The Sins of the Fathers and the Las Vegas Shooting

I’m still praying, as I’m sure you are, about the tragedy in Las Vegas.  But I’ve also begun to think about what we might learn from it.  Terrible events like this raise lots of questions.  If those questions drive us to God’s Word for answers, that can be a good thing. There’s so much we don’t know yet about the motives for the tragic slaughter in Las Vegas. Might the claim of ISIS that he was converted to Islam be true?  We don’t know.  Might the shooter have somehow been led into a dark, evil despair related to high stakes gambling and the related cesspool of evil? Perhaps, but we don’t know yet.

We do know that the shooter’s father was himself a criminal who lived a life of crime.  This raises questions and issues about the influence of fathers and how the sins of fathers affect their children, grandchildren and descendants. This issue is deeper and broader than the shooting in Las Vegas.  But let’s start there.

Here’s a question:  Did mass murderer Stephen Paddock’s father have a negative influence on him which contributed to his evil act?

Having a father who is a criminal does not automatically turn one into a mass murderer. The shooter’s brother said that they did not know their father (see article here). On the other hand, there does seem to be a link between many mass murderers:  an absent father (see articles here and here and here). Did the combination of his father’s bad example and absence play a role in making Paddock more vulnerable to evil influences? Probably. Does this influence somehow exonerate him?  Of course not.

This leads me to some broader questions; questions which likely have relevance to your life and to the lives of everybody you know.  How do the sins of fathers affect their children? How can it be right that God made it this way? What hope does God give us?

You don’t have to study mass murderers to become aware of the influence of fathers. We all have fathers.  On the one hand, some of the greatest blessings in my life God brought to me through my father’s love and good example and faith. I thank God for my father. But, if I’m honest, it is also true that some of my most difficult struggles came partly through sins in my father’s life. Off the top of my head I could tell many stories about people I know who have experienced similar or worse deep struggles because of their father’s sins. I bet you could, too.

So, what does the Bible have to say about this?

Somehow the Sins of Fathers Affect their Children

CSB Exodus 34:6-7 Then the LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed: Yahweh-- Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

This passage, and several others like it (Exodus 20:5-6, Numbers 14:18, and Deuteronomy 5:9-10), teach that in some way children suffer for the sins of their fathers. But these verses do not give a lot of detail about how this happens.

Our experience certainly verifies that children often suffer for their parents’ sins. One of the many ways in which children may be affected by their parents’ sins is that children sometimes follow in their parents’ sinful footsteps. There are examples of this in the Bible.

Abraham and Isaac, Kings and their Fathers

Out of fear, Abraham deceived the Egyptians into thinking Sarai was not his wife.  This nearly ended in disaster for all involved (see Genesis 12:12-20). Later, Abraham repeated this sin in Gerar (see Genesis 20:1-13).

A generation later, Abraham’s son Isaac was afraid of the Philistines.  He deceived them into thinking Rebekah was not his wife.  This nearly ended in disaster for all involved.  Sound familiar? The stories are even more similar than my short account here reveals (see Genesis 26:6-10). Isaac imitated his father’s sin.

Likewise, the kings of Israel and Judah often followed the sinful examples of their fathers. Here are several examples:

CSB 1 Kings 15:3 Abijam walked in all the sins his father before him had committed, and he was not completely devoted to the LORD his God as his ancestor David had been.

CSB 1 Kings 15:26 Nadab did what was evil in the LORD's sight and followed the example of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.

And concerning King Ahaziah, we read:

CSB 1 Kings 22:52 He did what was evil in the LORD's sight. He walked in the way of his father, in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.

Clearly, fathers can influence their children to sin. Some people call this "generational sin".

Why did God make it this way?  Quite a long time ago while pondering this issue, an analogy came to my mind.

The Water Pipe Analogy

While living in Indonesia we sometimes drove past village areas which did not have piped water.  We would see people carrying heavy containers of water from a stream to their village.  Because water always seeks the lowest point, and villages are built where flooding is less likely, this meant the villagers had to carry heavy containers of water uphill.

If some kind engineer came and installed a simple water pipe system with a pump and some type of power source, what a blessing that would be to the village!  But, what if later an evil man came and secretly injected poison at the suction point of the pump?  The poison made some people sick and others it killed.  Would you blame the engineer who installed the pipes and pump?  Of course, not!

In a similar way, I think that God designed a good system.  He made people in His image and this includes making us able to love others.  He did not design us to be isolated islands, but interconnected.  He made it possible for us to influence and bless others.  He especially gave parents great influence in the lives of their children, and even future generations, so that we could be a blessing to them. 

Now, if we put “poison” in the “pipes”, should God be blamed?  No.  The system He made is a good system.  The system of influence from parents to children and future generations makes it possible for blessings to flow and for us to have the blessing of blessing our descendants.  But when we sin and rebel against God, instead of putting blessing into the “relationship pipes of influence” we put in suffering, sin, and evil. God’s system is good.  We have perverted his system so that it often harms instead of blesses. God help us.

And come to think of it, God does help us!  Praise God, He has not left us to suffer the consequences of our parents’ sin without hope. And now we come to my favorite parts of this post.  Let’s start looking at the hope and good news in Ezekiel 18. While in seminary, I shared from this passage a number of times while volunteering in ministry with youth who had been imprisoned in the juvenile justice system.  Almost 100% of those youth came from broken homes.

