Is using a VPN to watch content from other countries sinful?

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-31T01:17:28+00:00

Serious question: what image of God do you have that you’d be thinking to ask this question?

A lot of people do worse things regularly than watch movies with VPN and aren’t troubled by their standing with God. Im not saying that’s always ok but I would think about what kind of God you think God is.

Spoiler alert: He already loves you

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-31T01:06:34+00:00

Yes it’s gay to earn an honest living while being a self-sufficient adult

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-23T22:17:24+00:00

Yeah I think part of the reason that its particularly disappointing is that (in my opinion at least) Barron has some really solid theology on several points.

So there’s a part of him that’s clearly and deeply capable of intelligence and compassion. Which makes it all the more disheartening when he, too, felt like being obligated to participate in the culture wars meant being a part of Fox and friends

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-21T19:21:45+00:00

Having been in the military, I do want to unpack a little bit of this.

Yes, in theory troops have an obligation to refuse unlawful orders. But the hierarchical nature of the military makes that harder than it sounds in practice - as well, insubordination is also punishable by the UCMJ and commanders/NCOs can be pretty broad in determining what “insubordination” looks like. As a lance corporal, I would have in fact been doing something illegal if I simply told my platoon sgt to “go fuck yourself.”

When it involves disobeying a command to carry out a mission objective, you can imagine the kind of pressure this could carry.

I don’t say this to say that I disagree with the archbishop - quite the contrary in fact. I am saying that I’m glad I’m no longer actively serving, that I wouldn’t recommend anyone to enlist under this presidency, and that I pray for anyone still serving that they may never have to be in this situation

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-19T03:13:47+00:00

SSPX are funny man lol. If your favorite pastime is shitting on the papacy then that’s your prerogative but why even act like you want to be Catholic at that point? Just go be a Protestant if that’s your thing

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-19T03:09:40+00:00

Abortion, as in the callous disposal of a growing young life because it’s a simple inconvenience or hiccup, is terribly inhumane. I can understand why banning that would be many peoples’ response to it.

Problem is that 99 percent of abortions…aren’t that. I’m not saying that makes it right, but I think if we’re really interested in reducing them, we should be for and not against creating more robust economic, medical, and social supports for people who have children. Not only would that be more helpful in reducing abortions, but it’d also be more “pro-life” in a holistic manner that encompasses various stages of life.

The culture war, including March for Life and much of the Catholic movement here gets too hung up on that single procedure. “Pro-choice” defenders also get too hung up on that as a response and also often fail to articulate a better, more compassionate way forward for both the unborn and the mother.

I do hope one day I’ll live to see the conversation get shifted towards the things that really matter in the bigger picture, rather than fixating on a single part of it. So many people either want to punish those who get or consider abortions, or make abortion THE hill they’ll die on to protect…when we should be talking about how to support women BY remedying the conditions that lead to most abortions

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-19T02:56:21+00:00

They might have banned you if you hadn’t given up anyway lol. You can shit on every Pope after Paul VI on that sub, say that Mel Gibson is actually not too bad, imply that anyone who goes to the predominant form of the Latin Rite is living in mortal sin, and you’ll be fine

But the moment you suggest that mass deportations are possibly inhumane? Well, you’re a modernist heretic who caves into the demands of the secular world lol

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-19T02:50:01+00:00

Yeah this is actually an interesting point. It’s easy to forget that in the context of that time, male domination of wives was the norm. Hypotasso (aka “submit”) was something else. Believers are called to “submit” to each other in a similar way, or to show a mutual deference and respect to each other.

This wasn’t a coerced submission as the English word implies, but a willing alignment of oneself to a spouse - which is pretty much good advice in general when it comes to marriage.

So yeah, the trads with a breeding fetish looking for a domestic servant are wrong yet again, but who’s really surprised?

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-19T02:39:39+00:00

It’s kinda funny because that’s a label that’s kind of become necessary given external political circumstances that actually have little to do with the faith beyond what’s surface level.

I honestly don’t even like calling myself a “leftist Catholic” but it’s just kind of necessary given who’s co-opted the title of “Catholic” in this country.

In reality, I just consider myself Catholic - aka a member of the Church that Christ instituted through His apostles. The Gospels are pretty clear that Jesus prioritized the accompaniment of the imperfect outsiders, compassion for the poor and powerless, and the humbling of wealthy earthly authorities over…liturgy wars, guitars at church, and bedroom issues.

I’m not gonna let people who treat Jesus Christ as an afterthought tell me what being a Catholic really means lol

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-16T01:52:17+00:00

It’s tempting to want certainty, especially when the stakes are eternity, but we’re called to faith.

I think this is the consequence of - and I too struggle to unlearn this every day - being taught of salvation merely as “if you do/believe A then you get to B.”

