Preface
This lesson has been on my mind for a long time, borne out of pain seeing how God’s church has become so splintered and watered down that it barely has an impact on the world anymore. Far from the unity Jesus prayed for in the garden (see John 17:20-23). I do realize that the gates of Hades will not prevail against the church (see Matthew 16:18, some translations use ‘hell’ but the word in the Greek is ’hadou’ or Hadēs), but as Christians, being followers of Jesus, we need to pursue the truth. And the Bible is the source of truth.
I must confess, this is by far the most direct (and possibly the most blunt) lesson I have ever written. Part of me wants to throw it in the trash, but God keeps encouraging me to make it available to others, so here it is.
It is a short read, about thirty minutes (a whole hour if you read all four appendices). It will either make you steaming mad, happy, or possibly, if you allow it, may lead to a change in your life. Yes, I step on several toes, but no personal names will be mentioned, nor do I intend anything personal.
Intrigued? May God open your hearts, read on!
Please let me know your thoughts.
God bless,
David Heywood
Introduction
If I ask a room full of people, “What does the word ‘spirituality’ mean?” I would imagine that I would get back nearly the same number of varied answers, as even dictionaries vary significantly. So, it is probably a good idea to define what I mean before we start. The online Oxford Languages dictionary defines it as, “the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.”[1] That’s an excellent definition as it separates a ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’ from the physical (the body). Why a spirit or soul? Well there are two primary viewpoints regarding human existence. The first being a dichotomy where we exist in two components (akin to software and hardware), and the second being a trichotomy where the human existence is broken down into three components (body, soul, and spirit). What does the Bible say?
In the New Testament we see two Greek words 'pneuma' (most often translated as 'spirit') and 'psychē' (usually translated as 'soul') which are often used as synonyms for each other (for example, see Matthew 10:28; 1 Corinthians 5:3; 7:34), but note that these verses only recognize two components, the physical body and the spirit/soul (the ‘non-corporeal'). But the Bible also delineates these terms, providing distinction between them, perhaps best seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, where Paul wrote: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit [pneuma] and soul [psychē] and body [sōma] be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (ESV, the Greek words in brackets were added, see also Romans 8:16; Hebrews 4:12) This concept of a third component of life is called a Trichotomy. Since the Bible does not provide clear explanation, there are a number of ideas and opinions regarding this concept.
One example of human ’trichotomy' begins by first recognizing that every animal has a body and a spirit (source and maintainer of life), that when death occurs, the spirit, as the source of life vanishes leaving a dead body (in other words all other air-breathing creatures have only two components). Humans, on the other hand, possess an eternal soul (being the ’software’ that contains their identity, personality, etc.), that when the body dies, the spirit remains with the soul which continues to live. Perhaps best illustrated with three circles that overlap, where the body (sōma), soul (psychē) and spirit (pneuma) join in the center representing the whole person.
As you can see the definition of spirituality can get convoluted quickly, so for the sake of clarity we will stay with the dichotomy model of human existence (unless otherwise stated). The body is the physical component; through it breath is drawn and released, food is converted into energy, and it provides any necessary movement. The body is a fully operational containment device. When an animal or person is seen, the body is what is seen. Since the body is seen and heard, it is straightforward to explain. This, however, is not the case with the soul or spirit.
Bear with me for a brief illustration, please use your imagination and picture in your mind a brand-new computer with no operating system or software in it. Okay, good. Now picture that same computer with an operating system and fully loaded with software. What do you see now? What do you mean, it looks the same! Of course it does, since software has no mass nor any other physical feature, it cannot be seen by itself. Like the computer, the real essence of an animal or person is not the body, it is the digital code that is ‘operating’ the body. One advantage of living in the “computer age,” is that this concept would have been very difficult to understand otherwise. But the next question is not as simple to answer. Is this ‘software’ the ‘soul’ or the ‘spirit’? Or perhaps both? Some suggest that the soul relates to the software while the spirit relates to the operating system. By now you probably are starting to get a headache, the good news is for the remainder of this book, we will simply use the dichotomy model and call it spirit.
So going back to our original question, “What does spirituality mean?” Our quick answer would be, that which pertains to the non-corporeal component of human existence. Essentially the component that contains knowledge, personality, decision making processes, and a belief system which when combined gives each of us a unique worldview (see Appendix 1).
Well that gets us in the ballpark but that still does not help us how we, as humans, relate to our spirituality. Most everything we can relate to is ‘processed’ through our bodies. We can see, hear, taste, touch, smell, and communicate through our bodies. Is our spirituality limited to that of being the ‘operator’ of the body? While not visible it most certainly exists, and it seems to exceed the limitations of the body.
From nearly the beginning of mankind, people have generated several philosophies regarding human spirituality, but for this book we will remain in the application of spirituality as outlined, defined, and used in the Bible. When someone says they are considering a change in their spirituality or something affected their spirituality, this is not a reference to some form of a software upgrade or a glitch, but to a change in their beliefs regarding the invisible aspects of their existence.
What does the Bible say about an invisible world? Actually a lot! For example: The Holy Spirit is invisible; We see that Satan and his minions can tempt and influence us while being invisible; Angels are more often invisible to us than visible; While we can see the results of God’s power, we cannot see His power; and of course for the most part, God is invisible.
If we can only relate to a physical world, how can we learn about the spiritual world? The only true answer is through the Bible. The word ‘true’ differentiates it from all of Satan’s lies regarding spirituality and there are several, as indicated by the sheer number of books and other resources filled with his lies. What’s the difference? Let me give you a quick litmus paper test,[2] if the material points to something that man, angel, or demon can do, it’s false, but if it points to God, then it might be true.
If the Bible is the only true source regarding spirituality we can see why the people of the world and Satan have attempted to discredit it, corrupt it, and lie about it, as both desire to see God fail. Some have even come from within the church (see Jude 1:4). How is that being done? One very successful method has been to restrain from radically changing interpretations or fighting against a Biblical truth “head on” (making it obvious to all), but to “bend it” ever so slightly, meticulously changing and modifying how the Bible is read and interpreted over time. And all while doing so, infiltrate God’s sanctioned message delivery system (the church).
[1] Oxford University Press. © (2025) All rights reserved. Accessed online at languages.oup.com.
[2] An old pH test method. Not an accurate measurement, but it helps in making decisions for the next step.