Circumcision? Why, God? Why?
Even though, I am circumcised and on the advice of our pediatrician, our son has also been snipped, I just don’t understand the entirety of circumcision. Although, Medical opinion still seems validate the practice, it still puzzles me.
My questions is this: who actually figured this out 4000 years ago? Were penile infections so rampant — I mean puss-tipped penises dropping off like flies in the uncircumcised — that it became absolutely necessary? Did some idea of sacred purity get involved? And what in the hell was going through that first man’s mind when he reached down with two sharp rocks and nipped the foreskin off. Even more important what was going through his victim/patients mind. I can only surmise that alcohol was involved with both parties. I can’t see how this would have ever happened if it wasn’t. Ever been so drunk you cut off the tip of your dick?
The penis would have been easier to keep clean and may have even appeared cleaner. But wow! What a step to take.
And please don’t try to put this down to some ancient biblical medial advice. Like God gave us a gift or something. A real gift would have been not having the goddamn foreskin at all. If God wanted to do us a health favor, I believe a brief mention of the germ theory of disease would have driven us a lot farther down that road than “Hey, if you cut off the tip of Mister Happy and I’ll love you a bit more.”
I mean really!
There has always been a power struggle. There is always a group who are trying to control another group. I think long ago, circumcision was used to subjugate others.
For example, circumcision in the United States was strongly advocated by J. Kellogg and others to control children (boys and girls) and keep them from masturbating. This was in keeping with the Victorian era where sex was bad and it was desirable to control others to keep them from doing impure things.
Circumcision was also practiced in ancient times to control slaves and soldiers. Even today, there are strong pro-circumcision advocates who almost seem fanatical in advocating cutting foreskins. This advocacy is out of place considering that the majority of medical reasons have turned out to be myths or conditions prevented by circumcision are so rare that circumcision is a drastic preventative measure.
Myself, I was circumcised at birth. I am restoring my foreskin and finding out how much better it is to have a foreskin, even a restored one. Feeling the difference, I can understand how circumcision is used to remove a part of a man’s essence.
In Europe circumcision is never even discussed – it just doesn’t happen (except among Jews and Muslims). I find it so strange that modern Americans do it as a matter of course.
It does happen, my father and brother are both circumcised. I’m not. It was apparently medical (we’re all atheists)
The TV show “The Atheist Experience” has a good episode on this. And it raises pretty much the same concerns.
And if circumcision is supposed to stop boys from masturbating, it sure as hell isn’t working very well.
I just can’t understand why anyone would want to remove something so fundamental from a mans body.
I love my foreskin and play with it copiously!
You surprised me a bit here. I thought arbitrary genital mutilation would warrant more than a short blurb. But still, good job so far, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of your bible study.
As a guess, I expect the most likely reason would be as some sort of tribal identity thing, a bit like tatooing or ritual scaring (which, IIRC, are prohibited by the Bible), but more hard-core.
This would serve the purpose of making it very clear who “us” and “them” were, and making anything that would blur the boundaries (getting a tatoo, not getting circumcised) not merely rebellious, but a direct violation of the Word of God Himself.
It could be a way to ensure only the completely f-ing hard-core (and insane) could join your tribe. Imaging three bronze-age goat-herders getting sitting around a campfire for a drink, and bragging about how hard their respective tribes are.
Tribesman 1: Heh, well, if you want to join our tribe, you have to get a tatoo like this.
Tribesman 2: Pah! Tatoos are for wimps! If you want to join our tribe, you have to get our tribal emblem branded on your arm with a red-hot branding iron!
Israelite: Yeah? That’s nothing. If you want to become an Israelite, you need to cut your foreskin off with a stone knife.
Tribesmen 1 & 2: Shit! That’s hardcore! I wouldn’t want to mess with your people, even if you didn’t have the Lord Genocide backing you up!
Plus, this has the added advantage of ensuring that anyone who joins your tribe will be weak and defenceless for a time, so if you change your mind about letting them in (or if it was all a trick anyway), you can more easily kill them. (Isn’t Olt Testament morality great?)
When I was in the throws of literalism, I decided our boys (all 4 of them) would be circumcised on the 8th day of their lives. We found a Jewish moil (I figured he would be best equipped). Since our kids were born at home, it was best to wait until day 8, when Vitamin K naturally occurs in the blood. With the ability for blood to clot, there’s little danger of bleeding to death. In my literal days, I pointed to God’s wisdom in telling ancient men that they must wait until the 8th day to commit this gruesome act.
Isn’t God smart?
makes you wonder why god forgot to tell them that genital herpes can be passed along that way….. but then, god sort of forgot to include handwashing in the ten commandments…:))
Literalist to here? That must have been quite a journey. I have a good friend who is here in Japan as a mennonite missionary who is standing on that precipice right now. My heart aches for her–she feels if she moves toward admitting that she doesn’t really believe, she’ll lose her family and friends (though obviously not me–but I’m only one person). I wish I knew what to say to her–humor at this point would be welcome I don’t think.
Fabulous site well done. I believe the Egyptian lords and priests were circumcised as asign of holiness so the practice may have been adopted as a sign of being chosen as special as well. If it was done at a the age of onset of masturbation it would certainly curb that urge at least for awhile.
First time poster. Interesting website.
I enjoyed The Brick Testament’s treatment of the subject of circumcision from Acts:
http://www.thebricktestament.com/acts_of_the_apostles/the_great_penis_debate/ac15_01.html