Does god punish people for the sins of their fathers or not?

Question

The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father..." -- Ezekiel 18:20

"I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation..." -- Exodus 20:5

Answer 1

Do the sons bear the sins of the fathers or not?
Exodus 20:5, Deuteronomy 5:9 and
Deuteronomy 24:16; Ezekiel 18:20


Yes they do
(Exodus 20:5) - "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,"
(Deuteronomy 5:9) - "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,"
(Exodus 34:6-7) - "Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."
(1 Cor. 15:22) - "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive."
No they don't
(Deuteronomy 24:16) - "Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin."
(Ezekiel 18:20) - "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself."
Exodus 20:5 is, of course, among the ten commandments. The Ten Commandments are arranged in covenant form. The Suzerain-Vassal treaty pattern of the ancient near east is followed in the Ten Commandments. This arrangement included an introduction of who was making the covenant (Exodus 20:2), what the covenant maker had done (20:2), laws (20:3-17), rewards (20:6,12), and punishments (20:5,7). Covenantally, when a father misleads his family, the effects of that misleading are often felt for generations. This is because the father is being covenantally unfaithful and God has stipulated that there are punishments to breaking the covenant with God. That is the case with these verses that deal with the sins visited upon the children. If a father rejects the covenant of God and takes his family into sin and rejects God, the children will suffer the consequences, often for several generations. Whether or not this is fair is not the issue. Sin is in the world consequences of sin effected many generations.
On the other hand, Deuteronomy 24:16 is dealing with legal matters as the context 24:6-19 shows. Ezekiel 18:20 is merely recounting the Law of the Pentateuch. Therefore, the context of second set of verses is dealing with the legality aspect within the Jewish court system. The previous set of verses deal with God visiting upon the descendents of the rebellious the consequences of the rebellious fathers' sins.
As a further note on this issue, there is a concept in the Bible called Federal Headship. This means that the male, the father, represents the family. We see this in the garden of Adam and Eve. She was the first one to eat of the fruit; she was the first one to sin. However, the Bible states that sin entered the world through Adam (Rom. 5), not Eve. This is because Adam was the Federal Head of all mankind. Furthermore we see in the Hebrews 7:7-10 the following:

"But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8And in this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. 9And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, 10for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him."

In the verses in Hebrews we see that Levi, who was a descendant of Abraham, paid tithes to Melchizedek while still in the loins, "seed," of his father Abraham, even though Levi was not yet alive. In other words, Abraham, the father, represented his descendants. As Abraham paid tithes, so also did Levi. Therefore, we can see the concept of Federal Headship represented in the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments. We can conclude that God will visit the inequities of the fathers upon the descendents because the fathers have failed to be covenantally faithful. Yet, we see in the other verses a declaration of legality in dealing with people. There is no contradiction.

Answer 2

Punish? God does not "punish". We are all born with God given free will. If we choose to repeat known sins of the father than we have exercised free will to waltz with that which creates the curse. The sins of the father is a test like any other temptation. To say that it is not would be excusing sin away and suggesting that people do not have free will. Does man have the power to do this? At any time man has the option...he/she knows the law both government and moral and it is ludicrous to assume people live in a box with their father. Many choose to sort out the good from the bad but some cash in on the sins of the father believing it will not carry on the curse. This concept is pretty much
blasphemy/dogmatic practice. When scripture is twisted it can mirror secularism.

Exodus 20:5 KJV

One of Ten Commandments

Thou shalt not bow down thy-self 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.

This is God's warning ....God's loving discipline. As we exercise free will there is nothing gifted to us here that is meant to suggest that people have no other alternative but to cave into that of which God wants man to turn from - temptation. Are we personally responsible, like some think for our father's sins or can we use our father's negative behavior as an excuse to do the same ...no. I think this gift speaks clearly about the subject of personal responsibility and what obviously can happen if fathers choose to model inappropriate behavior along with a message those old enough to know better should respect.

Answer 3

NO !

Of them that hate me, you left off that part.

