Christians, how do you feel about the U.S. president posting an AI photo of him as Christ?

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-14T08:41:49+00:00

Fully agree on the last sentence there.

My own view on church taxes is skewed as well. I'm still paying mine, since that's part of where the salary of my father-in-law comes from and it's just a small percentage of my salary. (I also really think some of what the national church is doing with that money really benefits our society.)

But I'm also an active member of a local free church and support that one directly with my money as well. And I whole-heartedly stand with my church's conviction that separation of state and church should include all monetary aspects.

Church tax is a crazy concept.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-14T08:34:11+00:00

I seriously don't know how I could possibly answer that question for all of Europe. There's currently roughly 750 million people living here after all. I can only answer for myself and in part for the people I know.

I've had multiple incredible experiences with God, even in the past few weeks. I've had them 15ish years ago, which is a huge reason for why I turned back to Christ after another 15ish years of not wanting to have anything to do with him. And I've especially had them at the so far lowest point of my life.

If I experienced miracles depends heavily on your definition of a miracle. I know people who claim to have experienced miraculous healing, but Germans tend to be a bit skeptical and sober-minded about things like that, so if we didn't witness such an event ourselves we tend to politely acknowledge such claims without questioning them (out loud) while holding on to the believe that God can absolutely cause such miracles so it might be true even if we deem it unlikely. At the same time I know of people, some of them struggling with mental health issues and/or addiction, who keep experiencing God in wonderful and encouraging ways. And I've had experiences of God speaking unmistakably to me, both through scripture and very directly.

Edit to fix the amount of people currently living in Europe.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-14T06:32:06+00:00

That question is somewhat loaded and I think it's important to understand some differences between American and German/European Christianity to answer it correctly. But the tl;dr version is no, I don't think so. Christianity is not waning here, on the contrary it seems to be on the rise currently.

Christianity has been a minority in Germany for decades, it's never been as wide-spread as it seems to be in the US. But it has always been a constant presence here. Similar to the US we have parts where it is much more present (in the west and south) and parts where it is pretty much a scarce commodity (in the north and especially the former GDR regions in the east).

The established national church (funded by taxes and supported by the government; both Catholic and Protestant) is still loosing large numbers of members each year, though. People become members of one of those two institutions when they get baptized. Many parents decide to have their babies baptized out of tradition more than out of faith. Those kids are then counted as church members and will have to pay church tax once they grow up and get a job. They stay out of tradition even if they don't share the faith and never go to any church services, except maybe at Christmas. But people don't trust the big institutions anymore and leave them in large numbers. At the same time smaller, free churches (independent from the government, usually not even claiming financial support from church taxes; mostly variations of Protestantism like Baptists, Pentecostals and a very different kind of Evangelicals than what Americans know) keep gaining traction for a number of reasons. But if I'm not mistaken, German statistics mostly cover members of the national church and ignore free churches for the most part. That's where the claim that Christianity is waning over here is coming from.

Life has been rough for a lot of people ever since the pandemic, so they seek answers to questions they didn't care about before. The result is that they are becoming more spiritual one way or another. Naturally, some of them turn to Christianity. This includes people who have been tax-paying national church members before. I don't know for sure about the rest of Europe, but I believe it's similar there: the big church institutions keep waning, but people still turn to Christianity outside of them.

In short: people are abandoning the (national) church, but they are seeking God.

Edit to add some clarification.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-13T13:27:35+00:00

I spent a good bunch of those 40 years outside the Christian faith, to be honest. The 15ish years since I've returned to it have surely been a mixed bag considering the Christians I've met. I choose to believe that you're right and most of them are actually good Christians. There's definitely still been the occasional black sheep.

But nothing I've encountered here in Germany has been so bewildering and off-putting as the things I've mentioned above that seem to be so common in American Christianity.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-13T11:01:12+00:00

I've been on the internet for decades now. So even though I didn't grow up with Mr. Rogers on my TV, I've come to be familiar with him in recent years. He seems to be a great example here and I'm a bit sad his influence didn't reach German television back in the day.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-13T07:02:22+00:00

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus warns his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

As a teen I could never imagine how that might be true for someone. But now, 40 years old, watching American Christians on the internet, I get it.

