The Sins of Your Ancestors

We blame the gun after I pulled the trigger, the cigarette company because I smoked, or the prostitute because I get a disease. Fans blame the coach for losing the match.

Mormons have a great plan for your dead ancestors. You get baptized in their place, their sins are forgiven, and they enter the kingdom of God.

Others have another take on the sins of your ancestors. You’re guilty of their sins 300 years ago and must pay the price through social justice. It’s Mormonism without the water!

Should you be held responsible for the sins of your ancestors? How would you know those sins? How many generations back will you go?

No one today, nor of the past, has clean hands. No tongue, tribe, nation, skin color, or individual – past or present – is innocent of horrible things.

Africans enslaved Africans over thousands of years. In the 1400s, the Inca in South America murdered their neighbors in violent religious rituals. Pacific islanders stole from one another and then ate each other. Five hundred years ago, Roman Catholics killed Protestants and Lutherans killed Anabaptists. My great-grandfather defrauded his neighbors with rotten potatoes. The whole world is a guilty mess!

What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?”

“As I live,” says the Lord God, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:2-4).

In the days of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel, people blamed each other for the sins of their ancestors, even creating a proverb about it. God told Israel to stop repeating the proverb because it wasn’t true. God holds each sinner personally responsible for his own sins and not the sins of others.

When Adam sinned, he blamed God and Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. The serpent was the only one in the Garden who didn’t pass the buck (Genesis 3:8-13). Blaming someone else (or their ancestors) is always easier than looking in the mirror to see where I miss the mark.

God saves and forgives individuals one-by-one by grace through faith in Christ. God’s Saviour meets the sinner where he is, not where his great-great-great-grandmother was.

Punishing the Child for the Sins of a Parent

Should you be held responsible for the sins of your ancestors? How would you even know those sins? How many generations back will you go?

Should you be punished for the sins of a neighbor, a cousin, or another person with your eye, hair, or skin color? How about being responsible for the sins of an entire city or a nation a thousand years ago?

What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?”

“As I live,” says the Lord God, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:2-4).

In the days of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel, people were blaming one another for the sins of their ancestors. They even had a common proverb about it. God told Israel to stop repeating the proverb because it wasn’t true. God holds each sinner responsible for his own sins and not the sins of others.

Large African tribes throughout western Africa raided smaller and weaker tribes two hundred years ago, enslaved their African neighbors, and then sold them as slaves to Europeans. Should modern Africans be punished for the sins of their ancestors?

Should the Japanese of today be responsible for their ancestors who killed Chinese men and kept their wives as “comfort women” (sex slaves)? Or the Chinese tribes which enslaved each other four thousand years ago?

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth murdered US President Abraham Lincoln. Should Booth’s descendant pays a price today for their ancestor’s deed? Does God blame Booth’s descendants for his actions?

We are each individually responsible to God for our own sins.

When Adam sinned, he blamed God and Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. The serpent was the only one in the Garden who didn’t pass the buck (Genesis 3:8-13). Blaming someone else (or their ancestors) is always much easier than looking in the mirror to see where I miss the mark.

God saves and forgives individuals one-by-one by grace through faith in Christ. God’s Saviour meets the sinner where he is, not where his great-great-great-grandmother was.

Warning Labels

Today I bought a spray for killing spiders. Printed in big red letters on the front of the can are the words: “Do not eat or spray in mouth.” I wonder how many folks buy spider spray to eat for breakfast?

We are so foolish (or stupid) that the government requires danger warnings on everything. My toothpaste warns: “Not for consumption.” The bottle of water explains: “Cap poses a choking hazard.” The box of food warns: “Caution: Food may be hot after microwaving.” The cup of coffee is marked: “Contents are hot.” Even the box of copier paper is stamped: “May cause injury if dropped.” Are you so stupid that you don’t know a 50 pound box of paper will hurt when it falls on your foot?

Life doesn’t come with a warning label stamped on your forehead, yet God has laid out a clear warning in the Bible. All souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:4).

There is then this promise:

“Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die … for I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” (Ezekiel 18:31, 32).

We are very concerned about our safety. How concerned are we about our eternal souls?

The Soul who Sins shall Die

Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die  (Ezekiel 18:4).

For the wages of sin is death  (Romans 6:23).

The only thing that satisfies sin is death.  Death is the only thing in this world that ends sin.  It is the sad ending to every story of man, even the first man, Adam.

God’s promise to Adam was in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall surely die  (Genesis 2:17).  And so it was, that Adam, the first human being, lived nine hundred and thirty years; and he died (Genesis 5:5).  And so it has been ever since.

Death not only puts a final end to sin, it puts a final end to sin in the life of the one who has died.  What good is it to finally stop sinning but be dead?  Either you must die eternally for your sin, or someone else who is perfect and without sin must die in your place.  So what if … what if someone without sin loved you enough to die in your place?  To not only take your sin but take your death too?

That’s exactly what Jesus has done.  He died on a cross in your place, taking your sins upon Himself (2 Corinthians 5:21) so that you can have eternal life and be right with God.  How do you gain such a marvelous position?  You must believe that the work of Jesus on the cross was enough to satisfy God the Father’s judgment against your sin (Romans 4:24 – 5:2).

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