May 1
DNA and SIN
The curse of sin and the act of sin are as different as apples and apple pie. To be born from the apple tree does not mean one will become the pie. In other words, one can be born with a certain tendency and never have the problem or commit the act that their father did or their bloodline had.
Sin itself is not passed down through the DNA – because sin is a verb – it is an action. But continued and repeated acting on a destructive or deteriorating tendency may eventually destabilize the family DNA.
For example, it is proven that certain problems, especially addictive tendencies, such as alcoholism, or drug addictions are passed down from generation to generation.
What I am saying above in no way removes the responsibility for the choices each one of us makes. Each of us has to answer to God for those choices. I do not believe sin is passed down, again sin can only be charged to the one who committed the action, but the curse resulting from the sin may well be and that curse might well be a shift in the very structure of the descendants DNA.
We are not forced by DNA to do anything, but I still ask is there a tendency toward certain sinful actions that are passed down? Can prolonged or continual sin actually damage our DNA and in so damaging cause that DNA to be passed down to the next generation?
Thus all the more need for “TRANSFORMATION” and the life that follows that transformation. The essential need for transformation after salvation cannot and must not be under estimated! There is more to salvation than being reconciled to the Father and it is found in the life of Jesus (Romans 5:10).
In my next posting I’ll look at blessings and DNA.
Blessings,
John Paul
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“We are not forced by DNA to do anything, but I still ask is there a tendency toward certain sinful actions that are passed down?”
Most probably yes. When the temptation comes it would be harder for one to resist would it not? This tendency toward a certain sin can be translated as having a greater weakness for the temptation that leads to this type of sin.
“Can prolonged or continual sin actually damage our DNA and in so damaging cause that DNA to be passed down to the next generation?”
Hmm… would generational curses prove this to be true?
Re: Transformation
“Behold I am making all things new…” Rev 21:5
A pastor explained this by saying it’s like when you buy something new, say a shower curtain. With use, it gradually fades and becomes old. The meaning of this verse is the same concept in the opposite direction.
Be transformed…be made new…and newer tomorrow.
HELLO John Paul I have often wondered if Davids sin with Bathsheba was tied to his ancesters namely Rahab. Did he have a desire to procreate with many women. Would this be a generational curse. Orrrr maybe I read more into the story than is there. HUGS to you John Paul
John Paul:
I stand corrected. What I should have said was the affects of unrepentant sin are passed down from generation to generation. And these are curses. I can’t wait for you to talk about blessings and DNA too! I would be interested to hear what you have to say about that as well!
Blessings To You Too!
Shirley C.
I can understand how behaviours and habits are passed down from one generation to the next as we learn by example. Take young children and something like swearing. They pick it up really easily from adults as they learn by copying an adults behaviour. Then the behaviour becomes a habit. And habits are hard to break. This goes also for fear and worry which is big in my family. My parents are fearful and worry a lot and therefore I have been brought up in an environment where mans fear has been stronger than faith in God’s ability to care for us or control our future. Hence I battle the fear that my parents have been unable to overcome.
I also believe that one generation’s unwholeness can manifest in the next generation especially if the first generation keeps it hidden. I believe this is particulary so with sexual sin.
Does sin it affect our DNA? Probably..
But dont we have God’s DNA when we become Christians? We are told that we are children of God hence there must be a DNA adjustment as we grow in Christ. Hey! I have God’s DNA inside me!! He is my building block for life!
Wow John Paul! I haven’t had time to read the blog for a while and I click on it today and BAM!!! I am going through the Elijah House Basic I which is all about inner healing, deliverance and the “TRANSFORMATION” process.
As I’ve been going through the process I’ve been having dreams about generational DNA tendencies and issues and believe Holy Spirit is revealing them so that they can be taken to the Cross of Christ and broken off of me and the generations to come!!!
Thanks for sharing the wisdom and insight that God has blessed you with and for teaching and encouraging us!
Love & Blessings,
Kim
Fascinating! Thank you sir!
Wow, this is weighty, JP. I don’t know anything about the DNA aspect, but it is interesting. I agree with John and Paula Sandford’s teaching that as we tend to judge our parents for their sins (breaking the 5th commandment and losing the blessing attached to it) we start the cycle of repeating that sin in our lives. So in a sense, it is “passed down.” I think that because “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he,” it is our thinking/beliefs that gets us into trouble, and “makes us who we are.”
