In this region of my country, there is a traditional belief that the spirit of your ancestors will kill you and your children if your wife has an affair. If you present a cow to your in-laws during your father-in-law’s funeral and you did not do the same during your father’s burial, your ancestors will kill you.<\/p>\n
Are we not redeemed and free from all this when we become Christians? It’s so scary and we believe this because we see people die who are accused of these crimes, or rather when people die mysteriously, they blame it on these beliefs and claim the deceased broke the laws. What is our stand as Christians in this type of society? Is this belief true, and are we bound by them?<\/p>\n\t
“For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun<\/strong><\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The dead are no longer involved in life on earth. Therefore, a person’s ancestors cannot kill their descendants. What you are dealing with is a cultural myth that is used to scare people into behaving.<\/p>\n
“As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith<\/em>” (I Timothy 1:4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Adultery is wrong, but it is the sinner who bears the consequences, not the innocent (Ezekiel 18:20). Just because a person generously gives a gift, it is incorrect that everyone should receive the same gift (Matthew 20:15).<\/p>\n
Christianity turns the world upside down because we follow the truth and are not caught up in myths. Where a tradition or practice does not violate the teachings of God, we try to accommodate our lives in order to be able to teach people the truth. But we don’t follow traditions into sinful behavior. “To those who are without law,<\/em> [we live as though] as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law<\/em>” (I Corinthians 9:20).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: In this region of my country, there is a traditional belief that the spirit of your ancestors will kill you and your children if your wife has an affair. If you present a cow to your in-laws during your father-in-law’s funeral and you did not do the same during your father’s burial, your ancestors…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[109,907],"class_list":["post-60104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-death","tag-myths"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55516,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-christians-sabbath\/","url_meta":{"origin":60104,"position":0},"title":"The Christian\u2019s Sabbath","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton based on an ad by Floyd Chappelear Some people teach that the Ten Commandments are a set of permanent laws established by God at the creation of the world. They believe that Christians are still supposed to be in obedience to these laws, including the law\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/11\/resting-300x130.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5120,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-my-parents-adultery-affect-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":60104,"position":1},"title":"Does my parents’ adultery affect me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a faithful Christian and try to the best of my ability to follow the teachings of Christ. 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