Are Parents' Sins Visited on Their Children?

Enjoy a snippet from May's Debut Sins of the Mothers!

Jethro Risen, one of the gold miners Mary Rachel has sold merchandise to in San Francisco is at a plain sawboard Methodist church speaking with Brother Paul. Jethro only recently got saved.

     “Sins of the fathers, have you heard about that?”
     “I guess not, what are you talking about?”
     The old man held a finger up and hurried to the altar. He returned with a Bible, flipped pages until he found his spot, and read. “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.”
     “Who’s them?”
     He looked up. “Talking about other gods here, telling His children not to bow to them.” He continued. “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.”
     “So I get punished for my father’s sins? That doesn’t seem right. Is that what it means?”
     “No, not exactly. God is telling the children of Israel how things work. You plant corn, that’s what you harvest—corn. Reap what you sow. Same with bowing down to other gods. The second commandment is not to have any other gods. When you put something—anything—ahead of God, you don’t get blessed.”
     “So I’m doomed to repeat the sins of my father?”
     “No, you accepted the Lord’s salvation. Not under the curse anymore. You don’t hate Him anymore, do you?”
     “No, sir. Don’t know that I hated Him before.”
     “There’s no gray with God, son. You love Him or hate Him. But Christ became a curse so that we will be blessed. Still, the devil has a right to visit our parents’ sins on us.” The old man smiled. “In reality, that’s a blessing.”
     “What? How so?”
     “Well, the child sees how the parents mishandled their situations and sinned against God. From witnessing their iniquities, younger generations learn from the elders’ mistakes. They’ve seen the bad outcome.”
     “I think I see.”
     “Yes, sir. So when the devil comes around with the same temptations, they can make different choices. Overcome.”

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