tired, that sentence didnt make any sense. I know what I meant to say but I failed miserably.
Hi. I'm fairly new here too but let me welcome you.
Going to college is a great idea, obviously, and I hope you stick with that plan.
By the way, there are quite a few people here (not me) who collect and/or admire/use guns and pretty soon one of them may be informing you that guns don't kill people, people do
I normally don't talk that way. I guess im just pissed off about most of the community that im in that im pissed off about the business as well. You are right, It isn't a bad thing to own or make guns. I just would feel uneasy making them. I guess I shouldn't look down on it but it definitely isn't for me. My dad does sort of expect me to get into it though.
Oh also i guess you could call me a fresh mind. I recently got rid of my belief so that means I no longer am forced to act or have the morals that are in that belief.
I don't really have a character yet, I am trying now to figure out who I want to be, how i want to act, what I think is right and wrong. Some ideas may come out that are stupid like assuming that guns kill people. I really am just getting started on this thinking for myself thing. But so far I love it
.
I guess the point of me saying that is, I am very open to what people here have to say. I'm here to learn for awhile and then I will start to contribute.
Oops!
I guess I wasn't clear enough. It isn't me who own guns or supports gun ownership! Far from it!
The 'guns don't kill people, people do' argument is irrelevant to me. (lead paint doesn't poison people, people who paint with lead paint poison people! this is idiotic to me)
People with guns kill more people than people without guns. Guns are dangerous and when they are readily available a lot of bad things happen. Thousands die in accidents alone and way too many people are apparently unable to resist the instant power trip that a gun can provide when they are frustrated, angry or feeling otherwise powerless or desperate. I don't know what the answer is or what the law should be but I hate guns in a big way. We sure don't seem able to fix people so fixing guns would probably be my choice.
Someone will point out that most gun deaths are suicides. Yeah, true, 55% or more and last time I looked at the stats most of those suicides were kids 15 and younger......but, oh well, its just people killing people...a convenient easy way out and this 'freedom' must be protected, so I'm told. Freedom, freedom, freedom! So important! Unless you want to smoke marijuana or drive without a seatbelt and on and on....
Ok, sorry...lets start over...don't want your thread here to turn into a gun debate. We already have one of those.
Welcome to RRS!
Holy sh*t! Are you serious? Do you mean that your family literally owns the Springfield Armory? The 1991 A1, the M1A rifle, the XD pistols; all great firearms. Due to my current finances I can't purchase and of these magnificent firearms, but when the day comes I'll get an XD 4" model.
I am currently in college (the source of and eventual solution to all my financial problems). I highly recommend that you go to a school and get a degree in something you enjoy. Just four years ago one of my family members got a degree in Computer Science. I think it was the proudest day of her life. It took her a lot of hard work but it has payed off big time. If you are serious about this, then it will be a great choice to make to go to college.
Amen to that.
What a coincidence. My parents are not giving me an inheritance. They did not remove me from the will to be spiteful or because they do not like, the just do not believe in inheritances. They say I need to earn what I have in life. I like you view on things. I wish more people would think in terms of individuals rather than trying to lump people into homogeneous groups.
Since I lost my faith a few years ago things have been looking up for me too. The world is a pretty amazing place, even if there aren't fairies in the garden.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
British General Charles Napier while in India
Love ya Adriot, me god as YOU .... Atheism "saves" , spread this "good word" to the "four corners" of planet earth, to all the people, world citizens ....
Atheism Books.
Welcome Adroit!
In these forums you will find quite a bit of information! Take your time and look around. You say you are still trying to discover yourself....you already know yourself well enough to realize you don't believe, that is a great start.
Have fun!
Slowly building a blog at ~
http://obsidianwords.wordpress.com/
Pull up a chair; sit on the floor, admissions free; pay at the door... Tom Nix. I'm going to give credit to Tom Nix for that quote even though I can't find it on the web. I also recently heard a phrase, you are a unique individual just like everyone else. Again I couldn't find the original author.
Anyway I want to welcome you to the forums. I have always enjoyed our hunting & fishing seasons here in northern Minnesota. I have never heard of your family's company, but I have heard the saying that " guns don't kill people, people kill people. " Would a fly without wings be called a walk? Once again WELCOME !!
