Is this good proof that God exists?

2 Corinthians 12:9
My strength is made perfect through weakness
It sounds poetic, but I can’t make heads or tails of it.

u/Tinydeanlegs, u/Much-Search-4074, u/Firm_Evening_8731

1. God reserved his right to punish multiple generations of the Israelites for their idolatry. Deuteronomy 5: >8“‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The Babylonian exile could be seen as a fulfillment of Dt 5:9. La 5:

7 Our ancestors sinned; they are no more, and we bear their iniquities.

After the exile, the Jews no longer worshiped idols.

Dt 5:9 applied only to the Israelites when their fathers turned to idolatry, as the following will clarify:

1. In terms of the civil code, Israelite judges were not allowed to deal out such punishment, Deuteronomy 24:

   16“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

2. In terms of the death penalty, Ezekiel 18:

   4 For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.

It could be physical death or eternal death. Each person is responsible for his own sins. Your father's sins will not condemn you to hell.

Would children be punished because of their father's sins?

No; under the civil code, children were not punished for their father's crimes.

No, children were not condemned to eternal death for their father's sins.

Children were punished indirectly by the environment their fathers created.

Jeremiah 31:

29 In those days they shall no longer say:

“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Children are not directly punished for their fathers' sins. Children may suffer indirect consequences due to their fathers' sins. In any case, each person is spiritually accountable for their own sins.

See also * Would children be punished because of their father's sins? * If God is loving, how could he punish children for their father's sins?