My first place to start was the Bible. I pulled out the concordance and started with the very first verse on circumcision; God's command for Abraham to cut his flesh as a covenant. On and on and on I read. I had never realized how many times circumcision was talked about in scripture and even in my first rounds of researching and digging, I still missed a lot of info that was in there and how it really applies to Christians. The call for circumcision as a sign of the covenant was for the Israelites, slaves taken into the community and anyone else that was to become a part of the community. To not be circumcised was to be outside of the covenant and unclean. This reference to clean/unclean was not a physical "Ew! You're dirty!!!" but of a spiritual context. During the Old Testament times, life was very strictly ruled by laws, traditions, sacrifices and covenants. Anything that went outside of this often times faced death, at best, being kicked out of camp. Life was serious business back then! Jump to the birth of Jesus. Yes, he was circumcised. Again, part of the covenant and tradition BUT with his death and resurrection came a lot of changes. Jesus came to fulfill the law. In fulfilling the law, descendants of the Israelites are no longer bound to these laws. Much of those of the Jewish faith however, do not accept the New Testament so, they continue to circumcise. What about Christians? Well, there are two theories. First, we are not descendants of Israel so, the law never applied to us. Second, scripture says that we are grafted into the vine of Christ. So, we are coming into the people of God thus we should, right? Nope. Remember, when Jesus died and was resurrected, he fulfilled the law releasing all from the bondage. We now are free to come boldly before the throne of God, live a life by faith and do not have to keep to the old ways. Paul actually speaks harshly...VERY harshly to those who continue to circumcise and use the law of circumcision against those who are not. This last time I read through the New Testament, I was shocked at how often Paul talked against circumcision. This is not something talked about at all from the pulpit though the initial covenant is. I wonder why? So, being a woman led by God first, my first perspective in making the choice to cut or not cut my son was taken care of; I don't have to.
The second place I went in my researching circumcision was medical. While pregnant with my first son, I talked to two of my Ob/Gyn doctors. One was a woman the other was a man. The woman was a mother of two sons if I am remembering correctly. She had them circumcised. Her reasoning was because it was cleaner. The man's response was, "well, I'm a man and I'm circumcised and I turned out alright." I was quite taken back by this but thought it funny in a very uncomfortable way. "Yeah...ok, you're up my lady parts but do we really need to talk about yours???" is what I was thinking. Anyway, the information that I got from these two doctors was minimal. The woman doctor did acknowledge that she hated doing them. We then went on to talk about the different ways of carrying out the procedure. I had decided on the Plastibell thinking it was the best option. I didn't want to hurt my child but I wanted what was best for him. The ad for Plastibell seemed so.....well.....nice. Of course it would be appealing. They are trying to sell a product and make money. The Plastibell is a plastic "bell" shaped devise that fits over the exposed glans of the penis. Then the prepuce (foreskin) is pulled back over it and a string is tied so tight over the skin that blood flow is cut off and it eventually falls off like the umbilical cord stump. No cuts. No blood. It seemed safe and pain-free. I went on to watch some circumcisions demonstrated with Plastibell and other techniques. They were heartbreaking and the screams of these baby boys are unforgettable. Here is one that I watched. I found it interesting that the sellers of these products did not have examples of their products in use. I guess if they did, moms might be just a wee bit more uncomfortable with the idea of circumcising. That means, they loose money. What a shame. Anyway, back to my best friend Google for more research. (If you don't know this about Google, you can narrow your searches down to legit information if you want to get past the fluff and junk that is rampant on-line.)
Reasons parents circumcise:
Circumcision lowers the rate of UTI (Urinary Tract Infections). This is still very debated. The common sense answer though, (yes, I said common sense and I understand that this is MY interpretation of such) is hygiene and antibiotics. As a woman, I've had a few UTI's. They're no fun but, not the end of the world either. Simple home-remedies and antibiotics can clear it up in a day or two if caught quickly. My last one, after the birth of my youngest, I cleared up with eating raw garlic (used in meals or you can cut the clove into small pieces and swallow down like a pill). I took the antibiotics as a just in case because UTI's can turn into a dangerous kidney infection. Who would ever think of doing any form of surgical procedure on a girl/woman to prevent/treat a UTI??? It would be called barbaric and if done on a minor, child abuse and the child most likely would be taken from the family and I am sure most all would say, "GOOD!!!" With a 3 and 1/2 year old boy, a 2 year old boy and a 10 month old boy, we've never had any sort of infection, itchies or other problem. My almost 5 year old daughter on the other hand is constantly having some form of "problem" with her lady parts. Proper care of the intact penis, meaning LEAVE IT ALONE, lends to happy penis and baby/child. The foreskin protects the urethral opening from irritants and germs. Thus, lessening the rate of UTI. What we are not told is that, if the foreskin is forcibly retracted, aside from other far greater damage, this greatly increases the incident of UTI. Then, add to that parents or child not keeping this prematurely exposed area of the body properly cleaned, and you have a happy place for germs and infection.
