Do sons bear the sins of the father?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lee1
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Lee1

Guest
And if so is there anything which can be done to alleviate this?
 
Obviously, children may experience the practical consequences of a parent’s sin, but children are not responsible or punished for their parents’ sins.
 
Aside from consequences (let’s say father gambled away the family home, the kids will have to live with the consequences), and one could argue that Original Sin is inherited from our parents, no.
 
Yes, they do. I have noticed that my own children bear my sins, my character flaws. It pains me to see how much they mimic me in that way. I believe that such is the nature of Original Sin. However, it is not the case that children are punished for particular, sinful acts of their parents.
 
The first answer is that we’re responsible for our own actions. So if my grandfather killed 50 people, that’s on his soul— not my father’s, and not mine. You’ve got it in Deuteronomy–
Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.
Click to expand...
But at the same time, you also have it in Exodus–
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Click to expand...
So the second answer is that you can see a bit of it reflected in generational poverty. That’s not to say that generational poverty is a result of sin— but that it requires a whole lot of effort to break away from the shortcomings of the parents. If my grandfather is a poor example-- suppose he’s an alcoholic, and suppose he’s unfaithful, and suppose he can’t hold a job, and suppose he’s verbally abusive to his children— then he’s less likely to pass on a good example to his own children, and his children are more likely to be alcoholic, unfaithful, verbally abusive, and unable to keep steady employment. And then my father is unlikely to pass on those qualities— until you finally get to a point in the family tree where someone says, “You know, this isn’t how life ought to be. I grew up this way, but I don’t want my kids to experience what I did.” And has the gumption to break free of those cycles, and turn their lives around, and make things better for the next generation, but it takes a massive amount of effort.

So in one way, you’re dealing with God on a one-on-one level as an individual, but in another way, at the same time, you’re dealing with God as part of a family, or as part of a community. At any point in time, you can recognize the sin in your life and say, “No, this isn’t what I want for myself or for those around me—” but a lot of your success depends on the behaviors you’ve seen modeled, and God’s grace working in your life.
 
Last edited:
You’re not doomed to repeat your parents’ mistakes, but you will have to be careful not to fall into them.

We do absorb the messages we receive in childhood, and we might not always be aware of where some of our feelings and attitudes have come from.

We Catholics have a practice called “examination of conscience” whereby we look at our faults honestly as a first step to eradicating them.
 
0Scarlett_nidiyilii said:
We Catholics have a practice called “examination of conscience” whereby we look at our faults honestly as a first step to eradicating them.
Click to expand...
We Catholics have a practice called “examination of conscience” whereby we **try to**look at our faults honestly **but often fool ourselves**as a first step to eradicating them.
Click to expand...
In my case, anyway. 😊
 
Last edited:
That was a great explanation to something I too, have wondered about.
 
It depends on what you mean. From a viepoint of guilt or punishment:no.
But the results of sin, the evil brought into the world due to sin: that is often (usually) borne by many people beyond the person who committed the sin. This should be obvious, but way too many Christians today talk about sin being between themselves and God. It’s not, it’s between us, God, and everyone else. That’s one of the reasons (not the only) that we go to a priest to confession: we are not just being reconciled with God, but with the Church.
 
I’ve heard of this myself.
I’m assured that this isn’t a Catholic belief and when you think about it it’s a horrible thing to suggest. I also think that if a Christian is preaching this they should be aware that they are damaging listeners relationships with our loving and merciful God. Which is a sin in my book.

I was once told that no man can forgive sins, meaning our venerable priests. They have been given license by God to do so. Such lies are pernicious.
 
Not every “wrong” thing is condemned as heresy.

It is simply not taught. We are born with original sin, that is wiped away by baptism. After that we are only guilty of our own personal sins.
 
TheLittleLady said:
Not every “wrong” thing is condemned as heresy.
Click to expand...
True
TheLittleLady said:
It is simply not taught.
Click to expand...
Then it is not necessarily contrary to Church teaching and I can still argue in favour.
TheLittleLady said:
We are born with original sin, that is wiped away by baptism. After that we are only guilty of our own personal sins.
Click to expand...
I don’t think the idea of generational sins has to do with guilt per se. At least not moral guilt. Ill effects, and guilt in the sense that retribution might still be needed even after the original party has long since passed perhaps. I don’t see this at odds with the teaching of the Community of Saints - basically the good/bad effects of one member affect the others, regardless of the fact that the others are not morally guilty. This effect is magnified if you are closer in proximity to someone (ex: related).
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top