circumcision.
as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t count on research or data to prove something to be true or false. normally, it starts in my gut. and almost every single time the facts actually end up aligning with that. I know I may seem crazy when I say this but even if it didn’t, I would go with both my intuition / what I’ve gathered from time spent in prayer. that being said, before I had researched a single thing about circumcision, there was something about it that wasn’t sitting right. and what I found ended up following suit!
the main points that most people make for circumcision is that it’s done either for sanitary, biblical, or aesthetic reasons. so when researching for myself, those are the ones I focused on. and here’s what I found :
sanitary - the foreskin was designed with a purpose. it’s not only protective but it’s covered in essential glands and nerve endings. it regulates temperature, moisture, PH balance, enzyme levels and contains antiviral properties. the modern procedure is based off the belief that removing it would prevent disease, which has since been proven invalid. and I will add in here - there is proper care for an intact penis. almost any / all issues you would hear with uncircumcised males originated from improper care, usually simply from retracting the foreskin too soon. (other than that the care is very very basic, cleaning just as you would a finger until they are able to retract it naturally, usually in years of puberty.) there is actually no medical organization in the world that recommends routine infant circumcision. it’s an elective, cosmetic procedure.
biblically - circumcision is mentioned quite a bit in the bible and it’s important for us to understand the procedure that was performed in those days. which was actually a small slit in the tip of the foreskin, in order to shed a couple drops of blood. there was no actual removal of any part of the foreskin. the bloodshed was meant for the payment of sins, which Jesus then redeemed for us on the cross. thank you, King! (1 Corinth 12:18 and Galatians 5:1)
aesthetically - if I hear “but what if they get made fun of in the locker room” one more time…!!! (!!!) there is also the thought that a lot of men can have - they want their son to look like them. which I totally empathize with! that would eventually warrant a conversation if your son ever is curious about the difference, totally. is that reason enough to remove a part of their bodies that’s there by heavenly design? it doesn't seem to me that the Creator made that big of an error. the united states is the only country that has ever consistently, or even at all, performed this procedure. though even the statistics in the states are moving towards 50/50 of circumcised vs whole males. and if you haven’t, I would encourage you to watch a video of the procedure before ever moving forward with anything.
there’s a 4th one here that I want to add because it feels like a very important piece that maybe isn’t considered. I don’t think the psychological / emotional trauma that is stored in the body at such a fresh age is taken into consideration as much as it should be. I would guess the majority of men don’t consciously remember the procedure, since they were just days old at the time. yet our bodies do have the capability of remembering. this is known information. and they can store emotions and events deep within our physical body and subconscious, which we then carry forward with us throughout our life. and in this case, probably unknowingly. coming out possibly in the form of emotional irregularity - being more removed from your emotions and having a harder time accessing and expressing them. which men do seem to have a harder time with more than women. would that really be by design? or could it be something deeper that only men would experience? we obviously can’t know this for sure, but I do think the possible trauma that would occur at just days old is something to seriously consider.
I could go on even more about the fact that it’s a billion dollar business, informed consent / the ethical dilemma, etc. ultimately though, I believe that leaving the foreskin in tact aligns the most with original Design. I don’t believe that our God makes mistakes that would result in the immediate removal of a body part directly after birth. I believe that it’s there for a purpose, and leaving babies whole, as originally designed, can best honor that intricate and thoughtful Creation.