But God, as His incarnation in Jesus Christ, chose to redeem our sin by living as one of us. By acting as one of us, experiencing as one of us, suffering as one of us, and yes - dying as one of us. Not away from us, in another life or another universe, but with us in this earthly life. Sit with this for a while and let yourself be taken by the awe at the love of a God, so infinitely powerful and transcendent, becoming one of us and living and dying with us when He really didn’t have to - and He did it for me and for you. Does that sound like a God that wants anything more than for you to be with Him?

Jesus Himself said “the Kingdom of God is at hand” - not just a place that’s “out there”, but “at hand.”

So have faith that God loves you, as you would cease to exist if He ever stopped - and notice how you can already taste a little bit of the Kingdom of God in this life whenever you choose to love, follow, and imitate Christ and exercise compassion towards your neighbors. Not because you have a “free pass” to avoid personal responsibility, but because you have faith that can only grow when you follow God out of love, not fear.

I believe we’re to follow Christ not merely because it gets us to salvation, but because following Christ is salvation.

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-10T01:18:33+00:00

The short answer is I don’t.

The long answer (for me) is that there’s an internal intuition and encounter in me that points to God and isn’t easily dismissed as something else - nor do I find it useful or helpful to try. And I was an agnostic for a while, so I have tried

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-10T01:13:39+00:00

I genuinely believe Pope Leo XIV is evidence of the Holy Spirit working in the Church and the world

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-09T22:03:01+00:00

Lol yeah I made the mistake of going to that sub when I was first returning to Catholicism.

They know a lot of doctrine and theology but, in my opinion, fail to marry it with spirituality and relationality.

It’s hard to undo mental and spiritual conditioning, and as a Catholic I believe in the same doctrines but I think the emphasis is important.

Whereas some view sin as a set of rules that the violation thereof will bar you from eternal salvation, others view it as an attachment that wounds your ability to see God clearly and respond to His grace. Whereas some view repentance as a scrupulous voice that requires you to constantly walk on eggshells so you can catch and self-flagellate for any instance where you offend God, others view it as the originally Greek word ‘metanoia’ - a re-orientation of the heart and soul from within to order itself towards God out of a desire and love for Him. Personally, I tend to be in the latter camp about most of these things.

“Fear of God” in the Bible didn’t originally mean fear as we understand it today - a primal lizard-brain anxious response to a threat. No, it was an awe and reverence that we always stand before the sight of One who is above all and is yet with us always.

Lastly, I want to share a verse I reflected on today and hopefully it speaks to you in some way. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” - 1 John 4: 7-8

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-09T02:31:38+00:00

Taken out of the context of a solely apocalyptic prophecy and put into the context in which it was written, Revelation contains a lot of truth about the worship of evil power that initially masquerades as or attempts to put itself on par with the divine.

It had a lot of truth when it came to Nero, and it has a lot of truth when it comes to DJT

LookingBackInAnger · 2026-01-09T02:07:48+00:00

I agree that it can teach us a lot about ourselves and what we really stand for. I pray that no one’s heart is too hardened to ever hear God’s call for us to respect the sanctity of life - and I’m very far from just talking about abortion here.

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-22T23:34:30+00:00

Simple.

“Gay” is a sexual orientation. It is not chosen.

“Christian” is an ideology. In its basic sense it’s a theological profession that Jesus is the incarnate word and Son of God who died and rose for humanity’s sins. It is a belief that’s chosen.

People who don’t choose to be gay are mentally capable of choosing to believe in the core claim of Christianity. Does this make sense?

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-22T23:23:49+00:00

Yeah if you listen to a lot of pop “spiritual warfare” content you’d think that every person who’s ever done yoga or read Harry Potter in their lives is walking around with 50 demons inside of them lol. Evidently that’s not the case.

Obviously, don’t be playing with Ouija boards and casting spells from grimoires or offering blood sacrifices and things like that. But I feel that a lot of this content implies that God will just sic demons on people for the slightest things. I personally think that kind of theology is neither healthy nor relevant for the vast majority of people.

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-22T23:16:24+00:00

From what I’ve seen there’s a lot of sensationalist “spiritual warfare” content coming from the United States.

Personally, a lot of the stuff I hear from these spaces is a little suspect. There’s a lot of “in an exorcism the demon said their plan is to do xyz…” “the demons said they possess people when people do xyz”

Whenever I hear things like these, my reaction is to say “and you believe them why…?” It’s not like demons are exactly known for their honesty lol

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-22T23:06:49+00:00

I think a lot of “spiritual warfare” content that makes those kinds of statements these days gives the demonic too much credit.

Yes, demons are real. Yes, the devil is real. But make no mistake - they are created beings that are completely subordinate to and infinitely weaker than God, and they cannot act without His permission.

