"Generational Curses": Biblical or not? Valid theraputic tool or malpractice?

I'm not seeing any recent posts on this subject so I'll go ahead and assume this is the right forum. I came across the term "generational curses" several years ago when researching the New Apostolic Reformation. My assumption then was that it was a fringe practice in contemporary Christianity. Just recently I was involved in a discussion with a young man suffering from depression who was going to see a Christian counselor. He had been to a number of sessions. The subject of medication had not even been brought up and the counselor had started putting him into some sort of meditative state in order to determine which side of the family his "generational curse" came from. It seems to me that in the case of any sort of physical origin of the depression this kind of approach borders on malpractice; somewhat akin to New Age therapists having clients meditate over crystals. It also seems to me that the concept of generational curses (along with ideas like Territorial Mapping and Spiritual Strongholds) isn't really Biblical but rather seems to be of some sort of pagan/occult origin, specifically African in nature. Maybe I've missed something in the last 40 years but I've only recently heard of this concept and have been asking a number of acquaintances and friends who are Christians about it and most haven't heard of it at all. It is not a particularly easy topic to objectively research via Google as most of the links found with a variety of search terms are to sources that advocating the idea. I'm more interested in the history of the theory and when and how it came into practice in contemporary Christianity. Any helpful input or reference material would be appreciated.

There is the verse in the bible about the sins of the father and such.

it was always explained to me as in those times, family often have three generations in their house hold.

So if the father was sinning, it would effect the entire family, hence the father to son to grandson thing.

reply to post by DelMarvel


The entire "sins of the father" ideal is not a curse from Yahweh. What he is saying is your sins have consequences that your children can suffer from. Take my own dad, i suffered under child abuse fo the first 17 years of my life. Because of his actions, i am now scarred by what he has done. That cycle is breakable, it is not perpetuated under Yeshua because he is the Great Physician and he heals all things.

John 9:1-5

1 Now as Yeshua passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Yeshua answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of YHWH should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

In this respect in John 9, no curse was perpetuated on this man, he was born this way so that when Yeshua healed him, the jews would know who did it, all in the OT Yahweh says he will restore sight to the blind and this was a sign to fulfill that. When we see people hurt, crippled or diseased, they are that way to give Glory to Yahweh by us healing them in Yeshua's name. The Light of the World is in us, until he is removed in order for the Man of Sin to be revealed. Alot of christians no longer believe that we can heal, they have forgotten why we are here in this world, to Glorify Yahweh and share the New Hope with others.

reply to post by DelMarvel


Read in context...

Eze. 18:20 … "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son."

Peace

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


The John 9 quote was what came to my mind when I started thinking about this and I subsequently saw it quoted on a blog written from an Episcopal perspective.

I'm still interested in the history of this idea. Is this something that has been popular for some time? How widespread is this belief? Is it now in the mainstream?

Ooh Lordy, I recall them well from a mega-church I once belonged to in my late teenage years.

Strangely, I recall them being based on Old Testament verses.

The idea is said to be based on certain statements in the Bible. For example: "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations" (Exod. 20:5, italics mine; cf. 34:6-7; Num. 14:18; Deut. 5:9).

www.wordwise-bible-studies.com...

So it had nothing to do with salvation itself, but it was part of "spiritual" warfare teachings, and the authorities on that back then were Chick comics and the books by Rebecca Brown.

Some books had entire lists to repent of anything your ancestors might have been involved with.
It could get quite lengthy.
Fortunately "homosexuality" sufficed for my sexual sin, and I didn't have to mention every act under that banner (and it's lengthier than one might think), but for occult stuff they had everything from witchy-this to claudo/tele-whatever, and names for every US Masonic and occult group imaginable (most of which didn't even exist here).

Nowadays, considering that people convert from extremes one could also repent for the rock music your dad might have listened to, and if you get anxious or depressed you can anoint the corners of the house with oil, and repent the name of every metal band that he might have listened to in his misspent youth when he made you, that is, after all the occult/Masonic groups from the second generation:

"Dear Lord - please tell Satan he has no right to my life, because I repent of the sins of my father, who may have listened to occult music like: AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stone, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Queen, King Diamond, Megadeth, Metallica, Death, Carcass, Obituary, Slayer - and also Winger, Kylie Minogue and Bros when nobody was watching but You. I know my depression is gone now. Amen."