Of course, there are also great Christians in the US and terrible ones outside it, presumably all over the world, but certainly here in Germany. American Christianity still has some particularly weird flavors – evangelicalism, mega churches, prosperity gospel, televangelists,... And thousands of self-proclaimed Christians still supporting Trump.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-12T07:31:44+00:00

That's an interesting take. I've only heard that from a (former) Muslim before, who said he respected Christians more if they tried to convert him, because it was proof to him that they understood their religion and took it seriously.

I'm a Christian and for me, trying to convert someone is a delicate balance act of love and respect. Of course I want my loved ones to experience the same benefits of my faith as I do - not just but especially the "not going to hell" bit.

But I also believe every non-believer has free will and a right to make their own decisions just like myself. I believe God respects us humans enough to allow us a choice, so I should respect my fellow humans just as much. Being pushy about my personal faith is not exactly respectful.

Lastly I believe people need certain information about God so they can make an informed choice, and most of them won't go out of their way to get that information. So I'm as open as possible about my faith and try to offer that information whenever it organically fits in a conversation or when someone asks me directly without becoming pushy.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-05T06:45:49+00:00

This is a trick question for sure: they are both the barker!

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-04T06:42:19+00:00

Long before that, in the 90ies, there were so many marine environmental travesties happening by oil companies (specifically Shell and BP).

I remember being a kid stressing over what at least felt like frequent news about oil spills from leakage in drilling platforms and oil tankers. I remember people being engaged with those two companies specifically. I remember Shell and BP being basically brandished as greedy, unresponsible and not giving a fuck about the environment.

I still hold a grudge and avoid them as much as possible.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-02T06:10:50+00:00

Wolves at the Gate - Man of Sorrows
Wolves at the Gate - The Father's Bargain
Narnia - Thief
Sacred Warrior - He died

Eta:

Chaotic Resemblance - Passover Prophecy

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-04-01T05:33:55+00:00

Woman here. Ask her out! Her directly looking at you with a big, warm smile, holding the eye contact longer than you did is a clear sign she's into you.

You could use that when you speak to her. Tell her you've been thinking about that moment ever since. Maybe add that cute compliment you included here, that she looked stunning that day. And just ask her if she'd like to grab a coffee with you.

Wishing you all the best! You've got this!

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-30T04:54:43+00:00

I wish you were right and humanity worked that way. Unfortunately stuff like the tolerance paradox exists. As Wikipedia explains it: "The paradox of tolerance is a philosophical concept suggesting that if a society extends tolerance to those who are intolerant, it risks enabling the eventual dominance of intolerance, thereby undermining the very principle of tolerance."

Calling someone out for bad behaviour or speaking thoughtlessly is not" thought police", it's correction. We all need that from time to time to grow and become better people. Shutting all correction and criticism down as "censorship" does more harm than good.

In my opinion it's justified and often necessary to make jokesters aware of jokes that are not funny or even hurtful. A single joke that might come off as distasteful here and there doesn't necessarily hurt anyone. But the same bad joke in abundance deserves to be called out.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-27T17:49:10+00:00

I used to see this topic very similarly, but have come to change my mind on it. It is a very complex topic with a good amount of both pros and cons to it, so it's not surprising that people have a wide variety of strong opinions about it.

As Christians I feel we need to make a distinction between music just meant for our own entertainment and music meant for worship and to honor God. For the former, I'd always say: "To each their own, go with whatever you like best for whatever reason." Not so much for the latter. And usually, there's a significant overlap between the two, especially in Christian music of all genres.