Hope from Ezekiel 18

In Ezekiel 18, God corrects a wrong way of thinking that some of the Israelites had.  They thought that God judged the children for the parents’ sin.  God emphatically says that He does not do this.  He explains that if a person has evil parents, but turns away from their bad example, he can live.  Likewise, God warns that if a person has good parents, they still might turn to sin on their own and in that case will come under judgment and die. This teaching is summed up in verse 20:

^NIV Ezekiel 18:20 The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

Because of Ezekiel 18 (and other passages) I believe it would be wrong to interpret God’s words in Exodus 34:6-7 as meaning that God will judge a child for her parents’ sin.  Rather, as mentioned above, I believe it is best to understand Exodus 34:6-7 as teaching that God created a system where the actions of parents have an impact on their children, grandchildren, and even their great-great-grandchildren.  When we sin, the results can ripple down for generations.  And one of the results is that children can imitate their parents’ sins and then they will reap the consequences of those sins.

Now, when I was sharing from Ezekiel 18 with incarcerated young men, I never stopped at verse 20.  That would bring only despair.  Most, if not all, of these young men had already begun to follow the bad example of their fathers (I’m not assuming that every single one of them had a father who was a bad example, but most of them did). In Ezekiel 18, not only is there hope for children with evil parents, there is hope for children with evil parents who begin, early in their life, to follow the evil example.  Thus, God said through Ezekiel:

NIV Ezekiel 18:21 "But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die.

But even this verse does not yet point to the great hope we have in Christ Jesus.  After all, who is able to “turn away from all the sins they have committed and keep all my decrees”?  None of us in our fallen state can do that.  But just a few verses later, at the end of Ezekiel 18, we see a sign which points to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 18:30 "Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.

 ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel?

 ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

When we are influenced by the sins of past generations, and even by the sins of our own past, what we need is a new heart and a new spirit! And how can we get a new heart?  Only by God’s grace through faith in Jesus!

By trusting in Jesus we can be born again with a “new heart and a new spirit”. This is true even though we ourselves have many sins in our past, and we are influenced by the sins of our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents.  The blood of Christ can set us free from all that evil influence. Which brings us to this wonderful passage:

1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Hallelujah! That’s really good news.  Do you have a grandfather who was a racist?  Christ died to set you free from that!  Is there a history of alcohol abuse in your family?  The precious blood of Jesus was shed so that those chains can be broken! What if you parents divorced, or never married?  Through Christ, you can break that pattern.  And what if you already have begun to imitate the “sins of the fathers”?  Your own sins are forgiven when you accept Christ, and God’s power is available to work in you to help you change your habits, even if those habits go back for generations.

More Good News:  In Christ You have been Adopted into God’s Family

Once a person accepts Jesus, their human family is no longer their primary family.  Don’t get me wrong. We still have and honor and love our human families. We also still struggle with the sins and problems in our natural families.  But we have been adopted into God’s family, and God has become our Heavenly Father.  Our destiny is not to be like our human ancestors.  In terms of our character, our destiny is to be like Christ, who is Himself the exact representation of God:

NIV Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Pastoral Advice

Becoming like Jesus is a lifelong process.  Being born again is the beginning.  God has promised to complete the good work He began in you (Philippians 1:6).  Some of this good work involves getting free from sinful patterns in our family backgrounds.  Here is some advice that I hope will help in the struggle:

1.  Pray specifically for freedom and protection from known areas of sin in your family background when you become aware of them.

2.  Know that God forgives you when you ask for forgiveness in Christ.

3.  Don’t expect instant complete easy victory over sinful patterns which have built up over generations.  This isn’t an excuse to sin.  But realize that while God instantly forgives you, the work of changing your habits, thoughts, and character is a lifelong process. Don’t give up and don’t give in!

4.  Be gracious with others.  You don’t know what they may be dealing with from their own family heritage.  Again, this does not excuse sin.  But it does remind us not to judge and to be full of mercy and grace.

5.  There are things we can do which will aide us in growing into Christlikeness and getting free from sinful patterns.  Some people call these the “means of grace” or “spiritual disciplines”.  They are not complicated, but they only work if you actually do them.  Here are the big three:

1. Read and study the Bible.

2. Pray.

3. Go to church and be very active in fellowship, worship, and service with other Christians.

6.  Some family sin patterns are really tough to break.  God sometimes helps through other Christians.  Ask a mature Christian friend, a pastor, or a Christian counselor to listen to your story, to pray with you and for you, and to give you encouragement and wise counsel.

7.  I don’t know how this works, but it seems likely that somehow demons may be involved with some family sin patterns.  Remember, we have authority in Jesus Name over the enemy.  Again, if you suspect this is true and are finding victory difficult, get help from mature Christians. God loves you!  He often shows this love through other Christians.

8.  Only God is our Heavenly Father but, like the Apostle Paul, we can in a limited sense become “spiritual parents” to younger believers in Christ (1 Corinthians 4:15, Galatians 4:19, Titus 1:4).  As you grow in Christ, seek opportunities to provide fatherly/motherly love, guidance, support, and care for younger Christians. We all need this, but be especially alert to opportunities God gives you to care for those whose own families have not provided them the love and truth of Christ.

9.  Being a parent is both a wonderful and terrifying responsibility.  We won’t be perfect.  But knowing that our own lives will deeply impact our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren should be one more motivation to passionately seek to become more like Christ. This principle applies not only to our biological children, but to others whom we influence in Christ. When you fall short as a parent, remember God’s grace and forgiveness applies to you.

10. Never give up.  Keep trusting God. Remember He forgives you and loves you in Christ!

A Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank you that the blood of Jesus was shed to free us from the empty ways of life handed down to us from our ancestors. Help us to become less and less like the sinful examples in our family background, and help us to become more and more like Jesus.  We all need this help, for none of us have anywhere close to perfect human ancestors.  But Lord, we do especially pray for those with very dark and evil family backgrounds.  Let them experience your love, mercy, healing, forgiveness, and grace.  Let them be powerfully changed in Christ and become shining examples of salvation.  Lord, I thank you for people I know who are like that.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .