Should a Christian use a VPN or is that sort of like lying?

[Bible Highlighter]

Using a VPN is not saying you are somewhere else - the purpose is not to pretend you are in a different location, the location of your router is not the issue, it is a privacy measure. Location only comes into it because that is how privacy is achieved. You are not telling anyone you are in some other place, you are protecting your online privacy using software that disguises your location for legitimate security purposes.

If it merely disguised your location as being called: "Hidden" or your location was called: "Encrypted" I would be all for it. But it does not do that to my knowledge.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Pot meet kettle!



Having a VPN is looked at as the same thing no one thinks of it as lying accept for perhaps you.

Do you know that for many businesses a VPN is needed?

My girlfriend works for the State Revenue Department. She deals with people's business accounts and bank account numbers. In order for her to work from home the state had to install a VPN to her work computer so she could use it at home. With such sensitive material being worked with, do you think that the state is lying because of the VPN usage?

If the VPN location just said "encrypted" or "hidden" or it was a bunch of gobbledygook numbers or something then it's not a problem. If the VPN is saying they are in Rio, and they are actually in Rhode Island, then that's a problem.
For God knows and sees all things. While man may not see that they are always lying, God would know.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Nicknames can appear in application sheets for jobs.
Essentially a "username" is like a nickname. It is simply an online nickname.

 

[Hammster]

If the VPN location just said "encrypted" or "hidden" or it was a bunch of gobbledygook numbers or something then it's not a problem.

Your assumption is that the intent of the user is to pretend to be somewhere else. If the intent is to hide their location, how the software does that is beyond their control.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

VPN's are not forced upon a person. They decide if they want to access such service or not.

 

[Hammster]

Nicknames can appear in application sheets for jobs.
Essentially a "username" is like a nickname. It is simply an online nickname.

It’s disguising who you really are in the same way a vpn disguises where you are.

And while we are on the subject of sin, it’s a sin to not quite the person you are responding to. It’s in the Bible.

 

[Hammster]

VPN's are not forced upon a person. They decide if they want to access such service or not.

User names aren’t forced upon a person. They decide if they want to hide their real name or not.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

"Usernames" used on a forum to protect a person's privacy is not the same as a VPN that says a person's location is different than the one that they are in. One is saying a real location of where that person is at (when they are not in that real location), and the other is simply a nickname that people know is not an official real name to protect their privacy.

 

[Der Alte]

Should a Christian use a VPN or is that sort of like lying?
VPN is a virtual Private Network that attempts to tell others that you are in another location other than the one that you are at.
If you are still unsure of what a VPN is, here is a trailer promotion for a VPN company (Promoted on a Christian website).
Basically if you live in Denver Colorado, and you wanted to use a VPN (while you surf the internet), you would choose another city to show other people online that you actually were surfing the internet from a different city or location like say: Tampa, Florida.

If a Christian uses a VPN solely for the security it provides and not for the purpose of deception, there is no sin. Since the VPN uses a different server which encrypts the data it will necessarily return a different IP than the customer's.

 

[Hammster]

"Usernames" used on a forum to protect a person's privacy is not the same as a VPN that says a person's location is different than the one that they are in. One is saying a real location of where that person is at (when they are not in that real location), and the other is simply a nickname that people know is not an official real name to protect their privacy.

The intent is the same.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

If a Christian uses a VPN solely for the security it provides and not for the purpose of deception, there is no sin. Since the VPN uses a different server which encrypts the data it will necessarily return a different IP than the customer's.

If you tell a company or online people who watch you online that you are in another location when you are not in that location, it is technically lying. It would be like calling up a company and telling them you live in some other country when you don't live there. Even if nobody knew or cared by some off chance, God would know what you were doing and He would see if you were being honest or not.

God's knows all things and He can see the hidden things that we do.
God cares because all sin is done ultimately towards God.

 

[Hammster]

If you tell a company or online people who watch you online that you are in another location when you are not in that location, it is technically lying. It would be like calling up a company and telling them you live in some other country when you don't live there. Even if nobody knew or cared by some off chance, God would know what you were doing and He would see if you were being honest or not.

God's knows all things and He can see the hidden things that we do.
God cares because all sin is done ultimately towards God.