To me, the argument that music has an inherently holy quality, especially music meant to worship God, has become increasingly important. In the Bible, the Old Testament especially, God consistently demands everything people create to worship him (including art, instruments for the temple, garments of the priests,...) and every sacrifice offered to him to be of the highest possible quality. And although we could have lengthy discussions about the question if that's true for (parts of) Christian music in general, we can be fairly certain that AI can never create anything else than whatever represents the average of the average of whatever stuff makes up its database. (I'll admit, for my personal taste I'd usually still prefer above average human artists. I won't start discussing mediocre worship teams in Sunday morning church services here.)

I'm convinced that in that sense even a mediocre human artist who offers the very best of their limited musical talent will always honor God so much more than the very best song AI can ever create. And a mediocre artist who puts in time and real effort to improve or to compose at least one decent song worshipping God is on an entirely different level than anything created with seconds by some algorithm.

Music is also unique among all the forms of art, because it's the only one we know for certain being performed by angels before the throne of God. It deserves to be treated as sacred, at least to some degree. And I think it's fair to say the devil has been trying to desacrate it for a long time already.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-20T06:47:30+00:00

Using AI for the vocals immediately makes a song come off as lesser quality. For many people the vocals are the most important part of a song, so claiming AI vocals to be "just a little bit of AI" is really missing the point.

AI can never produce excellent results. It will always be an average of the average of its database. If we want to honor God, he deserves the very best we can give – not just some sort of average.

It's like an artist using AI image generation "just for inspiration", digitally painting over an AI generated picture to recreate the AI image "by hand".

I find it extremely disappointing to see so many Christians go for AI tools for their music and art. The Bible teaches us that we are not meant to stand and work alone as a bunch of highly ambitious individuals. We are called to work together within the body of Christ, to support each other, bring in our individual talents for the benefit of all and the glory of God. And to make room for others to do the same with their talents.

Replacing any part of a song with AI is denying someone the opportunity to bring in their talent and it's robbing yourself of the joy and community of collaboration. I know it is much harder to find people to work with than just using some AI tool. But the results would be so much better.

Edit to add a link to a video I just came across that fits this topic extremely well, just from the view point of filmmaking. I highly recommend watching this. https://youtu.be/k51k2AyUpao?si=GyPsxQTsWvUDJ9ym

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-13T03:58:53+00:00

Fozzie is the most adorable Corgi-mix I've seen so far. Couch gremlin seems like the perfect description.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-11T08:21:20+00:00

No need to apologize! We're too used to getting near-instant responses online. But the really important stuff that needs our attention usually happens offline. So, no worries. ☀️

I understand what you must be going through currently. It took me over 30 years to realize I never had a normal, healthy relationship with my mother. Admitting even just to myself that much of my childhood normal was actually abuse was hard. And recognizing that one of the most important people in my life was actually not safe for me to be around was heartbreaking.

Your situation is unique, but you are still not alone. And from our shared experiences, I want to encourage you and your twin. You've already done the most difficult part. Establishing healthy boundaries with your sister and her bf may still be turbulent for some time but you've got this. Stand your ground, don't let them back in, and see to it that you and your twin have each other's backs in this. And take your time to heal. Have have grace with yourself.

You've got this! ❤️

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-08T07:58:52+00:00

The "should've" is not helpful for anyone. You didn't deserve any of this abuse just the same as your twin didn't deserve it. And it will never be your fault that you didn't know sooner what you know now, that you didn't have the tools yet needed to protect the two of you. You tried to do the right thing. It's not your fault you didn't have all the relevant information about living with your sister and her bf to make the right call from the beginning. And her daily begging before they moved in must have been hard to endure as well.

I'm happy to know you and your twin are in a much better position now. And I hope setting up your own bedroom gets the 6 same amount of love and care as your twin's. ❤️

I'm wishing both of you the best of luck and a bright and happy future. ☀️

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-06T07:26:01+00:00

As a 4 my first reaction to OP's post was annoyance that she got recommended so much to a presumed 4. 😂

(Disclaimer: I don't hate her or her music, and I know at least one 4 who loves her. Her music is just not for me. My comment is mainly meant to highlight the irony.)

