Weird Ideas: Holy Spirit. Holy Church.Sýnishorn

There are some today who say that life and your soul are just chemical and genetic processes working in combination with some kind of energy in the universe. Life is physics and your soul is your brain.

Others yearn for something more. They believe there has to be more to life than just chemical processes and that your soul is more than just your brain. There’s something more; something mystical. They sense a deeper essence and identity. Many try to harness that essence through crystals, ancient rituals and practices, looking to the stars, meditation, aligning their chakras, and the like.

Christianity has no problem with physics and neuroscience and seeing the incredible impact of genetics and chemical processes on the self. It also says there’s more to it; something mystical. But here’s where things get different. The Bible teaches that there is a force at work in this universe and in people. But it is not of the created order. He is something different. And He is not an it. This presence or force is personal with a personality.

This force at work – this person or personality – is God. So the Apostles’ Creed says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.”

Today it’s popular to be spiritual. The Bible teaches the absolute importance of being spiritual, but it teaches that the spiritual is not something innate to us or found on our own. To be spiritual, you need the Holy Spirit.

Who is the Holy Spirit? He’s who God is, albeit with His own unique stamp and personality. There’s a lot we can say about Him, but the Bible spends less time describing what He’s specifically like and more time showing us who He is by what He does. Today, just read some passages about the Holy Spirit.