On the other hand in Christianity our very position at birth is sinful, or prone to sin because of Adam and Eve.
So if one follows a religion where one is a hellbound entity lower that crap because of what two naked hippies did in Genesis thousands of years ago in creationism, then why not also have specific inter-generational curses for maladies?

How does one say one aspect is wrong in a wider, even more ridiculous set-up?

In any case, I don't think a lot of Christians believe it any more these days, and some would say it's against certain key principles.
A lot of it was also thinly disguised neo-colonialism in which Native American and African land was considered "cursed".
It was just a cult-like way to make everything that went wrong your fault, even if you were just unlucky to have sinful forebears.
It could also absolve others from personal responsibility: "What? The pastor pocketed the cash and committed adultery again? Oh, he had the spirit of Mammon and Lust because his great-grandfather once played the Ouija board! Poor man let's pray for him and send more money!"

Later, when I became more interested in Hinduism, I actually interpreted those verses as referring to reincarnation, and the suffering that people went through now was due to their sins in a past life, which came back to them as children a few generations later.

Either way, it's not a pretty or particularly loving world-view, and it's morally unsound.
Call it religion if you will, but it ain't loving then, and it ain't good.

I'd say happiness is counting your blessings, and not your fore-fathers' cursing.

Originally posted by DelMarvel
reply to post by lonewolf19792000

 

The John 9 quote was what came to my mind when I started thinking about this and I subsequently saw it quoted on a blog written from an Episcopal perspective.

I'm still interested in the history of this idea. Is this something that has been popular for some time? How widespread is this belief? Is it now in the mainstream?

It's a predominantly jewish belief and it's crept back in through sects in christianity that are trying to merge back into the old judaism. An old application of this "actions have consequences" is King Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, son of Ahab was set to die, but he asked Prophet Isaiah to request of Yahweh to extend his life for 15 years. Isaiah did so and the life extension was granted. During this life extension Hezekiah had a son he named Manasseh. Manasseh turned out to be a bad egg and when he became King he had his father's friend the prophet Isaiah stuffed into a log and sawed in half and he was responsible for the deaths of many innocent people. If Hezekiah had died when he was supposed to, none of that would have happened. Instead he was a bit selfish and innocent people, and his friend Isaiah paid the price.

This is why we shouldn't ask Yahweh for selfish things, other people may pay the price for what we ask of him. He sees these things but we do not. Our actions ripple through time, like throwing a rock into a pond.

I believe in things like generational curses. There is genetic memory that we inherit through our crystalline DNA. Genetics are transferrable. There is quantum scarring where energy is predictable. Nature likes patterns that repeat.

What do you think an inherited disease is?

Ever see those families where everybody lives past their 90s? Where great-grandma still looks like she's 60 at 90? Then there are families that crap out at 40. There is inherited alcoholism, inherited mental weakness (illness is relative to the observer), all sorts of things.

I don't think this gives anybody the rights to use scripture to justify treating others differently. Nobody likes a snob. The idea that there are Christian leader-types out there that look into someone's soul to see where the curse started, maybe hundreds of years ago, that doesn't look good to me. There are gypsies that can claim the same thing and get the same dependent sick devotees and the same paycheck out of it.

To be honest in a stint in the nuthouse there was a woman who could see through me and told me that I had problems on my paternal grandmother's side; institutionalized for her beliefs, God under Science. I sort of already knew that from when I was a gifted child, before the hypnosis and brainwashing of society took place.

We inherit our family's problems. But under the spirit of adoption, also in Bible mention, we inherit different things. Don't forget you can inherit blessings too. Manipulating scripture to get certain effects, or scripture twisting, isn't the best way to get the most out of it.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
The entire "sins of the father" ideal is not a curse from Yahweh. What he is saying is your sins have consequences that your children can suffer from.

Exactly. We see it today all around us.

People having children at age 15 and not finishing school go on to poorly raise children who then have big difficulties in life, etc etc. THAT kind of thing is passed down. It's not a 'god's cursed you' kind of thing. It's a common sense kind of thing.