Vote for McCain... www.therealmccain.com ...and he'll bring Jesus back
Yeah... Its crazy... not my family as in my household, but my 2 uncles and my father are the big cheese's at Springfield Armory.
Also Nikimoto, sorry about the misunderstanding.
And Kay Cat, about the Theist thing. How serious is that theist problem?
Also, you said 'if i get a job upon graduating' Is that a hard field to find a job in?
for the first part, according to people I know in the industry, somewhere between 2/3 to 7/8ths of the industry has this problem. The hard to find jobs part depends on whether or not your lack of belief becomes common knowledge amongst the HR personnel. There are jobs available, most certainly, but assumptions on the part of HR will certainly affect whether you get a job or not.
Vote for McCain... www.therealmccain.com ...and he'll bring Jesus back
ewww
i don't mind not saying that i'm an atheist, but i wont hide it. So it'll quickly be known
I'm not trying to discourage your choice, believe it or not. I'd love to know there's more than just a handful of smart atheists in the computer services industry. I'm not too fond of Bill Gates, but if bad comes to worse, you could try Microsoft if other programming companies end up saying "We're sorry, but you don't have enough experience for this position"
Vote for McCain... www.therealmccain.com ...and he'll bring Jesus back
Bill Gates stepped down from running Microsoft. He's an atheist by the way.
I know. he's not CEO, but he still has a say in the company.
Vote for McCain... www.therealmccain.com ...and he'll bring Jesus back
The fact that he qualified it with "which is a very big gun manufacturing business" leads me to believe he's quite serious. But surely, not his nuclear family (his father isn't a "co-owner" ). My brother's a gunsmith, so I'd say I'm as impressed as you are, Jorm.
Saint Will: no gyration without funkstification.
fabulae! nil satis firmi video quam ob rem accipere hunc mi expediat metum. - Terence
how does one embed through youtube again? im so horrible -_-
Doomed Soul, yeah I need to learn this stuff too,
Go here,
http://www.rationalresponders.com/node/10655
And paste this into the search window,
"The thread on how to use this site, features, and updates"
Post 8 - How to embed a video:
When you are posting a video and you want to embed it you can do it two ways.
1. Type any text you want, then click the 'html' button in the toolbar above and paste the embed html (like from youtube) in the window.
2. Type any text you want, and paste the embed html. Then click the words below 'input format' and choose 'html'.
See post 17 for lot's more
Atheism Books.
thanks for all the responses! I do want to say that i hopefully am going to start cracking down on this summer project i have. because in 10 days im back to school. So hopefully i wont be seen on the forums so i get some work done
. for a short while
Also I probably should have been doing that project but instead I shopped the RRS badge on my Team Fortress 2 Character
and I gotta say i like it. 
I'm not a big fan of the forum environment, sometimes i like to have a group conversation but i'm more of a 1on1 guy. I'll have to adapt of course but here is some of my info, I would want you to add me just so i have some resorces if i want a little conversation about something that I don't really understand, because im definitely in the learning phase.
My MSN is [email protected] want to ask me why i have such a stupid e-mail? youll have to add me first
My AIM is Wumbo77
if anything just message me if you wouldnt mind a conversation. I just don't want to pick someone randomly if i got something on my mind.
Awesome! Welcome!
Wonderist on Facebook — Support the idea of wonderism by 'liking' the Wonderism page — or join the open Wonderism group to take part in the discussion!
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Hello and welcome Adroit.
I think it's a good thing that you have found that religion is a bunch of bovine scatos at a young age. It should definitley help in the long run, especially with your education. Another great thing about education, it doesn't try to trick you or force you to think only one way.
I say definitley go to college and learn what you want, however, don't completely discount the 'family business'. You're education and vision may be what makes the company better or takes it in a new direction.
I have to disagree with Kay Cat on her nazi assessment of the computer industry. I've been in the industry for 13 years now and have never ever once ran into anyone or had a conversation that would lead me to believe that 2/3 to 7/8 is like that. Maybe in her area where she lives it may be that way, but, not here in California.
