Who are your 5 Favorites on Faith, Spirituality, and Theology?

Which 5 members have enlightened you the most on Faith, Spirituality, and Theology (feel free to choose only 1 or more than 5)? Mine are kinglizard, Esoteric Teacher, queenannie38, SpeakerofTruth, and dbrandt. I am sorry for excluding others on FST, but if you believe in God, you have enlightened me. I pray heavily for atheists.

God Bless ALL in year 2007 and may this be the best year of your life!!!

[edit on 1-1-2007 by GreatTech]

I'm only going to pick three, because that's a pretty good number. I would have to say that my top picks are (in alphabetical order) queenannie, seentoomuch, and speakeroftruth. These are the three people i can say that are my favorites on FST.

also, i would like to add all of the freethinkers out there, simply because "Free thinkers are dangerous!".

queenannie38
7pan7cho7
madnessinmysoul
spines
bodrul
supercheetah

I know there are others... maybe who haven't posted in a while, but I have learned a lot from these.

kinglizard

His faith actually radiates from his posts. He alone has led me to look for answers. I had read one of his remarkable posts one day, just before heading out, and something hit me while I was out. Not really sure what it was, or what I saw, but something inside me just felt right. I felt a peace inside myself that I had never felt before. It was as if, for the first time, I was witnessing the whole picture. I was understanding that everyone had a story. A story that needed to be told. I took a strange comfort in the fact that at some point in time, I will be able to know everyone's story. Suddenly I could only see good, even in the worst of people.

I only hope that he actually understands how much he inspires some of us. I'm not sure where I fall on the scale of faith and spirituality. But thanks to king, it is something I am not ignoring.

I hadn't really given this much thought until this thread.

I suppose i have no "favorites", however i do "connect" with some members more easily than others at times.

I've pondered this question for a little while now, and it caused me to ask myself a few relevant questions. The questions I ask myself, in order to supply a response, is:

1) What are my personal expectations (short and long term goals) for being an active member on FST forum?

2) What members cause me to think about certain things more so than others?

3) Which members inspire me to be more than i believe i can be? Which members inspire me to believe i can be better than i am?

4) What member's posts act as a catalyst towards me asking questions i have never thought to ask before, or inquiry about?

Having asked myself these questions, and a few others as well, i would have to say i have no "favorites" per say.

It depends upon the mood i may be in on a particular day as to who i can reach with my ideas and interpretations, and who i am open enough with to absorb their perspective, viewpoints, and ideas and interpretations.

I can honestly say i try not to have more reverence for some over others, but "try" is the operative word. Somedays some people are more receptive to my ideas than others, and somedays i am more receptive to other peoples ideas than other days.

I give props to everyone who shares their honest opinion, and as long as they are being truthful or unselfish in their thoughts and words, they are on my list.

I have not once, no not once, ever had any member on my ignore list, nor do i ever want to put anyone on it.

I like many members, for unique reasons, but find it difficult to say i consistantly enjoy one person's posts more so than other peoples' posts. Sometimes i am thrilled when i learn a new thing from a member, in fact it may cheer me up for a week or so. Sometimes i am happy when i teach someone a new way at looking at something, or simply teach them some useless fun factoid. Other times i enjoy a healthy debate, so long as it is an "intellectually honest" debate, not where people are just calling eachother names.

So, it is difficult for me to say i have "favorites" ...... although .....

i would most certainly say QueenAnnie is someone who introduces me to alot of thoughts i find to intrigue me towards understanding even more.

And GreatTech has certainly had some thought provoking threads, and has caused me to ponder things by asking some very interesting questions.

But, I also enjoy many viewpoints, and i enjoy trying to understand other people and their intentions, and the why of their actions and behaviors. I guess I enjoy diversity too much to answer honestly, but obviously there are members on this forum whom i "connect" to a little more readily, however i strive to comprehend why people believe what they believe, devoid of my personal judgements for their stance on a subject.

I was hesitant to post on this thread, and i hope my answer supplies the reasons why.

Thanks,
john

i refuse to name 5

why?
because all people on this particular branch of BTS are equal to me
we all have our own ideas
and since this is a matter of faith, the playing field is level

queenannie38, you are a star!!! I like to say this because you frequently speak about love. Is anything more important than love? I think not.

madnessinmysoul, supercheetah, shilhud (sp?) and all the other atheists and agnostics who try to shine the light of true enlightenment and help free minds. Also Benevolentheretic, although I'm not sure where she lies on the belief spectrum, I like her stylee.

