Considering everything I have laid out in the previous three posts, one is left with a bleak picture of the future. But, allow me draw your attention to the titles of these past few posts, “the sins of the father.” Most only know those words, but not as many know the full quote. This is actually part of several quotes in the bible, here's just two, plus a bonus (if you don't believe, stick around – you might like where I take this).

• Exodus 20:5,6; “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

• Exodus 34:6,7; “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

And now, the bonus . . .

• 1 Kings 15:1-3; “In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. [...] He committed all the sins his father had done before him. (emphasis added)

Want a headache? If I suffer for the sins of my father, then it is most likely that it is because I imitate the sins of my father! It has very little to do with things that I cannot control, but mostly with the one thing that got humanity in the mess that it is in now – irresponsibility with the freedom of choice. Notice at the end of the first scripture reference, it says, “but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.” Some versions write it this way, “showing love to a thousand generations of those who keep my commandments.” There's your hope. It is simply in the commandment to love one another.

Again, there is no law written that declares that I must do the things that were done in the generation before mine. If I am doomed by the sins of my father, and that because of the mindlessness factor, then I can make a decision to change my values to include the meaningfulness and success of my children and their subsequent generations. Then, a new beginning of a thousand generations is born.

Hope hides within the sin. And the sooner I realize that, the sooner I can establish my own identity, and help to establish the identity of my child.