GOD WANTS YOU CIRCUMCISED!

Circumcision for religious or cultural reasons is not really a good thing.  It should be limited to medical need.  What would we think if a new religion appeared that wanted babies tattooed?   That would be more ethical than circumcision which removes very sensitive and very important and very rich nerve endings.  Culture and religion are never justifications for hurting a baby.  You cannot say it is okay to hurt the most dependent and vulnerable of human beings, baby boys, and then say it is wrong to do it to an adult without their consent.

As bad as circumcising for religious reasons is, anybody commanding that it be done or any religion commanding it is worse and an unconscionable outrage.

Catholics do not circumcise but that is nothing to praise them for.  They have only religious reasons for not doing it.  They think God commanded it one time but it was not done away with so much as rendered unneeded.  It became obsolete.

The Catholic Church needs to make it clear that it is unethical.  That will never happen.  Catholicism may not circumcise but that is nothing to praise. It does not ban it as such but its reasons for not doing it are religious reasons not humanistic or humanitarian ones. It is only dropped because it thinks God does not want it done any more.  We need strong and firm opposition to it. 

The Bible God commands circumcision but this was made optional in the New Testament as it was thought that Jesus did the obeying for us.  This is not an abolition but a replacement.

A MORAL LAW?
 
The Law did not like anything dirty and foreskins were dirty which shows that circumcision was probably commanded for the sake of cleanliness. Dirt was associated with disease for Israel noticed how when the ill Egyptians used dirt and dung as medicine they got sicker and often died. This means that circumcision has to be done for moral reasons. Since it had to be performed God decided it would be a good idea to use it as a symbol of the pact as well. Even God cannot change the moral law. If he wanted to ban circumcision he would have had to permanently disinfect and clean all foreskins first.
 
CIRCUMCISION AND BAPTISM
 
It is stupid to say that circumcision was the first sacrament of the Torah that has been replaced by sacramental baptism in water. Nothing in the Bible indicates that it confers power from God in a magical way.
 
Paul vehemently opposed circumcision when it was intended as a vow to keep the entire Law of Moses without the grace of Jesus Christ. He approved of it as a sign of the covenant of grace. For the Jew, it was a sign of the duty to keep the whole Law and do the impossible. For Paul, you were bound to keep the Law of Moses but if you failed you didn’t lose salvation for Jesus did good works and offered his life to make up for your shortcomings. For the Jews, keeping the Law was bondage and for the Christian it was a joy. Paul rejected circumcision when done for the wrong reasons as worthless. How Roman Catholics can accept the baptisms performed by Protestants whose ideas of baptism differ from the Catholic is a mystery. Paul made it clear that circumcisions performed with the wrong understanding are worthless so it follows that the same must be true of baptisms.

OTHER REASONS FOR CONDEMNING CIRCUMCISION

What about people who just start new religions and sects and who start circumcising? You can't ban rabbis who have no medical training from doing it and then ban the maverick lunatics who start these new faiths!  Why should an established religion get a license to hurt a child?  What about perverts who we may call circumfetish who enjoy pornographic fantasies about circumcising baby boys and children and men?

CONCLUSION
 
There is nothing in the Bible to say that circumcision is abolished and that non-Jews don’t need it. The need for the rite shows that Christianity is not really Christian at all. It only gave up the rite because it wanted to make getting converts easy. 

WORKS CONSULTED

Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, John W Haley, Whitaker House, Pennsylvania, undated
Christ and Violence, Ronald J Sider, Herald Press, Scottdale, Ontario, 1979
Christ’s Literal Reign on Earth From David’s Throne at Jerusalem, John R Rice, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, undated
Early Christian Writings, Editor Maxwell Staniforth, Penguin, London, 1988
Essentials, David L Edwards and John Stott, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1990
Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven, Uta Ranke-Heinmann, Penguin Books, London, 1991
God’s Festivals and Holy Days, Herbert W Armstrong, Worldwide Church of God, California, 1992
Hard Sayings Derek Kidner InterVarsity Press, London, 1972
Jesus the Only Saviour, Tony and Patricia Higton, Monarch, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 1993
Kennedy’s Murder, John R Rice, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 1964
Martin Luther, Richard Marius, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1999
Moral Philosophy, Joseph Rickaby SJ, Stonyhurst Philosophy Series, Longmans, Green and Co, London, 1912
Not Under Law, Brian Edwards, Day One Publications, Bromley, Ken, 1994
Radio Replies Vol 2, Frs Rumble and Carty, Radio Replies Press, St Paul, Minnesota, 1940
Sabbath Keeping, Johnie Edwards, Guardian of Truth Publications, Kentucky
Secrets of Romanism, Joseph Zacchello, Loizeaux Brothers, New Jersey, 1984
Set My Exiles Free, John Power, Logos Books, MH Gill & Son Ltd, Dublin, 1967
Storehouse Tithing, Does the Bible Teach it? John R Rice, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 1954
Sunday or Sabbath? John R Rice, Sword of the Lord, Murfreesboro, 1943
The Christian and War, JB Norris, The Christadelphian, Birmingham, 1985
The Christian and War, Robert Moyer, Sword of the Lord Murfreesboro Tennessee 1946
The Encyclopaedia of Bible Difficulties, Gleason W Archer, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1982
The Enigma of Evil, John Wenham, Eagle, Guildford, Surrey, 1994
The Gospel and Strife, A. D. Norris, The Christadelphian, Birmingham, 1987
The Jesus Event, Martine Tripole SJ, Alba House, New York, 1980
The Kingdom of God on Earth, Stanley Owen, Christadelphian Publishing Office, Birmingham
The Metaphor of God Incarnate, John Hick, SCM Press, London, 1993
The Plain Truth about Easter, Herbert W Armstrong, Worldwide Church of God, California, 1957
The Sabbath, Peter Watkins, Christadelphian Bible Mission, Birmingham
The Ten Commandments, Herbert W Armstrong, Worldwide Church of God, California, 1972
The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, New York, 1968
The World Ahead, November December 1998, Vol 6, Issue 6
Theodore Parker’s Discourses, Theodore Parker, Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer, London, 1876
Those Incredible Christians, Hugh Schonfield, Hutchinson, London, 1968
Vicars of Christ, Peter de Rosa, Corgi Books, London, 1995
War and Pacifism, Margaret Cooling, Scripture Union, London, 1988
War and the Gospel, Jean Lasserre, Herald Press, Ontario, 1962
When Critics Ask, Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe, Victor Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 1992
Which Day is the Christian Sabbath? Herbert W Armstrong, Worldwide Church of God, California, 1976
 
THE WEB

The Law of Moses: Is It Valid Today?

www.ark_of_salvation.orgJewish_law.htm

The Law of Moses and the Law of Christ by Arnold Fruchtenbaum
www.ariel.org/ff00006c.html

Is Old Testament Law for New Testament Christians

www.souldevice.org/writings_law_gospel.html