McMillen discusses the uncanny medical accuracy of the biblically prescribed practice of circumcision. In the classic work, None of These Diseases, physician S. This caveat aside, the instructions Yahweh gave to Abraham display remarkable medical insight. The Medical Accuracy of the Covenant of Circumcision In other words, because circumcision is a religious ritual with covenantal significance, this practice does not require a medical or biological rationale. Neither does the practice necessarily mean that the foreskin is a flawed design. And that son, Isaac, gave rise to the nation of Israel. God promised Abraham a son well after Sarah was of childbearing age. In response to this understandable challenge, it is important to keep in mind that the practice of circumcision, first and foremost, signified the covenantal relationship between Yahweh (the God of Israel) and Abraham and his descendants. God instituted the practice as a reminder to Israel that they owed their very existence to Yahweh. Don’t the medical benefits of removing the foreskin imply that this anatomical feature is a bad design? It seems like God could have come up with a better plan.
Specifically, the questioners want to know why God would create human males-and other mammals-with a foreskin on their penises only to then instruct them to remove it. Today we know that circumcision offers demonstrable medical benefits.
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner-those who are not your offspring. Instead, they involve biblical passages that seem to present scientifically inaccurate information or raise questions about the soundness of God’s designs and purposes.įor example, several people have asked me about the practice of circumcision first described in Genesis 17:10–12: In many instances, these questions have little to do with the creation accounts in Scripture. Skeptics-and Christians-ask a lot of questions about the scientific accuracy of the Bible’s Old and New Testaments.
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