If you know what you are doing and have some good examples of your work, you should not have a problem finding a job in the computer industry. Some companies are very degree oriented and won't even give you an interview unless you have a degree already, others don't mind so much. I think it really just depends on which 'genre' of the computer industry you want to be in.
Hi Adroit, Welcome to the forums!
Don't feel bad about taking a long time to become atheist - it took me over 27 years (okay, so the first 3 or 4 probably don't count, but you get the idea). My problem was that I knew so many intelligent people who believed in sky-daddies that I thought any questions I had were my own failing, not because that crap makes no sense. Another problem was that I knew that if I looked into those questions too much I would definitely reject the whole thing, and it was so much easier to deal with my family if I at least pretended to believe in that crap.
A big turning point for me was when I stopped studying computers (got an AAS in Computer Information Systems) and started to really study science. I was exposed to all kinds of facts about life that I had previously avoided, and came to what most people here would agree is an inescapable conclusion: There is no god!
I've never been a very spiritual person so I didn't really have to replace my religion with much (I was very active here for a while, and I think I'll get more active again), but studying science is really helping, reading up on philosophy and logic is fun and can never hurt.
On a bit of a side note, I've always loved guns! When I was in the army I qualified expert with the M-16 and the M-9 (I was in Intel so they didn't let me qualify with anything else
).
The best advice I can think to give you on filling the hole left by removing religion from your life is to interact with other people. As far as anyone can tell, the only way human life has any "point" or "reason" is in regards to other humans, so enjoy interacting with the real meaning of life!
"But still I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me!" ~Rudyard Kipling
Mazid the Raider says: I'd rather face the naked truth than to go "augh, dude, put some clothes on or something" and hand him some God robes, cause you and I know that the naked truth is pale, hairy, and has an outie
Entomophila says: Ew. AN outie
Thanks Mazid
Its been awhile since i wrote this and im feeling great now.
Time gave me room to think about why i felt so attached to God. The feeling was real despite God not being real so the more I thought about it, the more i realized what i really was attached to. It was a combination of the following. The attachment to memories of people who I know who have died. It was hope of eternal happiness. It was a feeling of a superior meaning.
So I figured out what used to fill that hole. It definitely wasn't as huge as i first thought once i figured it out. I fill it now with friendships online and in real life, and a hobby of gaming. I am meeting more people with actual characters than a group of people all focusing on being the same christian character.
At first i thought God not existing meant a purpose doesn't exist, even morals and motivation don't exist. I eventually realized the beauty of it all. I get to create my own purpose, based on my morals, and motivate myself so in the end I have been a good person, based not on hope to be rewarded after death but based on my own good-will towards a person I help.
Hi Adroit. Welcome to the RRS. I'm from England so the whole religious fundamentalism combined with gun-nuttery is an alien concept to me. For a start we aren't a very religious society and secondly guns are illegal here. I absolutely fucking hate guns, gun-culture and anything gun-related. Guns are designed to kill people, they serve no other purpose. Ok, so maybe most gun owners don't kill people, they might go down to a shooting range and shoot a target, but in that case why not only have guns in firing ranges where they can be closely monitored and kept out of harms way. Or they might keep it under their bed to protect themselves in case someone decides to break into their house. But you only need to protect yourself with a gun in a country where there are a lot of guns - get rid of the guns and you get rid of the need for a gun.
Ok, I've kinda gone on a rant there. Anyway, welcome to the forums, hope you find what you're looking for.
Atheist Books
your "rant" made a lot of sense. But some people really do enjoy guns. I dont really get it, for my grandpa its a collecting/hunting thing, my uncles like it for shooting targets. It isn't all about shooting targets but nevertheless those are good points. Yeah things are a lot different gun-wise. I've shot guns since i was a kid and i test-fire guns sometimes while at work. I don't necissarily like how easy they are to get though. I have never seen a gun used in an unsafe way in my life, and because i've been around guns so much, and i do think shooting them is kinda exhilarating, especially as part of my job. I guess i see both sides. But not enough to be against gun-control. I think more strict restrictions would be a good idea. My family would probably shoot me (lol irony) for saying that.