@xapatotheworld - amen.  i wholeheartedly agree with some of the things you have to say.  for example:  1. learned behaviors/generational sins do exist, and we cannot turn a blind eye to them (i've also seen evidence of it in my family)...this is not to say christ does not have the power to overcome them, but rather to say that we should not deny their presence any more than we should deny the presence of our own sins in our lives.  2. "escapism" and self-pleasure are subtle but serious problems - they can take on so many, many forms...and we often miss them because we are too busy pointing at the other more "obvious" sins.  3. thirdly, we require forgiveness - an enormous amount of forgiveness.  it's not a freedom that we can achieve by our own power. 

@leadworshipper82 - maybe a better example would be a womanizing father.  I think that in general, the stuff I've heard about "generational sins" is incorrect, as far as the source of it.  Many people think that a generational sin is simply a curse that follows a family until the effect has gone through enough generations to have worn off.  But that's not the sense of it at all, and if you look at Scripture, you can clearly see that. 

For the example I introduced of a womanizing father.  His son observes the actions of his father lusting after women, and belittling his own wife, and building up the mental awareness of women being objects of pleasure for men in his son.  His son, without getting training elsewhere, unless he has an absolutely amazing mother (which can happen) picks up that mentality and propogates it to his own children.  His own daughter begins to feel less than worthy, and believes herself just to be in existence to "please" men...so her choices in life are made to line up with that way of thinking.  She herself ends up marrying a man who is a womanizer, because he fits with her mentality on what men want.  Of course, Christ has the power and has broken that line of sin within families, but it doesn't mean that it isn't something that a family has to deal with anymore.  It's a process of healing, of learning what the lies of Satan are and defeating them with Truth.  It's learning that we each have enormous purpose and worth in Christ.  It's learning that husbands are to love their wives as a picture of Christ loving the Church...sacrificial love and service.  But without Christ's redemptive love and life-changing blood, that behavior and belief system will continue on in that family until someone stands up (the change itself will be good, but the motives might not be based on Scripture) and allows for another sin to come in to the family line.  Maybe a woman stands up and decides she's worth more, but then becomes arrogant and hard-hearted, not allowing herself to love anyone or be loved herself. 

As I said, in Scripture, you can see that this idea of "generational sins" is clearly seen.  In the OT, when Korah rebelled against Moses and Aaron, we see that Numbers 16:31-33 records that in God's judgment on Korah, his whole family was consumed in the earth.  Why?  Why judge the whole family?  Because the rebellious spirit in Korah was propogated to his children and kindred.  God was using the 40 years in the wilderness to cleanse the people if Israel, and Korah's rebellious heart was contaminating the people.  Anyone under the age of 20 at the time of wandering was going to enter the Promised Land, and God wanted them to be a holy people.

So, I maintain that generational sins are learned behaviors from parents that can be acted upon by the children.  Children have a choice whether to continue on in the sin of their fathers, or to come under the guidance of Christ and weed sin out of their lives.  It always comes down to a choice...but just because there is a choice doesn't negate the existence of "generational sins."

@christianfarmer@xanga - He visits the sins of the fathers on those who hate Him. Finish the verse. Christians love God and not hate him so the sins of the fathers are not visited upon them. Much harm has been dne by ripping an OT verse out of context and applying it to Christians.

how is buddhism a sin?

Here's what I know. My parents pretended as if they'd grown up angels. I was no angel and boy did I ''rebel'' once I hit college. Sometime after college they finally opened to me and admitted that they both did the exact same things when they were at my age. It was incredibly dissapointing to think that my parents didn't trust me enough to learn something from their mistakes.

That being said... you choose what you do and don't do. "Generational sin" as you refer to it, is a pretty hokey kick to wind up on. I've seen a lot of personal friends get fixated on the idea, only to wind up frustrated and defeated.

Jesus made it quite simple: "Go and sin no more". You're free if you want to be. God's given you the knowledge to break the patterns of your ancestors. Use it.

Don't allow your mind to be focused on blessings and curses. It should constantly be focused on the journey.

@xapatotheworld - no... debate is healthy...  we were talking about the same issue with different wording... it was nice to gain another perspective... you mentioned some points i didn't think about till  you brought it to light.... so thank you...

@Vodjanoj - Well, from what I interpret the curse to be, it's simply a predisposition towards whatever the previous generation did as a sin.