Does the son of a terrorist, who learns evil from his father from a young age incur sin?

[sridatta]

[A questioner asked through Śrī Anil: Suppose there is a son of a terrorist, who learned all bad things from his father from a young age. Will he incur sin for his bad deeds?]

Swami replied: Sin is incurred by both the son and the terrorist father. One may think that the son is innocent, but it is not so. The son was born in that bad family due to his prārabdha karma, which is the residual part of the fruits of his deeds done in the past birth. That prārabdha karma is spent in giving the soul a new birth. The new birth granted will be good or bad, as per the deeds done by that soul. When the prārabdha is bad, even if you separate him from the bad influence of his father, his own nature acquired by him as a result of his bad deeds will eventually grow and get expressed.


By Shri Datta Swami


www.universal-spirituality[.]org

Universal Spirituality for World Peace

[The Barbarian]

The Catholic Church has a doctrine concerning something called "invincible ignorance."

If, for whatever reason, a person is not able to realize that a certain action is sinful, he is not responsible for that sin.

Mark Twain discussed the situation of a man whose relative was killed by a neighbor in a feud. His culture required that he go and kill the neighbor in order for justice to be served. The man was innately kind and he repeatedly found excuses to put off the killing, trying to ignore the prodding of his conscience. But finally his conscience bothered him to the point that he went and did it.

[Purple Knight]

[Replying to The Barbarian in post #11]

As soon as one learns about invincible ignorance, a rational person would immediately stop learning things. You never know when you'll get to a point where you have been duly informed that every action is in fact sinful.

[The Barbarian]

[Replying to The Barbarian in post #11]

As soon as one learns about invincible ignorance, a rational person would immediately stop learning things.

Becoming them, ignorant by choice and not beyond one's ability to learn.

[marke]

Well, God says in the Bible that He will visit the fathers for the sins of the children. Deut 5:9
It simply means that if you taught your children to kill, rape, worship a false god, etc., You will be held accountable for their attetude towards these offences.

You've got that backwards. The sins of the fathers are visited "to the children" (עַל־בָּנִ֛ים). The children are punished for things that their fathers did, not vice versa.

Children do suffer as a result of their father's sins but God does not hold chindren accountable for their father's sins.

Ezekiel 18:20
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.