Read Genesis 11:27-37:1
The following will be organized in a question only format. Later on, in another post, I will give my answers. All comments are warmly welcomed and appreciated. Let me know some of your opinions.
A Question to Consider:
Should someone ever be punished or rewarded for the actions of another?
Q: In athletic events, if one player does something wrong (i.e. misses an easy fly ball), is it fair for his whole team to be punished for it (i.e. lose the game)?
Q:If a child robbed a store, what would our culture say about send the parents of that thieving child to jail?
Q: Why does our culture act differently in these circumstances? Is this biblical?
16 comments:
I believe that in sports it is an excellent thing to do. Not only does it put pressure on each player to do what they are supposed to, but it also emphasis the whole "team" part of team. They're not individual players - they are one. One falls, they all fall.
If a child robbed and store and parents were sent to jail for it? Oh my! That would horrific!...according to today's culture. It's not *their* fault. I mean, it was a child after all. Oh wait...there's that verse...oh shoot! "Train a child up in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Snap. It IS the parents fault!
Eve and Adam's sin of blame shifting (Adam to Eve, then Eve to the serpent) has carried on into this day and age. Before you know it, it will be no one's fault because, well, it doesn't feel good to take the blame for something.
As for question number 3, I'll refer to above. People today are all about feelings and how I feel about this blah blah blah. Blame doesn't feel good..."it's not my fault!". But, you know what, apparently God doesn't believe that way because every human that has lived since the fall has carried the punishment of Eve and Adam's sin. Also, in Israel there were repeated times when only several people - or just one - committed a sin and the whole nation paid for it. Definitely something to think about...
Now here's a question - are our misfortunes a result of sin, almost as a punishment from God? Very interesting thing to think about.
I agree with you on the first question, but not on the second.
For example; What if one of your siblings, in your case it would probably be one of your brothers, were to steal an item from a store. Now I know your parents have taught him stealing is wrong and that the idea is ridiculous to even think as true, but for an example let us use him. Is it the fault of the parents, even if they teach him stealing is wrong, that their son stole something?
So your parents should go to jail for something they didn't do, know is wrong, and trained their children not to do? Because unless they chain your brother to a wall and watch him every second of the day, he will be by himself or away from them quite often.
Hopefully the teaching and training he has received will keep him from doing wrong, but he has a choice that he alone must make. Not the parents. He must decide whether or not to do right or wrong. Either choice he makes he must suffer the consequences of his actions.
Now if the parents neglected their child and he didn't know whether stealing was right or wrong, then the blame is on the parents, not the child, for neglecting to train up a child in the way he should go.
But, if the parents had not stumbled and taught their children in the way they should go as God commanded, their child would have not made such a mistake and would not have departed from their parents teachings, as it says in Proverbs 22:6.
They obviously neglected some part of their child's training of he stole something.
I think both of you are right. And I think that I'm a pretty good example of what you guys are talking about. I was the "Guinea Pig" if you will of my parents child rearing. Every mistake was made on me. And yeah, I'm kind of lacking in training because my parents didn't train me in the way they are now training my siblings. But that doesn't mean that I'm not learning now. I'm learning late because of them, but I'm learning. And that's really the point. It can only be the parents fault to a certain point. I think there is such a thing as personal sin and inherited sin. That's just my opinion on this conversation :] Continue.
I don't mean to sound rude, but you can't think both of us are right. Each side is polar opposites with no middle ground.
I agree with you Nonners - I do believe that one can inherit sin from outside sources. And I really don't expect parents to train their children perfectly. I was just saying it is the parent's responsibility to train their children the right way, and to an extent they are responsible for their children's actions. BUT, ultimately the individual is responsible with their actions.
One of us is saying parents are responsible, if their children steal something and the other is saying that the children are responsible.
Jonathan - actually Nonners is right, Jon. She's a very good friend of mine and we were having a private conversation about it and got exactly what I meant - something you were missing.
The children are directly responsible. The parents are non-directly responsible.
Umm..Kait? You're disagreeing with your first comment. (If a child robbed and store and parents were sent to jail for it? Oh my! That would horrific!...according to today's culture. It's not *their* fault. I mean, it was a child after all. Oh wait...there's that verse...oh shoot! "Train a child up in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Snap. It IS the parents fault!)
Yes. That's not contradicting. I was explaining further what I meant. Sure, the child should be whooped for stealing and definitely punished, and I don't think that parents should go to jail(I mean, God's not sending parents to hell for their kids sins), my point was that culture today has taken it too far and say it's not the parents fault AT ALL. Perhaps I should have been clearer.
Look. I'm sorry I disagree with you. I respect your position and thank you for the discussion.
She's not really disagreeing with her first comment. She just didn't articulate it all the way. She really does agree with you...I think. But you're just not getting that because your still basing your conversation off her first comment. Which I get.
Yes I agree with Nonners. I do agree with you to a point, the children are responsible for their actions, I just think the parents have a responsibility to train their children correctly, and I think that culture today has totally forgotten that.
I agree.
Me too. :P
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