Sin Virus

When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done.  Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham: “May Canaan be cursed!  May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.” [Genesis 9.24-25]

It was Ham who saw his father naked, but his son Canaan who received the curse for it.  Is there something about this story that we do not know?  Or, is there something important to understand about what happened and the way certain sins propagate themselves?

I seem to recall that when God gave the Law to Moses, there was wording that said children would not suffer for parents' sin.  Granted the Law was given after the era of Noah and his sons, but was that Law not timeless?

That being said, it is no secret that children still suffer repercussions from their parents' indiscretions.  For example children of parents that use drugs often suffer not only socially and economically, but oftentimes physically as well.  Likewise, children whose parents are sexually deviant may experience repercussions  also and, this is apparently what happened to Canaan.  (But why just Canaan and not the other children of Ham?)

Sexual sin seems to stay in families.  This is perhaps the most damning generational sin ever because few ever attempt to discuss it.  What father has ever said to his son, "Son, I am a sexual deviant and therefore I am taking (and you need to take as well) extra measures to insure that you do not follow in my steps."?  It is just not a topic often discussed but it is a problem of immeasurable proportions.  As such, perhaps it would serve all families well, to bite the pride, drop the secrecy, and become proactive in stopping the undeniable thread of sexual sin that vigorously weaves its way down generational lines.

The irony of all this is that for a society to have so many 'family protections' in place socially, there is an awful lot of deviance still going on regardless.

The key is true repentance followed by communication.  Because sexual deviation has some unseen ability to pass through generations, it it not necessary that a child actually be 'trained' into deviant sexual sin.  Like an invisible but viral living being, this sin will survive and pass down through generations morphing into different forms but still remaining deviant sin at its core.  It is like a "sin virus."  As a side note here, poverty works in much the same way.

In the case of Ham, the sexual deviance appears to have been homosexuality.  But sexual deviation is not limited to homosexuality.  Sexual sin is perhaps most prolific in and through pornography and from there finds all kinds of depraved variations.  What I am saying is that if a parent becomes addicted to pornography, as secretly as they may think they do so, they are paving the way for that sin to pass to a near-generation relative (children and grandchildren are the most vulnerable).

It might be argued here, that any sin is inherent to every human being and that the generational sustenance of sexual deviance is not a real thing.  That's a great argument, but in the case of sexual deviation, I would disagree - it seems that sexual deviation is almost genetic (alcoholism seems to follow this same path).  But that still does not make it okay!

There is much more that could be discussed about this topic, but perhaps this intro is enough...

Father, I believe there is some sobering truth in this post today.  Help me - help us all - to drop pride and do what is best in our lives and the lives of those who we precede.