Introduction
One of the basic problems we have today in Christianity is the trend of uneducated and ignorant men/women pa- rading as pastors, evangelists prophets, etc., who cannot reconcile the sociolog- ical/cultural contexts of the Bible along with other biblical senses and exegetical demands for a better biblical herme- neutics; instead they prefer taking every Biblical word/phrase literarily, and often twisting the Word of God by psycho- logically infusing fear in the minds of their followers in order to ‘milk’ them of their resources. One of these problems is the unfortunate invention of “ANCES- TRAL/GENERATIONAL CURSE”. These “Church leaders” (out of a poor biblical and intellectual foundation) claim that sins or misdeeds of parents or ancestors are the cause of various misfortunes like sickness, barrenness, accidents, debts, deaths, etc. Such erro- neous interpretations have given rise to lots of misunderstandings. This idea has set children at perpetual enmity with their parents. When children tell their parents that it is due to their misdeeds that their own children are not able to find life-partners or that they are barren; imagine the grief and guilt feelings that the old parents could experience from these allegations. This false theory has created more harm than good in our society; all in the name of religion, particularly, Christianity. Particularly, I have heard many people giving wrong interpretations when talking about the ancestral/generational curses men- tioned in the Bible. Unfortunately, many Catholics believe in this deviation; thus, concretizing into heresy. This piece, therefore, sets out to debunk the erroneous belief in genera- tional/ancestral curses from the biblical perspective, and also briefly shed light on the possibility of the existence of covenant and its effects within the African setting, which has apparently been confused as generational/ancestral curses.
Clarification of concepts
Here, we have key concepts such as fallacy, generational, ances- tral, curse, and Christendom. How do we understand them? In clarifying these concepts, we shall be employ- ing the definitions found in “Lexico. com”. Fallacy can be understood as “a mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound arguments.” It also means a “faulty reasoning”. When this idea (of fallacy) is brought into the Catholic setting, and obstinately held or believed in among the baptized, it becomes a heresy. Canon 751 defines heresy as “the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith.” The term generational (according to lexico.com) can be under- stood as “relating to or characteristic of all the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively.” It is also defined as “relating to the differ- ent generations of a particular family.” While generation is simply defined as “a set of members of a family regarded as a single step or stage in descent.” Ancestral is understood as, “belonging to, or inherited from an ancestor or ancestors”, the term “ancestor” is “a person, typ- ically one more remote than a grand- parent, from whom one is descended.” The concept of curse is defined as “a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.” Also, it can be understood as “a cause of harm or misery.” Finally, “Christianity is the religion based on the Person and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, or its beliefs and practices.” Having clarified these concepts, the terms generational and ancestral can be used interchangeably in order to understand the mistaken belief pertain- ing to how a people or set of persons experiencing miserable conditions and setbacks (as punishments from God) believed to be the misdeeds or sins of ancestors or generational line. The fallacy The proponents of the false theory of ancestral/generational curse have some biblical passages that appear to support their claim; however, these biblical passages when taken into consideration contextually in line with other scriptural passages, one would discover that the Bible has nothing to say in this regard and that the whole idea about this is false. Unfortunately, some persons are dying today because of a psychological fear infused in them by their pastors, and not generational curses. Let us now examine the biblical passages carefully, and seek to clarify them: 1. Exodus 20:5 – “For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish a parent’s fault in the children, the grand- children, and the great-grandchildren among those who hate me.” 2. Exodus 34:7 – “Then Yahweh passed before him and called out, ‘Yahweh, Yahweh, God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in faithful love and constancy, maintaining his faithful love to thousands, forgiving fault, crime and sin, yet letting noth- ing go unchecked, and punishing the parent’s fault in the children and in the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation!’” 3. Numbers 14:18 – “Yahweh, slow to anger and rich in faithful love, forgiving faults and transgression, and yet letting nothing go unchecked, punishing the parents’ guilt in the children to the third and fourth generation.” 4. Deuteronomy 5:9 – “For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I pun- ish the parents’ fault in the children, the grandchildren and the great-grandchil- dren, among those who hate me.” These biblical passages have unfortu nately been taken out of context, held and taught wrongly as the basis for gen- erational curses. How are we to better understand those passages?
