Does it say that your kids will suffer for your sins?

Answer 1

God doesn't make us suffer. Answer: Yes and no. The Bible does teach that the consequences of your sins affect your loved ones, your children, both directly and immediately and generationally. Directly and immediately as in what affects you affects those closest to you, and all sin carries dire negative consequences, and those consequences are not just felt and experienced by you but also by those close to you, even your children. (An example of this: you stole from your job, you got fired and now you have no job, cant pay your bills, and now you have threatened your families security, which of course is a direct felt result by your loved ones of your sin). But also there is generational sin. This isn't something spooky and overly mystical, its really quite practical and should be sobering to any parent. It simply means, your good and your bad gets passed along to your kids. The reason is obvious, your child learns how to behave and socially interact primarily by you, especially when they are young. It is what you do that teaches them, not what you say. If you practice habitual sins, regardless of the sort, they will pick up on this, and very likely will struggle with these same issues as they grow up. This is why it is critical, especially for a parent, to walk in the "Fear of the Lord", and carefully tread, because your every step is being watched, by those you love most, and are learning from you, good or bad. Now having said that, while the Bible does teach those concepts, it also teaches that God will not JUDGE some ones child for the sins of the father. This is different in that while that child may have in fact become "handicapped" in some ways as a direct result of your lifestyle of poor decision making and habitual sin, there still is the grace of God, and God will grant opportunity to your children to NOT follow in your footsteps, where you erred, if they will but turn to Christ, and learn of Him through His Word, the Bible. They are not destined or doomed to fall into your same sins, though the temptation to do so may be stronger for them than for someone else, there is still the grace of God which is what offsets Gods Judgement, but is only fully realized through Christ.