It is amazing how easily my mind can be consumed with judgmental thoughts. I have been trying to pay attention to what I’m thinking about (as you have said–where I am focusing) and repent. This is bringing me more freedom from destructive judging, and less condemnation as well.
It is sobering to me as a parent that my children are being imprinted by how I react to others, how I discuss situations where I have been wronged, or I am wrong, etc. These are the areas where they are truly learning from me. I don’t want to pass down ungodly beliefs, behaviors, etc. I want my ceiling to be their floor. When I pass something to my kids, I don’t want it to be the bitterness I refused to deal with. I see repentance more and more as the door to freedom and safety in my life.
Praying for you, JP.
Arlene
Well, if a curse can be “carried” in ones DNA from previous generations, then I believe that when the carrier is exposed to temptation or attack, by the spiritual enemy that is in charge of “afflicting” man in that particular area, it will be easier for him to make a connection with the individual, because there is already a chemical imprint in ones DNA of the curse in that area…
I also believe that when we receive Gods DNA at rebirth, it is a spiritual one, and not a physical one. I also believe that the physical DNA of God is yet for us to receive. I believe that at that time, we will be given a body like Jesus’ when he was raised from the dead and walked through the door to meet His disciples…A spiritually physical eternal body…
Just a couple of thoughts…
God Bless!
JP writes: “There is more to salvation than being reconciled to the Father and it is found in the life of Jesus (Romans 5:10).”
You betcha! It’s been around 25 years since I met Jesus and I know for sure I’ve been ’saved’. The trouble is that I didn’t know me. Those 25 years have been, and still are, a journey of discovering who I am in God’s eyes and entering in to the transformation process. Whereas in the past I’ve accepted God’s view of me somewhat unenthusiastically and accepted the refining as required but not especially desirable, I now invite Him to search me and I embrace what He reveals. I guess it’s called submission, and it’s a whole lot easier and more rewarding than resisting.
I beleive all of our actions and thoughts and spoken words effect our DNA.
Have you ever seen the book or videos by the scientiest Emotu? (i think thats how its spelled) “THE SECRET MESSAGES OF WATER”???
IF his studies are true, and the molecules change according to what was spoken over the water, then i think our words, actions, and family traditions and behaviours do affect our DNA and I do beleive that sin curses are passed through the family, but then when we accept the grace- of the gospel we no longer are under the curses because we are born again.
Just as it is for the darkness, i beleive actions of light, and truth also change our DNA. I think our DNA is constantly changeing, though i have no scientific understanding to prove it.
I had a dream once where a hair brush was combing through a double helix picture and pulling out strings. I think that somehow they will figure out one day how to pull out different threads of DNA structures and change them to change the persons behavior, thoughts etc.. it sounds like mad science, but after having that dream, i beleive its possible.. though i am not sure how that would work. If this happens, than people could be controlled to respond how others wanted them to respond (and I heard there are studies in this area with electrical impulses sent to the brain), a losing of the soul factor, and thus.. a generation that would have a mark of systematic anti-christ instead of Christ and freedom. Maybe that is part of the scema of the end. I don’t know, and I am not starting any new theologies here because I don’t really care about end time doctrines..but.. for the sake of thought.. there it is.
I heard that a couple of years ago a man won a Nobel Prize for his scientific experiments proving that memory is stored at a cellular level. Thus, validating the truth of our DNA being affected and possibly changed by the experiences we have which are embedded in our memories/cells. That also would show the importance of inner healing, especially allowing God to bring forth truth regarding negative experiences that result in strongholds being established. Very interesting stuff, because it also shows how our actions/beliefs/thinking patterns/behavior affect those who come after us, and how we are all connected! I do agree that it all comes down to choice. We can use these things for excuses, but when all is said and done, we are who we choose to be. May we all choose Christ and Him alone.
Potter’s clay comes to mind. Clay, by nature, remains weak and pliable, even under the molding hand of the potter. Only after it’s placed in the furnace and water is removed will the potter’s intended shape become permanent. The transformation that occurs is a process of years, and, that, the sheer longevity of it, to me, is the hardest part. Salvation is instantaneous, as are many inspirations and revelations. I find I have to have a deeper hope, a longer lasting vision that promotes sanctification. This is the principle that guides me through this process, when I see no deep insights, when I am merely human. Otherwise, I find my soul to be one who, like the water in the clay, tends towards the path of least resistance. I droop, fall and return to my unsightly, spiritually lifeless heap of clay if I do not allow the Lord’s heat to refine me on a constant basis.
