Any connection between sin and illness?
A Christian friend is trying to tell me my son is being punished with severe illness (or his recovery is being hampered) because of things he believes I've done in the past, specifically he believes I have not forgiven some people in my past who hurt me. There are so many conflicting Scripture passages about children being punished for sins of their parents. What is WELS teaching?
In the Old Testament Job had some friends who tried helping him by explaining the source of the difficulties he was experiencing in life. Their “insight” was not helpful because they were misrepresenting God by telling Job that God was punishing him for past sins.
Job’s friends were not the only people wrongly to connect the dots between earthly problems and sin. One day during Jesus’ ministry, the Lord and his disciples came upon a man who, from birth, had no eyesight. Jesus’ disciples asked: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The Lord answered: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:2-3).
Job’s friends and Jesus’ disciples needed to understand how God does and does not operate. God does not punish his children for their sins. He has already punished his Son Jesus in their place. Might the Lord chastise or discipline Christians? Yes, but the motive is entirely different from punishment. When God disciplines, he acts out of love and for the good of his children (Hebrews 12:7-11).
God’s words about “punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:5) refer to people outside the faith. When there is persistent unbelief from one generation to the next, God can certainly bring down judgment on people in this life for their sins.
I take it that your friend’s assertion that you have failed to forgive others is unfounded. Considering that, I would encourage you to ignore his interpretation of your son’s illness. God bless you and your family.