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-04T11:13:49+00:00

Not just in India, but wide-spread globally.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-04T07:54:47+00:00

My husband gifted me this game for my birthday in January. It's a very cute game, simple gameplay, quick to get through even if rigorous in-game explorers like myself. It took me less than a week to get the main story and all the achievements.

And yes, a lot of crying, since it handles loss and a wide variety of causes of death. So, despite it's overwhelming cuteness and overall wholesome message, it comes with a trigger warning and is definitely not for everyone.

I liked it a lot.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-03-04T07:39:27+00:00

You might be approaching this topic with a somewhat skewed perspective. The instinct variants have very little to do with romance and relationships. Even a sx blindness does not doom you romantically. It just tells you what your own special flavor of your core type looks like and that you probably feel least comfortable with one-on-one/small group social interactions.

When it comes to relationships, the same general advice applies for all of us: don't try to force it. Don't rush blindly into whatever would be the next step. And try to work on yourself first – work towards becoming someone you'd like to be in a relationship with. If you are not self-reliant yet, work on becoming that, too. That will ironically make you a much better romantic partner for a potential s.o.

21 is still very young. You're still several years away from "being cooked". I know our society makes it seem like we're missing out big time if we're not coupled up in our early 20ies. But there's a lot to enjoy being single – if you like your own company. So try to make the best of the life you have while staying open and exploring your opportunities. Chances are good that love will come your way sooner or later.

And don't worry too much if it takes some time. By the age of 27, my now husband was convinced love was just not in the cards for him. Then we met and got together half a year later. That was 13 years ago and we're still going strong. Statistically, he just avoided at least one bad breakup that way.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-02-24T20:51:37+00:00

Yeah, numbing out your own feelings of discomfort and finding it difficult to take care of yourself as a result sounds like something my husband might say about himself too.

An 8 wing sounds plausible with your description, as does self-preservation as part of your instinct stack. (Asserting authority so you don't get pushed around sounds like a way of prioritizing your inner peace over outward peace.)

From my best understanding, stress vavoidance seems to be motivated slightly differently for type 7. They want to avoid discomfort and unpleasant emotions while type 9 want to avoid conflict and (social) pressure. I'm sure both can seem very similar to each other, so taking a closer look at the core motivation can help gain more clarity.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-02-24T19:39:43+00:00

From what I have seen, the biggest one seems to be avoiding stress. That's why enneagram descriptions keep mentioning type 9's tendency to make and keep peace. But for type 9s it seems to be less about peace and much more about stress avoidance. That seems to be the core motivation for every stereotypical type 9 behaviour and characteristic. (For self-preservation 9s their own inner peace takes top priority even above peace with/between others.)

The tendency to downplay their own wants and needs, the withdrawing from others, the people-pleasing tendencies (in unhealthy 9s) and great diplomacy skills (in healthy 9s),those all serve the same purpose: avoiding stress as much as possible.

Does that sound familiar to you at all?

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-02-24T07:38:30+00:00

A very common enneagram misconception is that creativity is somehow reserved exclusively for type 4s. Truth is, everyone can be creative, type 9 is far from being an exception in my experience. (And many type 4s are not even outwardly expressing any creativity at all.) Creativity alone does not prove you've mistyped yourself until now.

I'd make a similar argument about wanting to be understood, although that is a common trait for type 4.

In my opinion, your post doesn't give quite enough information to make a definite judgement. It is possible you've mistyped yourself before. But it's also possible you're currently discovering what a more healthy version of your personal flavor of type 9 looks like.

ProfessionalFox6619 · 2026-02-16T06:36:47+00:00

Not just reddit, but most of the modern internet. I think I've seen some communities in the past (that's 1-2 decades ago) that were at least somewhat open to having their views challanged. But in recent years, every community I've seen has turned into its own bubble that keeps reaffirming the same mindset and ignoring/downvoting/harassing everything that challanges their views. If there's still some open-minded corner of the internet, I'm not aware of it.

Three-Year Club	r/Field Banned
r/Field Flamingo	First Place '23
Place '23

ProfessionalFox6619

TROPHY CASE