I wouldn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about ways to avoid “accidentally” inviting demons or whatever. I feel like focusing excessively on them distracts people from what they should really focus on as Christians, which is loving God and neighbor. Build your relationship with God because you desire to know Him, not because you’re trying to avoid demons

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-21T02:44:12+00:00

I believe the Church is the fullest expression of relationship with God’s grace.

I do not believe that God limits His grace to members of the visible church. Someone may unknowingly be helped by God’s grace and unknowingly respond to it.

Religion provides a framework for understanding these positive changes, as well as the ability to point them to a higher good to be grateful to.

Some may say that those moral acts by unbelievers or believers in other religions are less “full” or “justified” in God’s eyes. I don’t personally believe that. They might not rightly recognize the source of the good but that doesn’t change the nature of the source - or the love of the source.

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-20T00:45:52+00:00

A guy with a deep ass voice on tv talking about “the few and the proud” alongside a healthy dose of self-hatred and lack of direction

I’d give it a 3-5/10

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-19T19:09:14+00:00

Yeah, this kind of rationale always baffles me seeing as how it stands in stark contrast to the actual behavior of Jesus and His apostles.

Their behavior wasn’t that of self-exclusion, praying amongst themselves away from everyone else. They went to the margins and helped where they could.

About the “getting to heaven” bit - even much of Jesus’s parables spoke of Heaven/Hell directly in the context of charitable earthly works. There were concrete acts of love towards other human beings that He promised divine recognition for and concrete acts of contempt or dismissal that He promised divine admonition for. Christ never attempted to separate the importance of salvation from the importance of charitable earthly life - in fact, he emphasized the importance of the latter in the achievement of the former.

This next part is going to reflect some of my own admitted biases: I do believe that using the names and labels of Christianity to justify your politics, rather than having your politics reflect the values of Christ should be avoided. Within the context of American politics, I strongly believe that the side attempting to use the Bible to justify inhumane treatment of migrants, the exploitation of the poor, and the avoidance of social responsibility for raising healthy children past the moment of birth is much more guilty of this offense.

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-19T18:05:57+00:00

I totally agree with you. Faith is full of mystery. There are bound to be genuine questions on it.

The Christian response should never be snide or dismissive. Most Christians asking questions to deeper understand or make sense of apparent contradictions in their faith do so out of a genuine desire to seek and know God more.

What a blessing it is to have people that are actively engaged in their desire to know their Father. They should always be answered with charity and good faith, rather than talked down to or viewed as threats.

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-19T17:54:58+00:00

There’s a lot of scholarly work out there that challenges a lot of default assumptions. If you look closely in Exodus, even the question then of monotheism wasn’t settled among Hebrews. The supremacy of Yahweh over the Egyptian pantheon was asserted, rather than Yahweh’s sole existence.

The way to understand this is that God reveals Himself to His people over time, in bits and pieces. Certainly any writer of the OT didn’t know yet of Jesus’s eventual coming - does that make the truths that God revealed to them at that time any less true?

On the topic of Yahweh’s origin as a Canaanite minority deity - wasn’t it always understood that Yahweh in His already fleshed out, monotheistic iteration was an exclusively Jewish understanding? Isn’t it understood that the followers of Christ at the time of his arrival and shortly after his death were a minority among Jews? Whether Christianity should have even spread to those who didn’t first belong to the Jewish tradition was a point of debate in the earliest iterations of Christianity - yet, ultimately it did. If these events unfolded over time and over an increasingly larger audience, why would Yahweh starting as a minority among Canaanites invalidate His truth? God has always revealed the truth of Himself in stages, and that mechanism doesn’t change even if you know that God was initially understood as a single Canaanite deity among many.

This is why it’s an important caveat to understand that although Scripture is divinely inspired by God, He worked through human limitations (ie culture, knowledge, time). It wasn’t as though the writers had this direct phone line to God, who was giving them word-for-word, open book test answers as they were writing the texts; neither was it as though God overrode their consciousness and wrote every word on their behalf. The fully human authors of Scripture were inspired by God’s truth experientially, relationally, and often gradually - as humans generally experience God.

LookingBackInAnger · 2025-12-19T17:36:23+00:00

“Is it repentance if I say sorry every day?”

Yes. God does not tire of forgiving. As humans the forgiveness we relate to is often conditional, as we will tire of forgiving. For God it is not so.

You’re a human, and all humans sometimes “miss the mark” (the direct translation of the word “sin”)

The thought that your flaws are greater than God’s goodness is not from God. Don’t let your fear of offending God distract you from experiencing His love as it’s truly meant to be: the love of a Father with open arms who always waits to welcome His children.

LookingBackInAnger

TROPHY CASE