Clarifying the fallacy
Why did God make those statements above? What was the context? First, God made those statements in the context of giving His Laws to the Israelites as they journeyed towards the Promised Land. Secondly, it was because of the hardened hearts of the Israelites and their tenden- cy to deviate from Him on the journey to the Promised Land. Put differently, seeing their iniquities and hard-hearted- ness, God made those strong statements of punishing those who deviate from His Laws, and consequently their generations, so that they might not be lost and to teach them the seriousness of their sins. However, when they entered the Promised Land, the Israelites were getting the wrong notion of that passage, and as such, God had to clarify them; this we see in the Book of Ezekiel, where God said: “What is this proverb people keep repeating in the land of Israel? ‘The parents ate the sour grapes, but the children got the sour taste.’ As surely as I am the living God, says the sovereign Lord, You will not repeat this proverb in Israel anymore. The life of every person belongs to me, the life of the parent as well as that of the child. The person who sins is the one who will die” (Ezk. 18:1-4). Also, in 2 Kings 14:6, this truth is concretized: “Parents are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their children, and children are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their parents; a person is to be put to death only for a crime he himself has commit- ted”. Even in the New Testament where Jesus healed a blind man and the people (still with their wrongly held belief in generational curse) wanted to know what sin his parents had committed that made him blind. Jesus said that the man was not blind because of the sins of his parents, but so the glory of God could be shown to the world (cf. Jn. 9:2-3). Dear friends in Christ, there is nothing like “Generational Curse”. At conception, the soul is directly created by God. God does not create a soul that is cursed as a result of one’s parent’s misdeeds. One may ask about the Original Sin of Adam and Eve believed to be inherited by everyone as taught by the Bible. Is that not a generational curse? After all, the psalmist says– “O see, in guilt was I born, a sinner was I conceived” (Ps. 51:5). Even Paul notes that “all have sinned” (Rm. 3:23). How do we under- stand these biblical truths? About orig- inal sin, the Bible teaches that through Adam, sin entered through the world, but through Christ, we gain redemp- tion (cf. Rom 5:12). However, there is no personal culpability for that original sin which entered the world; it is a state, not a personal act. Moreover, Baptism through Christ completely wipes away that original sin, past personal sins, and all punishments due for any past sins. It is through baptism that we gain salvation – “baptism now saves you” (1Pet 3:21; also read The Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1265). This was made possible by Christ’s death on the Cross. Put in other words, in order to take away the Sin of the whole world God gave us a Lamb, His own Son (cf. Jn.1:29). In order to prevent the early Christians from holding the wrong belief in ancestral curses, Saint Peter teaches them “You know what was paid to set you free from the worthless manner of life handed down by your ancestors. It was not something that can be destroyed, such as silver or gold. It was the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or flaw” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Having clarified this issue, it is, how- ever, important to look briefly at the reality of Covenants in our Traditional African settings, whose effects have been mistaken for generational curses.
Covenants in our Traditional African context.
The term “covenant” is of Latin origin (con venire), meaning a “coming together”. It presupposes two or more parties who come together to make a contract, agreeing on promises, stipulations, privileges, and responsibilities. According to Richard Ogunleye, “Covenant is a contract under seal, a promise to do or not to do certain acts or that a given state of thing shall exist or not. In modern society, this can be simply called a contract; however, this is a very intimate kind of contract. The basic theme of such a covenant is what is mine is yours”. Covenant, Richard continues, “has three major characteristics. These are: 1). The parties involved. 2). Terms of references. 3).The punishments and rewards that will accompany the obedience or otherwise to the terms of the covenant. Therefore, by the doctrines of the African Traditional Religions, man is expected to be in covenantal relation- ship with his fellow man and his object of worship (deity).” It is worthy of note that covenants can be made on behalf of family members, groups, kindred, community, etc., and it would still re- main valid and binding. This explains why (for example) some parents go into covenants with their local deities on behalf of their family members, and when the parents are not able to meet up with the demands or expectation of the covenant, the parents not only suffer its repercussions but the other members of the family – the children as well, the passive members of that covenant. This is what is often con- fused as generational curse; nevertheless, it is not generational curse. In this case, the children are not suffering for the sins of their ancestors or parents, but facing the anger or torment of the deity with whom the covenant was made, as a way of making them return to the covenant and be faithful to it. In this case, prayers and exorcism would be needed to free those bound by the covenant, at the same time, making a formal rejection of the said deity or deities involved.
Conclusion
Apparently, we have seen that the phrase “ancestral/generational curse” has no basis in our Christian parlance. Thus, having examined the fallacy of ancestral curse, the prof- fered clarifications, and a possible existence of covenants in the Tradi- tional African Religion, I, therefore suggest this piece as a handy solution to those who might have been brain- washed or deceived that their seem- ing perennial problems are as a result of the misdeeds of their parents, which God is punishing them for. In addition, this piece should serve as an enlightenment to those who have probably taught or influenced others into believing and holding a wrong doctrine. As Catholics, this piece should dispel our doubts and heretical beliefs in ancestral curse. Above all, a proper knowledge of one’s background does not need a prophet or pastor to tell them that their parents or ancestors were fetish or probably involved them in a pagan covenant. Thus, if this is the case, one should seek help through the right medium – the Sacraments, prayer, and exorcism from the right minister.
• Rev. Fr. Chinaka Justin Mbaeri, OSJ is an Oblate of St. Joseph on mission in Brazil.
