tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8916923606431957884.post4894796448150874104..comments2024-01-01T13:55:05.686-08:00Comments on RC Sproul Jr: Ask RC: Do familial curses still exist?RC Sproul Jr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10021618819499117817noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8916923606431957884.post-7154249642815220552012-01-16T07:43:06.500-08:002012-01-16T07:43:06.500-08:00This is an excellent viewpoint, providing necessar...This is an excellent viewpoint, providing necessary balance.<br /><br />When I think of familial curses, two come to mind. One concerns a good friend, elder at a church I attended for eight years. His great-great (as I recall) grandmother and grandfather had gotten a rare late-1800s divorce. His great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and brother had all also gotten divorces. So he devoted extra care and prayer to his own marriage, determined by God's grace to break the ... curse, pattern, or whatever you want to call it. And thirty years or so into his marriage, things are going well.<br /><br />Now could any divorce be blamed on the divorces of previous generations? Well, no. Each was its own sin, and each participant will be individually accountable to God. Yet undoubtedly the preceding generations will have been culpable not just for the sin they committed, but for the example they set for their children that it's OK to quit when the going gets tough.<br /><br />Closer to home, my grandmother's family struggled for 200 years or more with a lust for land. Several indeed became major landowners in central TN, but it brought only division, not joy. Whatever they owned was never enough. Without going into detail, there was some gigantic fallout some 60 years ago that impacts extended family members to this day.<br /><br />And to this day, my father and I both have to intentionally fight the desire to put our efforts toward owning lots of land in this life, laying up our treasures on these elements which will some day melt with fervent heat.<br /><br />Now were I to covet my neighbor's land, it would be my own sin, and I would have to answer to God for it individually. There's no question about that. But at the same time, I do think that certain families are more predisposed to temptations to a given sin than other families. Should this be called a "curse"? Your answer is as good as mine.<br /><br />Sorry for the delay in replying, almost after-the-fact at this point. I had bookmarked the post the day it came out, with typing this reply in mind, but just hadn't found the time to type it out until now.Daniel J. Mounthttp://www.southerngospelblog.com/noreply@blogger.com