Are we to repent for our ancestors past sins?

[Aquila]

I'm in complete agreement with much of what you guys are saying. However, what I'm talking about isn't necessarily what you're talking about.

I'm not talking about being embarrassed over any ancestors. However, I do believe there are situations wherein we should be disgusted or even repulsed by the actions of our ancestors. For example, if one's ancestors were Nazis, confirmed slave traders and slave owners, etc. We shouldn't white wash or romanticize these things. They should be denounced and held as being abhorrent.

I'm not talking about being judged in the judgement over another's sins, or being able to somehow earn forgiveness for our ancestors.

I'm not talking about sackcloth and ashes over a single ancestor's shooting spree or robbery.

I'm talking about being judged for not trying to right wrongs, mend generational wounds, and moving forward with amends, and a clean break from sins perpetuated in families when possible.

For example, the Pope's formal acknowledgment of the atrocities and persecutions committed by the Roman Catholic Church during the Inquisitions. German acknowledgement of the atrocities of the Holocaust. United States official apologies to native peoples acknowledging various atrocities committed against their people.

When I was a younger man, I considered taking a missions trip to Vietnam. You see, my dad served in Vietnam on a Howitzer 155, leveling entire villages, and he didn't just kill military targets. Something in me wanted to bring the Word if life to the Vietnamese people, on account of my father's bringing of death. Vets often get it. One very moving film I saw years back had soldiers from both sides of the Pacific front in WWII meeting and weeping together. A repentant heart can mend pain that might be carried for generations.

Sometimes there's nothing we can do but offer acknowledgement and apology. But we should be open to making restitution or reparation when and where possible.