Greatest Historical Heroes of All Time

[OfficerSting]

Recently I read a magazine that featured a list of greatest historical heroes of all time. I got to thinking, I was wondering what other people felt about the topic.

Jesus Christ is clearly the greatest hero of all time, along with other major figures from the Bible behind him, such as Saint Paul, the apostles, Timothy, Mark, Luke, etc.,

When it comes to people not from the Bible, Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln, and Saint Augustine are also great heroes.

Does anyone else have opinions on the matter?

[Yuki-Anne]

Theodore Roosevelt was a living bear. The man deserves his own action film. Complete with living bears.

David Livingstone is one of the historical figures I have always looked up to the most. I mean, not only was the guy a missionary to Africa who fought slavery tooth and nail... he survived a lion attack. A LION ATTACK! The man was a legend... for Jesus.

I've also always looked up to Corrie Ten Boom, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who both fought back against the Nazis in their own ways, and ended up in concentration camps for it. Corrie survived. Bonhoeffer did not. But both of them displayed a great courage in the face of a terrifying government.

[Lynna]

Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, Amy Carmichel, Gladys Aylward, George Muller ...

[Yamamaya]

Eugene V Debs. The guy was all around great. His flaw was that he was a bit too optimistic. Most of you won't agree with his politics, but his positions against child labor and the 8 hour work day were later adopted by Roosevelt and other Presidents.

He was also the only man to run for President while he was in jail for protesting WWI.

Benjamin Franklin was also a pretty cool guy eh? Creates electricity and doesn't afraid of anything.

[Sheol777]

Theodore Roosevelt was a living bear. The man deserves his own action film. Complete with living bears.

I agree, and so does Hollywood:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480046/

Benjamin Franklin was also a pretty cool guy eh? Creates electricity and doesn't afraid of anything.

Sooooo much win in this sentence.

Also:

Nikola Tesla- Are you kidding me? This guy was a genius, interesting, and a non-conformist. Possibly a little touched as well.

Jack Churchill - Please read the link because I will not do this man justice. A Scotsman that fought in WWII, with a Claymore and barbed arrows. He played the bagpipes while hurling grenades. He captured 42 Germans using ONLY said sword.

Martin Luther King, Jr.- He did so much good for this country, and went about it the right way.

[armeck]

blink 182 for giving us pop punk. dc talk for proving christians can make good music. Jonas altberg (basshunter) for proving people can overcome Tourettes. Lauren Cunningham for founding one of the largest missions organizations in the world. probably no one else here would see these people as heroes, but they are to me

[Sammy Boy]

I think Sun Yat-Sen deserves a mention:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yatsen

A Christian and Chinese political leader, held in high esteem by both Taiwan and mainland China.

[Peanut]

I think John Rankin deserves a note for being an abolitionist, Christian, and all around good guy.

[Furen]

DC talk for proving christians can make good music.

AGREED! I also say the Newsboys, TFK, and many others share this point alongside DC Talk

[Radical Dreamer]

blink 182 for giving us pop punk. dc talk for proving christians can make good music.

AGREED! I also say the Newsboys, TFK, and many others share this point alongside DC Talk

The Beatles. 8(


Also,

[Nate]

Fredrick Douglass. If you don't know who he is, go look him up or a pox upon you.

[rocklobster]

I agree, Nate. Here's some great historical Christians:
Maximillian Kolbe: Catholic priest who died in Auschwitz. He even took someone else's place.
Joan of Arc: Oh come on! No one's listed her yet? She was so cool!
St. George: OK, I know he probably never actually slayed a dragon, but I still think he's cool.
St Francis Xavier: Gotta give props for the closest thing we Christians have to a samurai.

[armeck]

AGREED! I also say the Newsboys, TFK, and many others share this point alongside DC Talk

yes the newsboys to, the newsboys, dc talk, audio adrenaline and jars of clay founded the christian contemporary genre, and dc talk is the largest contemporary artist ever, and had several most played songs on secular rock stations.

and being an american i do believe Gorge washington deserves to be called a hero

[OfficerSting]

Other people of note in my book:

Constantine I

Ronald Reagan (you may not agree with his politics, but telling Soviet Russia to tear down the Berlin wall was a very bold move)

James Madison

Thomas Jefferson

Winston Churchill

Elizabeth I

Saint Patrick

C.S. Lewis

[Shao Feng-Li]

Theodore Roosevelt, Stonewall Jackson, George Patton, John Knox, Martin Luther... There's more, but these guys just popped into my head.

