Sins of the Father

[Guest]

John 9:1-5 tells us: "Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.'" (NKJV) I don't believe that specific sins of the father bring specific consequences to the child. I do, however, agree with Bold Believer that the consequences of sin has historically been brought upon descendants as God tires of waiting for repentance and therefore brings judgment.

[Guest]

And secondly, it applies only to those who hate God.

It does not apply to believers.

So be comforted. If you are in Christ, it has nothing to do with you.

Amen~!

[Openly Curious]

Hello,

When it comes to generational curses there is alot of confusion that surounds the subject. I recall a minister whose first name was Derrick (sp ?) but I'm not sure what his last name was but he was pretty well known for his teachings on generational curses as a biblical truth you had to follow to be set free. I do not believe in the teachings concerning generational curses where we have to "renounce" (confess) the sins of our parents and their parents and so on in order to break the generational curses off our own lives as a result of one of my relative's sins.. The scripture reverence below is used to validate that belief and the importance of renouncing the sins of our ancestors as they are brought to the light within our own lives and then we confess those handed down sins.

2 Corinthians 4:2 But have "renounced" the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

There certainly are alot of scriptural passages that speaks about the sins of the fathers and out of those passages it is obvious just why people are coming to the conclusions that they have. God had wrote the ten commandments among other commandments on tablets of stone and gave them to Moses to take down to the Israelites while he was up on Mt. Sinai and within those ten commandments this issue was adressed.

Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me

After Moses had came down from the mount the Israelites entered into covenant with God as Moses read the book of the covenant in the audience of all the people and they agreed and said, "All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. (Ex. 24:7) After this God called Moses up on the mount again this time giving him the instructions to build the tabernacle and the Israelites didn't know what had happened to Moses because he had been gone almost four months. They ended up breaking their covenant with God and entered back into idol worship as they made themselves a golden calf and began to worship a dead god. Whenever Moses came down from the mount he had the two tables of testimony that God had written with his own finger. As Moses drew closer to the camp he hear singing going on and we he got close he sees the golden calf, and the people dancing and he gets so furious at what he sees he throws the tablets of stone down and they broke as the fell down the mount.

Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites and they repented and entered back into covenant with God. Afterwards God calls Moses up to the mount and he was to bring two tables of stone with him and God would again write on the stone tablets what was on the first tablets that he threw down and broke where we find written on the second tablets the same law.

Exodus 34:7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

The children of Israel was on the east side of the Jordan river getting ready to cross over into the promise land. Being a whole new generation of Israelites not even alive during the time of the exodus nor the encampment at Mt. Sinai. Moses gave them a close examination of the things that happened during the fourty years in the wilderness emphicizing strongly two main things they needed to know. The first was about the unfaithfulness of Israel and the second was the faithfulness of God'. Moses plead with this new generation of Israelites for them not to repeat the sins of the past and he emphicized strongly to keep the laws of God.

Deuteronomy 5:9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me.

You can get a glimpse of the mercies of God through the writings of the prophet Jeremiah the people of were wholly given over into idolatry and despite it God gave numerous opportunities for them to repent and be spared from being punuished. God spoke directly to them through the prophet Jeremiah but they still wouldn't listen. It eventually got down to the point of no return and there was no escaping judgment. But even in judgment you can see the mercies of God being extended. God had warned them to surrender peacefully to the king of Babylon at that time and if they would just have obeyed God he would be merciful to them while they were in their captivity.

Again they wouldn't heed to the words of Jeremiah so they were taken by force and lead into captivity. There was a small remnant of the poor that were allowed to remain in Judah, and Jeremiah was allowed to dwell with them. And again God stretched out and extended his hand of mercy to his people and to remain in the land, but they would not listen and insisted on going down into Egypt. Jeremiah as God's spokesman tried to warn them this would lead to their destruction, but they gave no credence to the counsel of God. My God is a merciful God that get's no enjoyment out of seeing the destruction of his people and he will bend over backwards giving them multiple chances to repent but the human race has a history being stiffnecked and a rebellious people

Jeremiah 32:18 Thou showest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name

A little knowledge thus far but digging a little deeper the prophet Ezekiel seemed to reject the parable about sin inherited from the fathers. But then it makes you scratch your head and think well is it true until God says it's not to be used any more or perhaps something else God could have meant by it?

Ezekiel 18:1-4 The word of the Lord came unto me again saying, What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel and tells him about the proverb that was going around among the Israelites which no longer would to used. There are other statements in a number of places in the OT and it could be were this proverb originally got started

Jeremiah 31:28-30 And it came to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord. In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

You got to wonder why come this proverb is being referenced?

Lamentations 5:7 "Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities"

The Israelites had been using it in order to shift the blame from themselves in why they were being destroyed they'd say it was because their ancestors sinned and now were having to bear the burden of their sins. But there is a big problem with that because by using that proverb the Israelites had been willing ignoring the fact that they

themselves were continuing the sins of their fathers

Isaiah 65:6-7 Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep slilence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

To me God was making it very clear through his prophets that it's the individuals themselves who bears the responsibility for their own sins.

Deuteronomy 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

You got to take all of these verses and observe them closely to be able to see what was left out of the proverb because if you do you'll see for yourself it wasn't an exact quote.

Exodus 20:5; Deut.5:9 "You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate ME"

Jeremiah 32:18-19 "You show lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them - the Great, the Mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts. You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways according to the fruit of his doings"

These scriptures validates to us that God doesn't faint or get weary punishing the people, even if they choose to continue walking in the very same sins generation after generation. There are parents who'll just give up on their children when they've done something wrong and was punished for it several times over and they'll get to the point that to continually punish their child they'll just give up and decide it's not worth the effort but God is not like that.

The Israelites had it flat out all wrong when they were saying the reason why they were going into captivity was because of their ancestors sins which they were being punished for. But going into captivity was punishment for their own sins as they continued walking in the sins of their fathers and they were not being punished for their ancestors sins.