Caplet Christianity

I want you to imagine with me a nutritional breakthrough. This is a caplet or pill that is packed with all the essential needs of a body. You just need to take one and you have all that your body needs to function.

You do not need to waste any time visiting restaurants. In fact you do not need to cook. And imagine having no dishes to wash! You will just need one small swallowable caplet and your body will be good to go.

How much time will we save? How many man days will we be able to save to do other useful things after eliminating lunch breaks and cooking times? How much more time will we be able to have to develop our relationships?

How practical is that? Supposing it is possible, or even feasible, how positive will it be in our lives?

Do you think you will enjoy that breakthrough?

Of course it looks like a joke because it is impractical. It is simply against our body and its functioning.

The digestive juices and acids will simply consume our body when they lack any material to interact with. Our teeth will become weak through lack of chewing exercise. Our intestines will collapse as there will be nothing passing through them as the caplet will invalidate the functions of the intestines.

Of course hotels and restaurants will close because nobody will be eating there and we know that eating is a key element of those businesses. Farming will be unnecessary as what will all that food be for as no one will be eating it?

And of course societies will die because eating is a key element in any communion. Just imagine a very serious meeting without sharing food!

A caplet can never be food, however complete or convenient it might be. You can never feel full by taking a caplet.

This is why it is strange that though we may disdain the idea of caplet nutrition we have no problems with a caplet Christianity.

We love reading newspapers from beginning to end yet are encouraged to read just a few verses of the Bible. Reading a few verses a day is enough to feed one’s spirit for a day or more. To some even an hour a week is treated as sufficient spiritual nurture to last a week.

We have been brought up to believe that we will suffer spiritual indigestion if we spend more than a few minutes in prayer. We can suffer spiritual constipation if we read more than a favorite verse.

All the while as we are being taught that refined foods are not healthy; that the body needs roughage to be able to digest food properly. In other words it is important to eat food with absolutely no nutritional value as it makes the body able to get more out of nutritious food.

But we are told that it is not wise to read passages we do not understand. We are told that it is dangerous to read books whose message is scary. That is why Revelation is a no go zone for many believers as they are scared of dealing with the issues they are not ready to face.

Yet even in the mental sphere it does not go that way. How many topics do we study to be able to answer three to five questions in an exam? Why do we study so many topics yet the exam may just cover a fraction of them? How do we study for years to answer a few questions in the final exam? Why waste all those years yet those topics could have been covered in a few weeks more conclusively?

I know you may be laughing at my ignorance now. Of course you will need to study all those ‘irrelevant’ topics as they contribute to the wealth of knowledge of the course you will be pursuing. That is why you may study accounts in an engineering course, or chemistry in a cookery class.

Then why do we choose to take caplets in the spiritual realm? Why do we relegate the study of the Bible to theological seminaries? Why do we behave as if Biblical understanding is the preserve of professional ministers?

It is because we are caplet Christians. We have been taught from our childhood that the Bible is too big that only a select few can read and understand it. We have been taught that understanding anything bigger than a favorite verse can kill us. We are taught to memorize all our denominational books but run away from memorizing a verse of the Bible. The catechism we learn by heart is bigger than some books of the Bible yet we can effortlessly recite it word for word yet will sleep if we tried to read a chapter of the Bible from which much of it is taken from.

Even in literature the same plays out. We are supposed to read the works many times to be able to gain enough comprehension. Why is it that someone who has read the Bible through only once (some only a book or two) becomes an expert on what the bible says? What makes you an expert when the only thing you know is the Hebrew or Greek words used in the Bible you barely read?

Do you really know what God has said when the only thing you know is a verse here and another there? Is that what God intended when He released His word to His creation?

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

Is that possible if we spend more time reading other things and are content just glancing through a verse or two? Do you know that we are created in such a way that we will meditate on what we consistently feed our minds on? Why do we expect peace from God when we spend a much greater time on the news than we spend on His word?

And we wonder why there is so much fear and suspicion. We spend most of our waking moments feeding our minds from hell yet fervently and desperately pray to dream about heaven.

Many people ask me what they should do to passages they do not understand. I will take you back to your studies. Surely you do not trash a topic or subject you do not understand that is part of your course. You will read even more than the topics you easily understand so that you will be up to date when an exam comes.

Another thing I say is that we read the Bible because it is the word of God and He has said we read it. And there are no passages that are optional in His command. And the only requirement for reading is connecting with God, the author of the same.

The Levites, from whom came the scribes were not trained in theology. They were just a tribe God exempted from other occupations to devote their time instructing Israel on His ways. But all Israel was supposed to know God’s word. From Jesus’ interactions with the Jews we know that they read the Bible, and not just favorite passages. We know from history that the Bible was written in the simple language that anyone could understand for the same purpose.

What reasons do you give for not reading the Bible in its entirety consistently? Can you start your journey of reading the Bible the way God intended for it to be read?

That is the reason we offer Bible reading plans for whoever is interested. In fact on this blog you will find one such. And you can request for me to send you one on e-mail.

We also produce Audio Bibles, though not to substitute the reading part. Reading is very important.

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. (Revelation 1:3)

Will you stop being a caplet Christian?

God bless you.