You Can Know You Have Eternal Life
#30 Gods Standard for Mankind (14)
Medical knowledge in the Bible points to Divine Inspiration (4)
by Jim Mettenbrink
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Circumcision was a practice in
several ancient societies and is still part of the Muslim and
Jewish religions. In the Old Testament, God made a covenant
with Abraham that he would be the progenitor of many nations
(Genesis 17:4-5). As a perpetual signature on this covenant,
God commanded Abraham and all male descendants to be circumcised.
Several passages in the New Testament indicates that the
rite of circumcision was meticulously performed from Abrahams
day through the next 2000 years. (Note, that although circumcision
predated Abraham in other societies, it was not a universal requirement,
e.g. in Egypt it was required of soldiers and pagan priests.
Gods command to Abraham is the first requirement
that (1) all of his male descendants were to be circumcised and
it was a (2) mark of a covenant.)
Interestingly, God commanded that
circumcision be performed on a boys eighth day of life
(in contrast to Islams traditional 13th year) (Gen. 17:12).
The question is "Why did God command circumcision
to be performed on the eighth day and not at some other time?"
Vitamin K and prothrombin, which are essential for the clotting
of blood, are provided by the mother through the umbilical cord
while the child is in the womb. When the baby is born,
there is sufficient supply of prothrombin in its body for a couple
days, but during that time it is continually decreasing. Vitamin
K is not formed naturally in the intestine until between the
fifth and seventh day of life. And prothrombin decreases
to almost nothing within the first day. The babys
body then begins to produce prothrombin at a rapid rate to attain
the normal amount. The rate is so rapid that on the eighth
day 110% of the normal level of prothrombin is achieved. So
prothrombin is at the highest level on a persons eighth
day of life, after which the body begins to produce the normal
supply. And vitamin K is now also present in the blood.
Thus, the eighth day is the opportune time to safely perform
circumcision to ensure the blood will clot and the boy not bleed
to death following circumcision. Modern science did not
discover this fact until AD 1935.
How did Moses, the penman of Genesis,
know to write this prescription in 1400 BC, fully 3900 years
before it was discovered by the modern medical science community?
Did he just draw a number out of a hat or was he inspired
of God?
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