Circumcision lessens the risk of STDs and HIV/AIDS. This too has been proven wrong. Those who began these studies were pro-circumcision with agendas of their own. Circumcision is a huge money maker and anything will be said to keep the cash flow coming in. For argument sake though, let's say that circumcision DOES greatly reduce the incident of HIV/AIDS or other STDS. Why are we circumcising infants though? Unless I'm missing something, infant boys are not having sex. Yes, the rate of sex in children is getting younger and younger but really, NEWBORNS??? Here are a few articles to check out on this matter:
~ http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/info/HIVStatement.html
· ~ http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/203/1/58.abstract?sid=8b0e0470-d2bf-4989-b147-bfdd83c72abb
They won't remember it if it is done when they are newborns. (coming soon)
He will have to have it done later anyway (he will out-grow it, it won't retract or other reason). (coming soon)
But, I don't want my son to be made fun of/I want him to look like his dad/brothers. While I do not promote crude language and content, this video says it all so well! WARNING: do not watch with children present. If you don't watch it though, the gist is, no one will be comparing penises with anyone else. I have a cut husband and three intact boys, one of which has hypospadias with chordee. Two of them look the "same" but no one has ever said anything about the other's private places and we are a very open family; while we teach modesty and to respect other people's privacy, nudity is normal and not taught as dirty for our family. So, it is not for a lack of knowing what each other looks like. But, what if one does say something about the other? Then what??? Will the world come to a crashing halt?!?!? Far from it. Children have an amazing ability to understand honesty. They even seem to know when a parent is trying to beat around the bush and not tell it to them straight. So, little Johnny asks why his peepee looks different than daddy's or bigger brother. What do you say? The truth! Maybe something along the lines of, " Daddy's mommy had your daddy circumcised but we chose to leave you intact." Or, "Mommy and daddy chose to circumcise your brother because we didn't know any better but we learned that leaving our sons intact was better so we did not make the same mistake twice." See, so simple. Yes, more questions will come but you just keep the dialog open and honest. For another example, your son comes home from school or play and is upset because little turdlet bully saw their private place while he was going to the bathroom and decided to make a nasty show of bullying from it. Oh, this can be so painful. I hate to admit this, but this happened to a boy in my neighborhood when I was little. While in my heart, I felt so sad for the boy, I did let myself laugh too instead of taking up for him. I got picked on and as pathetic as this is looking back, it wasn't me getting picked on and I certainly was not going to do anything to turn it back on me. I don't recall seeing the boy again. If it were my son, oh how my heart would break. I would want to right all of his hurts and go beat some kids noggin's and....well, getting off topic. The thing about bullies though, they will bully over anything that they can get a rise off of. I got picked on about my ears. One comment from one girl and I did not wear my hair up in a pony tail for years. Even still, I am a bit off about my ears. They are big and 4 pregnancies did not help that. Should my mom have had something cut off or tucked or tacked on me? No. There is nothing wrong with my ears. What was wrong was the bully. You explain what bullying is and why people bully. You explain why you chose to not cut your son and that this boy most likely does not have a clue of what his mom allowed the doctor to take away from him. You go over all of the wonderful reasons why it is better that he be intact and that one day, this bully may be very sad and angry at what he has lost. These moments, as painful as they are, are wonderful teaching moments. Teach your child to love their enemies. Teach them to have compassion; there may be more to this bully than meets the eye. Teach your son to pray for those who hurt him. Teach your son how to teach others about what it is to be intact. Teach your son to stand strong and not be beaten down by others. Teach him to not find his self worth in what others think of him but what God SAYS of him. All of this should be a lifestyle up to this point and this teaching moment as a way to put into practice what you've been teaching. It would not be an easy moment for anyone but if handled properly and God-led can turn into a wonderful life lesson and possibly opportunity for your child to show the love of Jesus to a wounded child.
More Coming Soon!
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