Sorry, my bad! I meant generational sins. Curses is really iffy topic, so let's not go there.
Generational sins first appear in Numbers.
‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’" Numbers 14:18
It appears to me that it is not that the third and fourth generation are not necessarily sinning, but more that they are being punished, or more rightly, experiencing the consequences of the father's sins or iniquities. It also seems that idolatry is the sin that God is talking about here - the worst sin of all to God, under the Old Covenant.
"You shall not bow down to them or 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 the fourth generation of those who hate me," Exodus 20:5
However, God relents and has a new promise in Deuteronomy.
"Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin." Deut. 24:16
And again in Ezekiel, he points to the fact that we are each responsible to make our own decisions to sin, to follow God or not.
"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. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." Ezekiel 20:5
While we can learn bad world views from our parents, and breaking free of family sins can be difficult, it is by looking at Christ we are set free. We are not set free by digging up everything that went wrong in our families.
As for the internet and things being hard to explain, I really get that. It sounds to me, like you are talking about the pattern of repentance, set in the Old Testament, and carried through to the need to repent of our sins in the New Testament. Now that is an extremely valuable study! We can learn so much from that! I also know every time I read through the Old Testament, I am struck with the utter disobedience of the Israelites, despite God walking with them! I do question how God could have put up with it!
Of course, he did finally give up on Israel, and used the Assyrians to transport them away in 722 BC, never to return. He gave Judah a bit more time, because of the promise to David, but eventually, he took them into the Babylonian exile in 586 BC. But with Judah, he did preserve the line of David, and the Jews were brought back, and eventually Jesus was born. My favourite Bible story of all!
Generational sins first appear in Numbers.
‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’" Numbers 14:18
It appears to me that it is not that the third and fourth generation are not necessarily sinning, but more that they are being punished, or more rightly, experiencing the consequences of the father's sins or iniquities. It also seems that idolatry is the sin that God is talking about here - the worst sin of all to God, under the Old Covenant.
"You shall not bow down to them or 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 the fourth generation of those who hate me," Exodus 20:5
However, God relents and has a new promise in Deuteronomy.
"Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin." Deut. 24:16
And again in Ezekiel, he points to the fact that we are each responsible to make our own decisions to sin, to follow God or not.
"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. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." Ezekiel 20:5
While we can learn bad world views from our parents, and breaking free of family sins can be difficult, it is by looking at Christ we are set free. We are not set free by digging up everything that went wrong in our families.
As for the internet and things being hard to explain, I really get that. It sounds to me, like you are talking about the pattern of repentance, set in the Old Testament, and carried through to the need to repent of our sins in the New Testament. Now that is an extremely valuable study! We can learn so much from that! I also know every time I read through the Old Testament, I am struck with the utter disobedience of the Israelites, despite God walking with them! I do question how God could have put up with it!
Of course, he did finally give up on Israel, and used the Assyrians to transport them away in 722 BC, never to return. He gave Judah a bit more time, because of the promise to David, but eventually, he took them into the Babylonian exile in 586 BC. But with Judah, he did preserve the line of David, and the Jews were brought back, and eventually Jesus was born. My favourite Bible story of all!
