I (Doug) go back and forth on this kind of thing. Sometimes I see something that makes me believe — and other times, not so much. Marilyn Hickey has finally written a book on the subject. Guess I need to read it and make a decision. Where do YOU land on the topic of generational curses?
In my book 10 Steps to Freedom, I address it.
OT Scripture says the sins of the fathers affect future generations. Not that the future generations are guilty, but that they will be impacted by them.
The disciples asked Jesus, “Who sinned? This man or his parents, that he was born blind.” Jesus could have said, “His parent’s sins wouldn’t affect him. However, instead, Jesus simply said, “neither, but that the works of God might be made manifest.”
The implication? It could have been the parent’s sins.
We were exposed to this concept before we started ministry. My wife and I reflected on our own family trees and noticed some disturbing trends going 5+ generations back. So we applied what we were taught, putting a spiritual stake in the ground, with prayer and confession, and proclamation, and we are happy to say that we have avoided those “curses” if you will. Whether they were curses or just plain ole sin multiplying itself forward, we don’t know. We are just thankful for the trainer/counselor that steered us to these resources.
No such thing!
Believers are in Christ
I find that most victory in the Christian life is not automatic because I belong to Christ. I have to: put on the new man, put off the old man, keep on resisting the schemes of the devil, persist in fervent prayer. In my childhood formation I learn certain ways of showing up in the world to be OK, whether safe from danger & threat or accepted & liked by others – which over time became automatic and sometimes unconscious. Many of those ways serve me well in my youth but are not helpful with a spouse, children, and ministry… and I need to break free of them and learn new ways.
Those earlier ways of being seem to me a combination of my own tacit choices and the reinforcement of my family of origin. And when things repeat over generations, it is legitimate to ask how much is nurture and how much spiritual generational transmission (curses & blessings)? So given the verses that Eddie Smith referenced, why would I exclude the possibilities of identifying generational familial patterns and addressing them at the level of spirit, mind, habit, and will?
Don’t put all your solutions in the spiritual basket, nor the obedience basket, nor the psychological basket. We are integrated humans and we need multi-faceted and integrated spiritual formation.