Generational Curses

Does the Bible teach generational curses?

The Bible clearly communicates the idea that ‘consequences’ — not ‘curses’ — are passed down from generation to generation. One example is drunkenness. The children of drunkards frequently suffer neglect and abuse as a direct consequence of their parent’s sinful behavior. Then as they grow up, they sometimes make terrible life choices, which affect them and their families.

Secondly, the Bible clearly communicates that each person will be held responsible for their own guilt of sin. The classic Scripture on this is Ezekiel 18:20:

“The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.”

Holy Days

Are Christian holidays, like Christmas and Easter, are they really Biblical because I can't really find them in the Bible?

There is no command in the Bible to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th or any other date for that matter. Likewise, you’ll not find a single word about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus [Easter], although it does fall during the time of the Jewish Passover. So while the holidays, themselves, are based on historical events, they are not biblical—that is, you won’t find Christian Holy Days in the Bible.

I think the question you’re asking is, Is it wrong to celebrate religious holidays? If that is the case, my answer is, NO! I think it would be wrong to ignore them. There is nothing morally wrong with celebrating Christmas, the Resurrection [Easter], or any other religious holiday, such as: Advent, Pentecost, Good Friday, et al.

Worship

What is worship?

Some people consider worship an activity; singing songs of praise, giving to the poor, volunteering for some service to humanity, taking care of the disadvantaged, etc. All of these kinds of things may be “expressions” of worship, but they fall short of defining it.

I particularly like Webster’s Dictionary, which says that worship is, “to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission.”

True worship, in other words, is defined by the priority we place on who God is in our lives and where God is on our list of priorities. True worship is a matter of the heart expressed through a lifestyle of an extravagant love for, and submission to, God.  

Blessed

What does it mean to be blessed?

To many, being blessed carries the idea of good fortune, contentment, and/or pleasure. Interestingly, the Greek word translated ‘blessed’ in the New Testament is makarios, and one of its primary meanings is “happy.” One of my favorite passages about this comes from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount when He gave what we know as the Beatitudes. [Matthew 5:1-12]

In the Beatitudes, we learn that happiness comes from being “poor in spirit,” “mourning,” being “meek,” “hungering” after righteousness, being “merciful,” having a “pure heart,” being a “peacemaker,” and being “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” That’s hardly what we had in mind when we prayed, “God bless Mommy, Daddy, and Pastor Rick!” What the Beatitudes clearly teach is that one cannot be blessed/happy by living a self-centered life.

Of course, the ultimate blessing is to have a genuine relationship with the almighty God through Jesus Christ, His Son. As Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? [Matthew 16:24-26]

Be Holy

What does the Bible mean when is says to be holy like God?

I think the passage you are referring to is “Be holy, for I am holy.” [Found in both Leviticus 11:44; 1 Peter 1:16]

To be sure, biblical terms translated "holy" or "holiness" (Hebrew - qadosh, Greek - hagios) carries a strong secondary meaning of moral purity. But moral purity is not, first and foremost, what Scripture is talking about. Instead, the most basic meaning of the words is to be "set apart." God is separate from all that He created. God wants us to be separate for Him—dedicated to Him. It’s a matter of relationship. “I will be your God, and you will be my people," He said [Leviticus 26:12; Hebrews 8:10].

Unless we rightly understand and affirm the primacy of this relationship, we fall into the inevitable trap of reducing holiness to mere morality.

Better Manuscripts?

How can I reconcile my belief in the inerrancy of Scripture with comments in Bible translations that state that a particular verse is not in better manuscripts?

The New Testament manuscripts were hand copied until the invention of the printing press in the 15^th century. If you ever hand copied anything, you know how easy it is to drop some words or entire lines, or to repeat lines. That happened with the early copyists too. Likewise, a copyist may have made a marginal note to amplify a word, and the next copyist made it a part of the text, thinking that was where it belonged. Since the copying was done reverently, manuscripts vary little overall, except for the occasional “slippage” of this kind. So, manuscript comparison reveals passages that clearly need correcting at this level of detail. We believe the earlier manuscripts to be “better,” being nearer to the original.

That being said, Holy Scripture is, according to the view of Jesus and His apostles, God speaking, instructing, showing, and telling us things, and testifying to Himself through the human witness of prophets, poets, kings, and theological narrators of history. The Bible's inerrancy is not the inerrancy of the published text or version. Rather, scriptural inerrancy relates to the human writer's expressed meaning in each book, and to the Bible's whole body of revealed truth and wisdom.

Betrayal

How can I handle betrayal by a close friend?

You are not alone in this matter. When betrayed, we often respond in anger, which may lead to exacting revenge for our hurt. We want the betrayer to suffer intensely for how they have wronged us.

Jesus encountered betrayal by one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot. I’m sure He struggled with it, but He didn’t throw a fit over it. In fact, on the night of His betrayal, Jesus didn’t even try to stop it. He told Judas to do what was in his mind to do. Jesus was no pushover, yet He acted graciously and kindly.

When hurt by betrayal, I suggest you look to Jesus who loves you, pursues you. and intimately understands the hurt and reality of betrayal.