Please, i would like a serious answer. does it have a relighious meening or does it have more of a culturial meening?
2007-01-15 21:37:15 · 13 answers · asked by Skippy 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Genesis 17:9-14
And God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised; every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house, or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money, shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
2007-01-15 21:44:25 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Circumcision is the sign of the covenant made between G-D and Abraham.G-d instructed Abraham to have all male children circumcised as a sign of redemption which signifies redeeming his son Issach from sacrifice.This procedure is performed (8) days after birth.Hope this answers your question.
2007-01-15 22:11:03 · answer #2 · answered by Sweet Willy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
BTW, Jews are not the only people who circumcise their baby boys and young men. Many Christians do too. When I was born in a USAF military hospital in the 1950's it was automatically scheduled and performed (unless the parents objected) before baby boy and mother went home (my family are Catholics). I know that many Filipino Catholic boys get circumcised at about age12 or 13 ... it is some sort of rite to passage into adulthood. (ooch ... I'd not have liked that!)
Interestingly, a recent World Health Organization (WHO) medical science study in Africa showed an AIDS/HIV frequency rate to be 60% less in heterosexual circumcised men than in uncircumcised heterosexual men. It theorizes that the penis foreskin of uncircumcised men is thinner than the skin on the rest of the penis and more succeptable to be broken and invaded by disease (STD's) and the HIV virus. The WHO study recommends that the UN help impliment circumcision of baby boys as an automatic practise in Africa to help reduce the spread of AIDS/HIV.
2007-01-15 22:56:17 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It was a sign of the covenant. Now in our modern society we have found that it was a two-fold command. 1 to show your commitment to God and 2 it's a health issue. Most of the rules that God gave in the Old Testament were for health reasons. This one is a good example. Another would be not eating the meat of cloven hoofed animals. It was because of the disease that those animals can carry and pass on to us through their meat if it is not cooked properly.
2007-01-15 22:14:58 · answer #4 · answered by neverland_mom 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
All very well, talking of God and covenants, but we live in an enlightened age. There are scientific reasons that justify circumcision. It shouln't be done just because an ancestor from the bronze age suggested it. BTW I wish we could reduce our prostates so easily!
2007-01-15 22:35:57 · answer #5 · answered by checkmate 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and when Abraham was about to do the sacrifice, seeing Abrahams obedience and deligence, the angel Gabriel came as a messenger from God, and stopped the sacrifice. In Isaac's place an animal was sacrificed. Circumcision is that sacrifice to God, written in the Torah.
2007-01-15 21:45:47 · answer #6 · answered by Kool-kat 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is a token or sign for the covenant that God had with Abraham as found in the book of Genesis
Gen 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
Gen 17:9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
Gen 17:10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
Gen 17:11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant between me and you.
2007-01-15 21:42:23 · answer #7 · answered by Gre2000 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
God commanded it and it was a seal of the covenant between God and the Israelites and marked them as a peticular people. they were Scantified and set apart and this was a part of that.
2007-01-15 21:40:37 · answer #8 · answered by xx_muggles_xx 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I believe it is both religious and cultural also social.
People who are circumcised, have less infections, less urinary tract infections and also it is easier to keep penis clean. And sensation is more pronounced.
2007-01-15 21:42:09 · answer #9 · answered by Ignatious 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
a sacrament of the flesh in the name of god.
2007-01-15 21:42:25 · answer #10 · answered by duffmanhb 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