He's referring to circumcision, but is confused by the radically more invasive 'circumcision' today, which is based on the Jewish ***peri'ah*** method from the much far less invasive biblical circumcision. The Jewish peri'ah method is actually what is performed in hospitals today for all those unfortunate enough to be conned into this mutilation. **The history of circumcision is not a Christian one.** From the first century on, Christians took a strong stand against circumcision. Christians rejected circumcision at the Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15). St. Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, taught parents that they should **not** circumcise their children (Acts 21:25). In a reference to the old practices of genital mutilation, St. Paul warned Titus to beware of the "circumcision group." I'll explain this a little later. The history of circumcision is controversial in the bible and again is not in anyway the same that's practiced today. The circumcision of Abraham removed only the very tip that extended beyond the glans penis. Moses and his sons were not circumcised. (Exodus 4:25) Although Moses apparently prohibited circumcision during the 40 years in the wilderness, (Joshua 5:5) Joshua reinstituted circumcision at Gilgal after the death of Moses. (Joshua 5:2-10) It is interesting to note that after the Israelites were circumcised, they immediately became soldiers in Joshua's army for the conquest of Palestine. (Joshua 6:1-3). This suggests circumcision was used in the least to differentiate soldiers from the enemy. In contrast to the Jews, the Greeks and the Romans placed a high value on the prepuce. The Romans passed several laws **prohibiting circumcision**. The laws were applied to everyone and were not directed against the Jews. Much later in the Hellenic period, about 140 C.E., the Jewish authorities modified circumcision procedure to make it impossible for a Jew to appear to be an uncircumcised Greek. A radical new procedure called ***peri'ah*** was introduced by the priests and rabbis. In this procedure the foreskin was stripped away from the glans, with which it is fused in the infant. In a painful procedure known today as a synechotomy, more foreskin was removed than before and the injury was correspondingly greater. With the introduction of peri'ah, the glans could not easily be recovered, and so no Jewish male would easily be able to appear as an uncircumcised Greek. **This radical modified procedure eventually was adopted by the medical profession and is the circumcision operation used today.**