Well, it's been over seven years since I've written a post so I'm long overdue...

I've been thinking a lot lately of something that I've seen happening in our society that really is disturbing and that is this:

Everyone has problems and issues in life and that fact reminds me of the words of Scripture as recorded in the book of Job: "...as sparks fly upward man is born unto trouble..."

Yes, "troubles" are everywhere but what happens so often is a person's tendency to blame their problems on some external forces rather than taking personal responsibility for any consequences of their attitude and actions or inactions.

Primarily however the blame is often placed on the person's parents and their upbringing.

Christians often fall into this same trap also as is anyone who is aware of the fact that much of our lives are shaped by those first few years of life.  In the Biblical passage which contains the 10 commandments (Exodus 20) we read the following:

"...for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate me..."

Of course, the following words must be included:

"...and shewing mercy unto thousands of those who love and keep my commandments..."

The attitude that "...I'm this way because of my childhood..." or "...he's that way because his parents didn't raise him properly..." is common.  It is also wrong.

Here are two passages of Scripture, both from the Old Testament, which corrects that wrong idea:

One is in Jeremiah 31 where it appears from the prophet's words that there was a common belief in the inevitability of children getting the same problems as their fathers and Jeremiah states that that will no longer be the case:  "...I will watch over them saith the Lord...In those days they shall say no more 'The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge' and in the following verse he says: "...but everyone shall die for his own iniquity - every man that eateth the sour grape, his (own) teeth shall be set on edge...".

Deeper exegesis can be done on this passage but that is unnecessary as Jeremiah's point is obvious.  The prophet Ezekiel also spoke on this same concept, the principle that people must take personal responsibility for their actions.  The passage is Ezekiel 18, the entire chapter of 32 verses.  He states the same principle that Jeremiah stated but with much more elaboration.  Verse 20 contains a key phrase:  "...the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son...".

I have seen this "blame the parents" scenario played out many times and there is a common thread with all who take up that wrong idea:  Immaturity;  Spoiled brats who never grew up.
Proverbs 23:13 - "...Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod he shall not die...".

Yes, permissiveness is deadly and although that causes youthful rebellion the Scripture clearly indicates that an adult person is held personally responsible for his/her actions.

Recently the news media has published accounts of a young man who claims to not be responsible for his criminal actions due to a condition called "affluenza".  Yes, there are those who even attempt to use the "blame the parents" idea in an attempt to become not legally liable for their criminal actions.

In the political realm, this condition is much more prevalent in the so-called 'liberal' camp.
However, that's an entirely different blog.