In the Bible it says that the sins of our fathers will be passed from generation to generation. Does that mean

Question

In the Bible it says that the sins of our fathers will be passed from generation to generation. Does that mean that my children will suffer because of my father's sins?

Answer 1

yes, unfortunately to certain extent & certain circumstances.

Answer 2

I believe that it means that your children will suffer for YOUR evildoings. I tend to believe its all tied into karma.

I've read that a sin is a sin is a sin, but somehow I believe the nature of the sin might affect your grandchildren. Like being evil and nasty, rude, judgemental and hurtful to other people will get your kids an easy ticket on the 'mommys' sin bus' BUT breaking a vow to God in some way will continue to pass down thru generation. Of course each individual is different and some may be strong enough to pull through. It may only affect them slightly.

And if a descendant has the same state of heart they are likely to get it much more than a sibling who is kindhearted.

I think that some people with the worst luck have had ancestors who tormented others in the past and they cannot change their luck until they rid the hatred from their own hearts.

Answer 3

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Ezekial 18:20

When the Bible talks about the sins being passed down from generation to generation, it is talking about sinful tendencies. Each individual person bears the responsibility for his/her own sins. However, children will inherit sinful tendencies from their parents. A child of an alcoholic is much more likely to become an alcoholic for example. However, he is not bound to be an alcoholic. It is still a choice. He does not pay for his parent's sin. And it is not a sin to him unless he decides to become an alcoholic by giving into his sinful inherited tendencies. Of course, a child may suffer directly because of parents sins such a child abuse, but the parent's abuse of the child is their sin not the child's.
I hope this helps.

BTW the Holy Spirit is God's agent for changing any sinful tendency, whether inherited or acquired.

Answer 4

You have to look at the context of the statement.

Jehovah was talking to a Nation.

Therefore what ever happen to the Nation would effect everyone living in that nation.

If the sins of the fathers caused Jehovah to act, then their children were also effected.

If the good conduct of the fathers caused Jehovah to bless the nation, then the children benifited from those blessings also.

Answer 5

If the bible is right the answer is yes. I sure hope I dont suffer from my grand fathers sins. My mother interpreted this as: for example if your father hits you alot when you have children you might either hit them as well or not hit them enough. Or if your father told you to watch your weight then maybe when you have children you wont care what they eat, but to take it to the next level your children will then tell there children to watch what they eat. We either learn from our parents or rebel and the cycle keeps going and going and going...... Also if you want to get scientific people say that alcoholism is hereditary so is mental health so maybe the bible is referring to that.

Answer 6

Yes, kinda.
"...The sins of the fathers will be 'visited' on the children to the third and fourth generation..."
It means that those sins will hang around for a long, long time and tempt or torment the offspring of the sinner. It will be more difficult for those children in respect to the sins of the father (or mother) than for children of someone else who did not commit those sins. It does not mean that those children are doomed to repeat the sins, only that they will have to battle the effect of them more than others.

Answer 7

Hmmm, I got as far as Don's answer... and WOW is he confused.

Let's start with the definition of love, shall we? Love would seem to require the presence of free will to make that choice "to love someone", doesn't it? And free will implies that the person making the choice ahs the ability to choose NOT to love. That dichotomy is the the root of sin. Adam and Eve choose to disobey God.

And yes, God does have a plan for salvation to bridge the gap created when we made a poor choice -> that's why Jesus came down to pay for our sins. Someone had to in order to preserve God's perfect law AND allow for less-than-perfect creatures to be re-united with God.

I fail to see the logic in assuming that a perfect God MUST not be able to create something less than perfect -> particularly when we, with our limited understandings, limited perception and inherent bias, are the ones labelling events as perfect and imperfect.

Curious what gifts of future seeing Don has that allows him to determine all ramifications of an event and be able to correctly determine something's perfect status.

And for everyone else -> read Don's reply. And if want true answers, spend a little time meeting with a religious leader and ask him those questions. Then apply the rational ability God gave you to see through the murk...

But to answer the original question, yes.

Answer 8

Tough question to answer for you. If you think about it, It could be a bad example passed on. "well my father did it so it was OK" or we always look back to see whjere we came from, genetically speaking and discover illnesses being passed on. What do you think?

Then take a look at Esau and look what he passed on that is still going on today. That is the hatred for his brother.

Then take a look at Abraham and look what he passed on thru Hagar

Answer 9

Jesus said our Creator doesn't cause us to suffer for the sins of our fathers.
But it is a spiritual TRUTH.
Because MAN will.

Answer 10

heres my explanation of that verse. In romans we read :

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Adam sinned - death entered the world - we all suffer because of the isn of one man, that is passing sin from generation to generation. However their is more to this story :

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

This is talking about the serpant, it says the serpant will bruise his heel, that is mankind, we are brusied by the serpant because sin is in the world now through adam and we are mortal. HOWEVER their is hope, because it says her seed will bruise the serpants head (which is fatal) I know this is confusing at first read but stick with me because it opens up the bible in my opinion!

The seed, means sons and daughters - someone down the line from eve, WILL BRUISE the serpants head. This is christ. when he died on the stake he conqured sin, sin leading to death he in effect conqured sins - not just for himself but for all of us :

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This is an explanation to what the bible is talking about int he verse you mentioned - sin, is death. Whereas its true in the old testament we do read of occasions that sins of fathers have caused future generations problems, their are also MANY instances that this is not the case. if you look into the instances where god does cause the punishment to pass on to other generations (due to great wickedness they have done) you will notice god makes a special decleration to that effect, and says how long it will last - this is very rare.

Eze 18:14 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,

[ snip ]

Eze 18:17 That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

Answer 11

Adam and Eve sinned, and by their sin, death entered the world. From that single sin, all pay the price.