You don’t live in Top Secret. God knows that.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Nicknames are not official names but they can be accepted as a person's alternate name. It's why a nickname can appear on a job application. This is not lying on the job application if you put a nickname down. But if you wrote on your job application that you lived in another country when you did not live there, it would be lying.

 

[Hammster]

Nicknames are not official names but they can be accepted as a person's alternate name. It's why a nickname can appear on a job application. This is not lying on the job application if you put a nickname down. But if you wrote on your job application that you lived in another country when you did not live there, it would be lying.

If you put Bible Highlighter on a job application, that would be a lie because it’s a screen name, not a nickname.

 

[ChetSinger]

"Usernames" used on a forum to protect a person's privacy is not the same as a VPN that says a person's location is different than the one that they are in. One is saying a real location of where that person is at (when they are not in that real location), and the other is simply a nickname that people know is not an official real name to protect their privacy.

I think they're exactly analogous, at least functionally. For example, my user name here is my actual name and you can find me. I can't find you because you don't use your actual name here (and I'm fine with that). How is that any different from using a VPN?

Would you consider using your actual name to post here? Why or why not? Might it be because you don't want your name in this public place? How is hiding a name any different than hiding a location?

 

[Bible Highlighter]

I think they're exactly analogous, at least functionally. For example, my user name here is my actual name and you can find me. I can't find you because you don't use your actual name here (and I'm fine with that). How is that any different from using a VPN?

Would you consider using your actual name to post here? Why or why not? Might it be because you don't want your name in this public place?

It's very rare that people use their real name these days on a forum. That still does not change the reality that most people realize that a "username" is not the real person's name in most cases. Your name sounds like a username and most probably would not suspect it was a real name. So your safe. I have talked on internet forums since 2004. Not once did I ever see anyone confused as to a person's username being a real name and that folks were lying. VPN is different because one is actually saying they are in a different real location when they are not in that real location. They are not going to assume that everyone is using a VPN and they are going to think you are in that real location when you are not. If the VPN simply said "hidden location" or "encrypted location," etc. then it would not be an issue. It is no way the same thing as a username on the forum. As many who try to connect the dots between these two things, they are simply not the same at all.

 

[Der Alte]

If you tell a company or online people who watch you online that you are in another location when you are not in that location, it is technically lying. It would be like calling up a company and telling them you live in some other country when you don't live there. Even if nobody knew or cared by some off chance, God would know what you were doing and He would see if you were being honest or not.
God's knows all things and He can see the hidden things that we do.
God cares because all sin is done ultimately towards God.

Absent intention your argument is irrelevant. If a person has no intention to deceive but is using a VPN solely for the security it provides there is no sin.
.....A VPN is not a problem for people who have a legal right to know a person's location without their knowledge, e.g law enforcement. There is no legal requirement that a person reveal his/her location to the whole world.
....Why would someone on the internet want/need to know the location of another person, otherwise unknown to them, on the internet? If someone wants to reveal thier location to another person they can, if not they don't have to. I think that most people who use the internet are aware that security measures such as VPNs exist and if someone else is bothered by it that is their problem.
.....if you want to avail yourself of the VPN security but don't like the way the location is concealed, include your location in your personal details.

 

[Tom 1]

If it merely disguised your location as being called: "Hidden" or your location was called: "Encrypted" I would be all for it. But it does not do that to my knowledge.

It’s not. If the govt was actually trying to track your online activities for some reason they wouldn’t think you were in Rio, they would see that your connection is routed through Rio and that you are using a VPN. You would be telling the govt that you are using a VPN, not that you are in Rio.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Again, in job applications I have filled out in the past (paper ones and not online ones), I remember clearly many of them having a section for your "real first name" and "real last name" and another section called "preferred name or nickname."

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Absent intention your argument is irrelevant. If a person has no intention to deceive but is using a VPN solely for the security it provides there is no sin.
.....A VPN is not a problem for people who have a legal right to know a person's location without their knowledge, e.g law enforcement. There is no legal requirement that a person reveal his/her location to the whole world.
....Why would someone on the internet want/need to know the location of another person, otherwise unknown to them, on the internet? If someone wants to reveal thier location to another person they can, if not they don't have to. I think that most people who use the internet are aware that security measures such as VPNs exist and if someone else is bothered by it that is their problem.

God sees what a person does. God cares if we are being openly honest with others or not.