[TopazRaven]

Oh wow, I don't know, um...I've always considered these guys and girls heros.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fredrick Douglass
George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Thomas Jefferson
John F. Kennedy
Benjamin Franklin
Mother Teresa
Joan of Arc
Queen Elizabeth I
King Alfred the Great
Rosa Parks
Harriet Tubman
Lydia Litvyak
Katya Budanova
Winston Churchill
Emperor Constantine I
Saint Patrick
Saint Maximilian Kolbe
Saint Francis Xavier
Florence Nightingale
Amy Carmichael
Hans Oster
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Corrie Ten Boom
Oskar Schindler

And I think that's it for now. A lot of you listed most of these people anyway. xD

[Lynna]

Joan of Arc: Oh come on! No one's listed her yet? She was so cool!

I mentioned Her!

[Yamamaya]

James Brown.

Famous abolitionist that tried to start a slave revolt. He got hanged but went out like a BA.

Alfred the Great makes me rage because I'm Danish, but he was a pretty cool guy.

[TopazRaven]

Alfred the Great makes me rage because I'm Danish, but he was a pretty cool guy.

Lol, sorry. I just thought he was a pretty awesome dude. You're Danish? That's awesome. 0.o

[Yamamaya]

Lol, sorry. I just thought he was a pretty awesome dude. You're Danish? That's awesome. 0.o

Well part Danish at least.

VIKING RAGE.


Queen Margaret I of Denmark was pretty awesome. She formed the Kalmar Union which united the Scandinavian countries.

Canute the Great was cool as well. It's funny that he was turned into a bishie by the historical manga Vinland saga.

[TopazRaven]

Well part Danish at least.

VIKING RAGE.


Queen Margaret I of Denmark was pretty awesome. She formed the Kalmar Union which united the Scandinavian countries.

Canute the Great was cool as well. It's funny that he was turned into a bishie by the historical manga Vinland saga.

Whoo at Hetalia Denmark!!! xD Your so lucky. My ancestry is German, Dutch, Irish and English. As far as I know in least. I kind of lost track and wow, getting off topic here. I've heard of Margaret I before, she sounded interesting. I'll have to look up Canute the Great. xD

[Nate]

I dunno. I'd feel terrible about listing anyone like George Washington or Martin Luther on a list of heroes. I mean I know everyone is sinful, none of us are perfect, but...putting blatant racists on a list of heroes...I don't think racism is very heroic. I mean they may have done great things but to me racists don't deserve to be heroes. My opinion though.

[TopazRaven]

George Whashington was racist? Shows how much I know about American History then doesn't it?

[Nate]

I consider anyone who owned slaves a racist, yes.

[Davidizer13]

Andrew Jackson. He may have been in >100 duels, he won a battle after the war was over, and he beat an assassin with his cane when he was in his seventies. Pretty awesome guy in his actions; too bad about the Trail of Tears and his beliefs on race, though.

Galileo Galilei - Discovering Jupiter's moons, proving that planets were in motion, taking on the major political and scientific organization of the day both through satire and directly, and showing that science and religion could coexist successfully? Yup, that guy was awesome.

Marcel Duchamp - Salvador Dali, as played by a prankster; a troll of the art world. He made incomprehensible, intentionally meaningless art to satirize the art of his time through the genre known as Dada, and people took it seriously - more than that, they liked it, so much so that they made their own. Successful troll is successful.

[MasterDias]

I guess I'll mention Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein since I don't see them on anyone else's lists.

I consider anyone who owned slaves a racist, yes.

Washington disliked slavery and arranged to free all his slaves in his will. Not really what I would consider a "blatant racist." And I don't think historians generally take that position. At worst, Washington was really only influenced by the culture of his day. Like a lot of people back then. And he had other major priorities that took up a good portion of his time...

[TopazRaven]

Yeah, I didn't even really know Whashington had slaves. It's been a long time since I've studied American history and I have a bad memory.

[Midori]

Woah, let's not take this discussion this direction, okay? This is not supposed to be a political argument. Back to heroes please.

EDIT: I've changed my mind a little. It's okay to discuss the imperfections of those we consider heroes a bit, but if it gets ugly I will ask you to stop.

[Cognitive Gear]

Honestly, I don't think that we should be at all surprised that someone from the 18th century is racist. Everyone from that time period was racist, even those that fought to get rid of slavery.

As Newton said, "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." We are only aware of this as a moral issue because of the progress of those that came before us.

Anyways, a couple of my heroes are:

Mohandas Gandhi- An influential and world changing non-violent civil-rights activist. He is also very much responsible for keeping me in Christ. His rather famous quote, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ" was the single thing that caused me to look at Christ and Christianity with fresh, new eyes. Prior to that I was ready to walk away forever.

Martin Luther King Jr.- Lead a successful non-violent resistance to racial injustice in the United States. I don't think there is a whole lot else to say.

[Nate]

I'm not surprised by it, I'm just saying it's still wrong.

I'm not denying he did great things. I just don't consider him a hero. You can do great things without being a hero.

But still, like I said, my opinion. You're free to disagree.