1.1. Exodus 20:5 = You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
1.2. Exodus 34:7 = maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."
1.3. Num 14:18 = `The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.'
1.4. Deut 5:9 = You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
1.5. 2 Samuel 12:14 = But because by doing this you [David] have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."
1.6. 2 Samuel 21:6 = let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and exposed before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul--the Lord's chosen one." So the king said, "I will give them to you." 7 The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8 But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah's daughter Rizpah, whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9 He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed and exposed them on a hill before the LORD. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.
1.7. 1 Kings 21:29 = "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."
1.8. Isaiah 14:21 = Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the sins of their forefathers; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities.
1.9. Jeremiah 16:10 = "When you tell these people all this and they ask you, `Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?' 11 then say to them, `It is because your fathers forsook me,' declares the LORD, `and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.
2. entire nations were cursed for the sins of their forefathers
2.1. Gen 9:24 = When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."
2.2. Genesis 15:16 = In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.
2.3. Deut 28:18 = The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
2.4. 1 Kings 2:33 = May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the LORD's peace forever."
2.5. 2 Kings 5:27 = Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.

wait there is more....

1. Prov 3:11 = My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, 12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
2. Galatians 6:2 = Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
3. 2 Tim 3:12 = In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
4. Hebrews 12:6 = because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
<< Persecution and scourging hardly sound like the concomitants of an easy yoke and a light burden.
5. 1 Peter 4:12 = Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.

6. following Jesus causes division
Luke 12:51 = Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

7. specific followers went through lots of pain
1. Job 2:7 = So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
2. Psalm 38:7 = My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.
3. Psalm 38:17 = For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.
4. Psalm 48:6 = Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor.
5. Psalm 66:10 = For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. 11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.
6. Psalm 69:26 = For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
7. Psalm 69:29 = I am in pain and distress; may your salvation, O God, protect me.
8. Ecclesiastes 3:10 = I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
9. Isaiah 21:3 = At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.
10. Jeremiah 4:19 = Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry.
11. 2 Corinthians 12:10 = That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
12. 1 Thessalonians 3:7 = Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith.
13. 2 Thessalonians 1:4 = Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
14. 2 Timothy 3:11 = persecutions, sufferings--what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

and more....

1. Leviticus 19:14 = "`Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.
2. Leviticus 25:17 = Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God.
3. Leviticus 25:36 = Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you.
4. Leviticus 25:43 = Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.
5. Deuteronomy 6:2 = so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
6. Deuteronomy 6:13 = Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.
7. Deuteronomy 6:24 = The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.
8. Deuteronomy 10:20 = Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.
9. Deuteronomy 31:12 = Assemble the people--men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns--so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law.
10. Deuteronomy 31:13 = Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."
11. Joshua 4:24 = He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God."
12. Joshua 24:14 = "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
13. 1 Samuel 12:14 = If you fear the LORD and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the LORD your God--good!
14. 1 Samuel 12:24 = But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.
15. 2 Samuel 23:3 = The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: `When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God,
4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.'
16. 1 Chronicles 16:25 = For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
17. 2 Chronicles 19:9 = He gave them these orders: "You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the LORD.
18. Nehemiah 5:9 = So I continued, "What you are doing is not right. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?
19. Job 28:28 = And he said to man, `The fear of the Lord--that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'"
20. Psalm 2:11 = Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.
21. Psalm 15:4 = who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
22. Psalm 25:14 = The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.
23. Psalm 34:7 = The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
24. Psalm 34:9 = Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.
25. Psalm 36:1 = An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.
26. Psalm 96:4 = For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
27. Psalm 103:13 = As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

Is there any plausibility to this argument? This amongst other factors, it seems, has led her to dismiss a belief in God. Any feedback would be appreciative, for I am not as studied in the Old Testament.
God Bless
Paul

Our natural greatness is seen as part of God's image, and that natural greatness has been conferred on us to enable us to achieve our supernatural destiny:to be related to God and to obey him freely.---Diogenes Allen

Edited by - faithfullservent on 01/10/2002 2:04:21 PM