This drew to mind the old principle of physics that there are only two states of energy: kinetic and potential. Sin, unless it is an action, is only potential. Once it shifts from the potential state to the kinetic state it becomes an action. All along, the same energy existed. Only after it went from potential to kinetic (or actual) did it become sin as we know it, something for which the actor (the sinner) can be judged. Until then, it is only potential. We are all potential sinners, even Christ. But, in actuality, that is where God looks. What did you do? The question won’t be, what could you have done? This also works when looking at things for the blessing of God that will come from his judgements.
About DNA and sin specifically, though it is slightly out of context, how would you view DNA in the context of 1 Corinthians 15:46? I know the Corinthians passage is specifically referring to the natural Adam preceding supernatural Adam. But, can anything be drawn from the principle of the “natural before the spiritual” with regards to DNA and sin?
Sorry for the longwindedness.
maybe the distinction is between INIQUITY and SIN. iniquity is what is passed down the spiritual genetic line and not so much sin. it is iniquity that causes and brings on the curse. iniquity is warping the truth so that black is white. the way i understand it, if i commit abortion once vs thinking that abortion liberates women and empowers them. the first is sin/transgression and the second is iniquity. the first has no gentic inheritance but the second has a curse associated with it and the next generation must deal with the consequences of the first genreation.
what do you think?
Blessings and DNA - I love it! Can’t wait to read it.
As the parent of one biological and one adopted child, I find this study very interesting. I want to pass down blessings to BOTH of my children.
God is so very good.
–renae
http://www.renaebrumbaugh.com
Just a thought….DNA determines anatomy and we change that anatomy through circumcision. In parallel thought, our nature is partly determined by our DNA but we can circumcise part of that nature if needed. We are not doomed to live with all our DNA determines.
About a year ago the Lord awakend me to this subject. I live by a high school, so on the way to work I pray for the young ones walking to school. Holy Spirit highlighted a young man to me in an unusual way. I knew, felt and saw way back in his family line during slave days the atrocities his ancestors experienced and the darkness that came inside them that was distructive, which has infected every generation since with failure. Then I seen a woman (ancestor) working in the fields, Holy Spirit said that there was 1 christian in his blood line that prayed for freedom. I was very aware of the blood within him screaming out destruction yet that womans’ faith for freedom crying out- all within him. Very strange experience! Holy Spirit led me to pray for him, and told me that young man is marked for greatness. Since then I’ve been able to recognize this more and greatly desire more understanding on this subject. Bloodline/DNA stuff is intriguing, please gives us illumination oh God!
Thank you John Paul for opening up this blog. I have been reading through not only this entry but also those that have been previously entered. The discussions are intriguing and I hope are enlightening to all of your readers.
I do believe that our sin nature is inherent in our DNA: we have all been born of the first Adam, however, when we receive Christ, I believe we receive the blood line of Christ. The blood transfusion gives us the ability (power)and the liberty (freedom)to choose what is right and Godly.
Our battle isn’t in whether or not we have God’s DNA but in believing that He has given us the power to be transformed. As you have said in the past, and as the bible tells us, the enemy is the deceiver. He wispers in our ears, for example, “Do you really believe that you are an overcomer?” His questioning is subtle and undermining of what God says in His word about us.
Coming out of an abusive family circumstance, I have had to overcome many obstacles in my life. I have had to make my stand with God and determine in my heart that what was passed down from my parents stops here and now. So although I had the transfusion of DNA when I received Christ, I still had to believe and work out the truth of His love, mercy, grace and power in my life. In other words I still had to work out my salvation and stand on the truth of God’s word.
God’s word says we are more than overcomers through Christ Jesus and that we lack nothing; He has given us everything we need to grow into Him, we need only put what God has given us into action.
I am not trying to diminish the difficulty sometimes of the work of overcoming just that we have what is takes in Christ.
Love to all you overcomers and strugglers,
BCP
Hi, I’m new here, nice to meet you:)
I believe we are blessed far more than we are cursed via our family tree…and the enemy will do everything he can to hide that from us.
I overcome who the devil says I am, by listening to what Christ says about me…
there’s no other way
My partents sin, my parents parents sin…my own sin, was paid for by His blood and the only thing I can offer Him in return, is to believe what He says and love Him with my imperfect heart. I have to trust Him, I would be a fool not to. He has never once lied to me and when I sin, I know where to go. He is gracious and stern, and restores me.
His love is life