On the theist side, most definitely speaker. I like any theist who can think for themselves and work outside the constraints of organised religion. A user here mentioned the term 'spritual anarchy', methinks it is the best form of spirituality.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
i refuse to name 5

why?
because all people on this particular branch of BTS are equal to me
we all have our own ideas
and since this is a matter of faith, the playing field is level

madnessinmysoul, you are right that the "playing field is level". I just wanted to compliment a few members with this post. God would not be Perfect in Justice if He did not Love everybody equally. Personally, I care about the neediest person in the world more than any other.

tech, what i'm saying is that i appreciate everyone on this forum equally
but all for different reasons
you give me a challenge, i appreciate that
speaker, annie, and benev tend to bring voices of reason and moderation
etc

everyone is my favorite here
just for different reasons

I need to add Esoteric Teacher to my list (and there really are many others). But ET, even though I get frustrated with you sometimes, and want to :bnghd: the thing you do better than anyone else here does (for me) is make me ask myself difficult questions. You make me think.

And I hesitate to say that because I know you'll love hearing it! But there you have it. The truth. As much as I roll my eyes at your logic and sometimes assumptive 'jumps', you make me work to answer your questions and thoughts and that's very valuable to me.

So thank you, (begrudgingly)

I have learned so much from so many everywhere in life.

There are a handful here that stand out more than others and they know who they are.

[edit on 2-1-2007 by LoneGunMan]

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I need to add Esoteric Teacher to my list (and there really are many others). But ET, even though I get frustrated with you sometimes, and want to :bnghd:

You have voted Benevolent Heretic for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have one more vote left for this month.

I'm not doing this because i made your list, i am doing this because your reasoning for doing so is the same reason anyone is on my list, and the same reason i like everyone on this sight. I voted for you because of this:

... the thing you do better than anyone else here does (for me) is make me ask myself difficult questions. You make me think.

You have my vote, because you have done the same for me, more than a few times, and for making my brain both expand, and contributing to it's implosion (almost a joke).

Without people with different viewpoints, who would I learn from? Who can help me gain experience at wanting to understand other members views and perspectives, of which truth most certainly exists within their views and perspectives. Can i humble my opinion and prejudices enough to comprehend the reasoning behind the reasons for other perspectives? Well, to be honest with you Benevolent Heretic, you have contributed to me learning a new thing more than once, and a vote for way above from me is probably overdue, and has been for months.

And I hesitate to say that because I know you'll love hearing it!

It makes me feel good. To tell you the truth i often wonder how many people at least recognize and acknowledge portions of my point of view. I'm often clueless as to who thinks i'm a rambling kook, or who sees some measure of truth in what information i try to share.

But there you have it. The truth. As much as I roll my eyes at your logic and sometimes assumptive 'jumps', you make me work to answer your questions and thoughts and that's very valuable to me.

I agree with you whole heartedly. Sometimes it is a hinderance that i make assumptive jumps and educated guesses, and speculation, to get to the questions that i think have not been asked. Often in our FST thinktank experiences we get caught up on the questions we have no answer for. Although it may be a method i use too much, it does lead me to ask questions some people don't think to ask, but other members most certainly do the same, just not as often or as "far out" as me, be it good or bad. I hope this helps you understand why i skip past some questions we still are pondering the answers for, in order to progress forwards towards other questions we have not considered or pondered. Sometimes my technique provides interesting results, and sometimes i look like a weirdo. I already concede i am a weirdo. Now that we have that out of the way, we won't have to debate that in the future.

thanks,
john

Benevolent Heretic nice to know that what i have put down has helped.

for my response to this topic what can i say there are loads of people
with each persons views i have read i have scene a diffrent prospective.
something i would have shunned before

Originally posted by bodrul
Benevolent Heretic nice to know that what i have put down has helped.

for my response to this topic what can i say there are loads of people
with each persons views i have read i have scene a diffrent prospective.
something i would have shunned before

Why are such people who commit such acts considered to be affiliated with religious doctrine when their actions and behaviors are contrary to religious scriptures and teachings?

Originally posted by Esoteric Teacher
Why are such people who commit such acts considered to be affiliated with religious doctrine when their actions and behaviors are contrary to religious scriptures and teachings?

thats the message i always try and get accross to people

Everyone has a piece of the puzzle but I think anyone weather they agree or disagree has to look up to Annies (queenannie38) posts and spiritual leadership as being top notch. I love that girl and she loves everyone equally. The world could learn how world peace (whirled peas) can happen from her.

I am not going to follow a guide of a top 5. If you want my opinion, Great Tech has made more of a difference to me than many posters in the spiritual categories.

The reason why is that he does not debate whether your ideas are right or wrong, and does not force his faith on others. The others who many of you hold as being tops all have done this to others - argued points of faith about their way being right (sad to say)

To me, everyones convictions are pure and God deals with each of us on a personal level. Sometimes, a few of us might agree on some points of faith, and sometimes not, but when I see people arguing these things it makes me wonder why these people believe their ideas are true and no one elses.

I have not seen that out of Great Tech. In fact, I remember saying that his posts never left me feeling uneasy and being able to go to bed after logging off and not having a heavy heart about things in another post.

I stand by this and this is probably the one person on ATS/BTS that I would consider trustworthy and wholesome as far as I know.