{"id":5768,"date":"2014-09-05T00:05:52","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T07:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=5768"},"modified":"2014-09-04T10:19:35","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T17:19:35","slug":"ezekiel-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2014\/09\/05\/ezekiel-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Ezekiel 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word of the LORD came to me: \u201cWhat do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: <\/p>\n

\u201c \u2018The parents eat sour grapes,
\nand the children\u2019s teeth are set on edge\u2019? <\/p>\n

\u201cAs surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child\u2014both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die. <\/p>\n

\u201cSuppose there is a righteous man
\nwho does what is just and right.
\n He does not eat at the mountain shrines
\nor look to the idols of Israel.
\nHe does not defile his neighbor\u2019s wife
\nor have sexual relations with a woman during her period.
\n He does not oppress anyone,
\nbut returns what he took in pledge for a loan.
\nHe does not commit robbery
\nbut gives his food to the hungry
\nand provides clothing for the naked.
\n He does not lend to them at interest
\nor take a profit from them.
\nHe withholds his hand from doing wrong
\nand judges fairly between two parties.
\n He follows my decrees
\nand faithfully keeps my laws.
\nThat man is righteous;
\nhe will surely live,
\ndeclares the Sovereign LORD. <\/p>\n

\u201cSuppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these other things (though the father has done none of them):<\/p>\n

\u201cHe eats at the mountain shrines.
\nHe defiles his neighbor\u2019s wife.
\n He oppresses the poor and needy.
\nHe commits robbery.
\nHe does not return what he took in pledge.
\nHe looks to the idols.
\nHe does detestable things.
\n He lends at interest and takes a profit. <\/p>\n

Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he is to be put to death; his blood will be on his own head.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things:
\n \u201cHe does not eat at the mountain shrines
\nor look to the idols of Israel.
\nHe does not defile his neighbor\u2019s wife.
\n He does not oppress anyone
\nor require a pledge for a loan.
\nHe does not commit robbery
\nbut gives his food to the hungry
\nand provides clothing for the naked.
\n He withholds his hand from mistreating the poor
\nand takes no interest or profit from them.
\nHe keeps my laws and follows my decrees. <\/p>\n

He will not die for his father\u2019s sin; he will surely live. But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people. (Ezekiel 18:1-18) <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tYou are not being punished for the sins of your parents; there is no such thing as a generational curse. I suppose that if your parents were drug users and in and out of jail, poor, homeless, and you didn\u2019t always get fed, that you are, in that way, suffering on account of your parents. But that\u2019s just the circumstances you happen to be in\u2014the natural consequences of your parents\u2019 bad choices. It is not God\u2019s judgment on you. God does not hate you. You are not being punished. You are not bound by your parents\u2019 choices, nor do you have to repeat what they have done. Each person is punished for what they do, not for what other people do. Your suffering, if you are suffering, is a consequence of collateral damage, not God\u2019s judgment on you.<\/p>\n

\tLikewise, you are not your children. They are free and will do what they will; they will make their own choices, and their choices will not always be the best. But that\u2019s on them, not on you, nor is it a reflection on you or your parenting. God is not responsible for the choices that Adam and Eve, or their descendants have individually made. So why should you think you\u2019re responsible for your children\u2019s choices? That is their doing\u2014and our doing. We did not always choose wisely; don\u2019t be surprised that your children aren\u2019t always choosing wisely, either. <\/p>\n

Your job as a parent is to always be there for your children and to love them. You are not to blame, and you do not have the power to shield them from their bad choices or the consequences of them. You do not have the power to make other people conform to your desires.<\/p>\n

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The word of the LORD came to me: \u201cWhat do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: \u201c \u2018The parents eat sour grapes, and the children\u2019s teeth are set on edge\u2019? \u201cAs surely as I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5768"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5774,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5768\/revisions\/5774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}