Maligned Without Cause
We hate it when anybody is accused unjustly and there are those who
say God is cruel and vindictive.
They say it because God said that anybody who chose another god above
him would be punished "to the third and fourth generation" (Ex
20:5). As a result, yes, God is charged with being severe and
unjust because he punishes children for something they did not do. I
hear it frequently and there seems to be a case against God.
Before you blame God so easily, look at the facts. Think of the law of
cause and effect and let us understand better what happens out here in
the real world. Parents who want to be free of restraint, ignore the
effects of their choices on others and may well cause suffering to their
children "to the third and fourth generation" (Ex
20:5).
Their children may be unnecessarily impoverished because of bad parental
management, lessons of self-restraint may not have been taught, wrong
associations and friendships have not been curbed, poor time management
means wasted opportunities. And so on. You can think of many
impediments.
Like Adam and Eve, who chose another god above God, the parents gave the
false god a mandate to govern what they, themselves, should have
governed. That false god has every right to claim what they gave him.
So what happens if a child of a misled family ‘turns over a new leaf’
and takes the other option? Does he or she suffer because of what the
parents did? Often the legacy of bad parenting persists through several
generations but these children have broken the law of bondage and the
trend is towards God.
Paul put it this way: "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not
your own? For ye are bought with a price ..." (1st
Corinthians 6:19,20).
We have maligned God without cause when actually it was our God who paid
for us to come back to him through his Son and Jesus paved the road,
"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him
and he in God," (1st
John 4:15). Please, please do not malign the very pavement on which
you walk to God.
Elizabeth Price