Exo 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;

SEE HOW THIS ONE IS TRYING TO DECEIVE

Answer 4

Say your father smoked all his life. (sin) The likelihood of you getting cancer is greater than mine because my father never smoked. Thus you bear the consequences of your father's actions. Say your father was a murderer. You must live with that stigma all your life but God doesn't send you to hell because of what you have done. so the answer is both. Sin has consequences and sometimes the effects reach far. Even my anger today will affect the way my children treat each other and their spouses when they grow up and have their own issues. If my mom took drugs while being pregnant with me I'll have those consequences to deal with forever!

Answer 5

Good morning Steve, or should I refer to you as Meat now? Interesting choice of character promotion.

Rather than go into my standard explanation of your declaration of uncontrollable thought output, I am choosing to answer this one straight faced as you have cited seemingly contradictory references to the question posed. This is a whole new level for you Meat! Good work!

Okay, the short answer would be yes, and not contredictory as the first referecne is spoken as the word of God and the second is mearly a reciting of a law, not the word the words of God.

But to more fully examine the question, one needs to look in context not just pull out a phrase and say see here these contritic so what do you say about that!

You might have just stayed with the reference in Exodus and said what about 20:5 and 20:6 one says he visits the iniquity of the father upon the child, the other says he shows mercy unto thousands of them who love him? Since all men sin or are imperfect, wouldn't that seem contradictory?

Actually it doesn't because the reference in 20:5 refers to those who are unrepentant, those who hold to their sinful ways rather than turning to the Savior. We all have faults, and yes our faults can have lasting implications on our families.

For example, one who raised with religous belief becomes a parent and has a child who turns form that faith to follow another course, he grows and has children who are not exposed to religious beliefs and so on, it has an impact on the parent who feels for the loss of faith in his postarity.

So yes sin can have a lasting effect visiting generations but it is Gods will to show mercy unto those who love and believe in him. As such he has prepared a way that all me, save those who commit Blastphomy, and premeditated murder can have forgiveness of their sin, through repentance and returning to a state of honor and love for our Parent and Creator.

Yes, God reccognises that by allowing men agency, they may choose to commit sin, and yes sin of the unrepentant can have lasting effect for generations. However, as a merciful and loving parent, he have made the way sure. We need but learn and grow, and as we gain understanding, realize our faults as humans, become repentant (which include a change of heart and action) and as a loving and merciful Father he stands ready to forgive and welcome us home.

God is consistant. The plan is sure. We love you Meat!

Answer 6

definite, it is slightly complicated! I shall attempt and clarify. First: no our author does not punish little ones for the sins of their fathers. all of it comes right down to the strikes we take and the repercussions of those strikes. a primary occasion is Adam and Eve. by way of their selfish strikes - we at the instant are affected by imperfection and this got here approximately with their first actual little ones - right down to us now! additionally, take King David. He committed adultery, had the husband murdered and begot a baby. that youngster died - not on the arms of God, yet by way of fact of David's strikes. God forgave him, yet exchange into unlikely to do away with the effect of his disloyalty and David known this positively and understood it. In a widespread-day occasion: there's a relatives member who is going to reformatory for what ever, even with the undeniable fact that it is his relatives who go through the outcomes ie being refrained from in college etc. definite, returned it particularly looks that for a God who does in comparison to killing, He does adequate of it! yet and for this reason we actually could learn the bible. he's desirable and might study hearts, so it is His marvelous, if He sees in good shape to rid people and once you easily study the money owed - you will see that those people have been dreadful people! putting their little ones with the aid of fires - to intercourse orgies!!! i'm hoping that I easily have defined something right here?!

Answer 7

Deuteronomy 24:16 "Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers.

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.

Answer 8

The quilty of the father's sins are not passed on to the next generation.
But the CONSEQUENCES of that sin often are.

If the father is an abuser, his son is not quilty of the abuse. But the son suffers the results of the abuse. And will often past that on to his son, etc. So the results of the sin can last to the third or fourth generation.

Answer 9

No, He doesn't.
I could quote the 2 Article of Faith, and a verse from I think D&C which supports my arguement, but since most don't believe that Mormon scripture is still scripture, what's the point.

Answer 10

C'mon. I'm an Agnostic but even I know that most Christians are cool and don't interpret things literally. Look at the overall message.