If God wanted his followers to be circumcised, why did he create men with a foreskin?

Question

No disrespect intended, just wondering if anyone could explain.

Answer 1

Good question. I say leave it alone.

Answer 2

FALSE! He made the foreskin for a purpose! Do some research, people only began removing the foreskin less then 200 years ago as a means to prevent masturbation! Biblically only the tip was cut, enough to bleed and then heal again. "Dr. John Harvey Kellogg recommended circumcision of boys caught masturbating, writing: "A remedy for masturbation which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision, especially when there is any degree of phimosis. The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering anaesthetic, as the pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment." "When God instituted Old Covenant circumcision, the small incision at the tip of the foreskin was never intended to cause pain or suffering, but rather the several drops of shed blood served merely as a sign or symbol of the covenant. Thus, great measures were taken to insure that the child felt no pain whatsoever. First, the body was numbed internally by giving the child a fair quantity of wine (God must have guided them on the amount that was safe.) Second, the body was numbed topically by rubbing the secretions from an ancient plant, known for its anesthetical properties, directly onto the tip of the genitals. The gel from this Mediterranean plant served as a numbing agent and kept the site painless for several minutes, according to archaeologists."

Answer 3

Actually, this was something intended only for the Jews and was a sign of a covenant between them and God, and ONLY them and God. No other person on earth is under this compulsion, and the New Testament indicates that this covenant has passed away having been replaced by the sacrifice of Christ. Anyone who is circumsized for religious reasons is then under the full weight of the Law of God, and there is no mercy under that Law; if one is guilty of violating one point, one is guilty of all since the Law convinces man of sin.

God, knowing this would be the case, created man with a foreskin. Not knowing enough about prenatal development of male genitalia, I can not properly speculate about the reasons for it developing in the womb, but if one thinks back to the original conditions in the garden, it is apparent that man was naked. There may have been some protective reason for covering the glans with skin.

Tom

Answer 4

biblically speaking, there is a passage in there around the time of Abraham in which a convenant was made whereby all males of the faith were to be circumcised to show they belonged. However, in the New Testament all the olde rules, including circumcision, were set aside by Jesus as not being a requirement. But orthodox Jews do remain attached to the Old Testament thus they are very into ritual circumcision.

BTW, circumcision in biblical times was actually more of a letting of blood from the foreskin rather than complete removal. So, in olden times, one would have a wee bit sliced off rather than all of it.

Answer 5

God did it as a sign of the covenant He made with Abraham. He was going to make Abraham a father of many peoples-specifically the Jews who are the "Chosen People," Muslims and even Christians because he was the father of all faithful in a monotheistic God. Read Genesis 17:10. God also chose a rainbow to remind Himself of the covenant He made with Noah and thus man not to bring another flood on the earth.

Answer 6

At the creation of mankind there was no disease and therefore no practical reason to eliminate the foreskin. Also, when sin did enter into the picture, and according to His plan, He did choose Abraham to be the father of the chosen people, circumcision acted as a very effective distinction between those who identified themselves with God and those who didn't. In conjunction with that, there is the added b benefit of cleanliness, and God did make alot of rules about the cleanliness and health of His people.

Answer 7

Yes, it seems strange when you think of it that way, doesn't it? But there's one very good reason: symbolism.

God tells Abraham at Genesis 17:10-11 that circumcision is "a sign of the covenant between Me and you." This sign is painful, permanent and carried out on a private part of the body -- keep this in mind.

In Deut. 10:16, Deut, 30:6 and Jer. 4:4, God tells us it is His true wish for us to "take away the foreskins of your hearts." How can this be done? Jeremiah 31:31 tells us it is God's intention to make a "New Covenant" among His believers, beginning with the Jews. This necessitates another kind of circumcision.

Col. 2:11 tells us: "In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ ..." The spirit is also a private, hidden part within us; by cutting off our spiritual foreskins, both men and women experience pain, but it is this cutting that proves we have entered into God's New Covenant. So, for those under the New Covenant, physical circumcision is NOT required, although some still do for allegedly hygienic or asthetic reasons.

Answer 8

Because circumcision is essentially a mini-sacrifice. You're giving up something of yours - and enduring pain - to seal your pact with God. It's kinda proof of how far you're willing to go to be on God's team.
There's also some nice symbolism about baring yourself to God, cutting away all the extraneous stuff in your life, that sort of thing.
It's a test of free will, really - sure, God created the world, but he gave humans free will to see what they would make of it. God gave you the capacity to make choices, and wants to see what sort of choices you make - even if God wants everyone to be happy, it's more important that they CHOOSE to create a happy world, rather than just having it gifted to them.

Answer 9

This is an ancient rite `symbolizing the covenant that God made with Abraham...Gen:17:10-14.It became the symbol of a man's membership in to the Jewish community...today we do it mostly for cleanliness reasons.

Answer 10

scientifically speaking, many things that are useless on our bodies today once served a function,but were then turned into nonsense with evolution! I guess the foreskin was one of those parts.like, did u know man had a tail that eventually lost its purpose and evolved into a backbone?I guess God had given a function to the foreskin but then that changed wiz evolution...
hope dis answers it!

Answer 11

A sign of the covenant between God and Abram.

......"but thou shalt be called Abraham: because I have made thee a father of many nations."