Dropping your Pants to Enter Church

There might be a reason circumcision lost it’s significance as a sign of covenant membership…there’s only one way to tell who is “in.”

Herod’s Temple, which was the one Jesus and the disciples would have used, had several different courts, a court of Gentiles, a Court of Women, a Court of Israelites (for men only), and a Court of Priests. One of the duties of the temple priests was to make sure that only the right people got into the right courts. Anyone could be in the Court of Gentiles, and it was easy to figure out who could enter the Court of Women, but how could the priest stationed at the entrance to the Court of Israelite men keep out all those who were not Israelites? There was really only one way to distinguish them from everyone else, and that is through their circumcision. It’s possible that all they did was post a warning sign (like the stone inscription on the left), but it’s also possible that they took other measures to keep out all who were not Gentiles… After all, the Jews were known to do everything necessary to maintain the purity of their temple.

This gives new meaning to the handshake of welcome you receive from the greeter when you enter some churches. Sometimes they even hug you. As forced and as awkward as that is, it could be much, much worse.