Today is a sad-but-happy day for billions of people around the world.

Most of the people reading this are probably right-wing, English-speaking, God-fearing Americans.

But a few of you, maybe because you were doomscrolling and decided to randomly click through, don't believe in God or Jesus or religion at all.

Don't run away on me yet. This little op-ed of mine is directed at those people who know in their bones that there's something more out there - something they can't quite grasp, but perceive. Something invisible, which we call spiritual.

That word "spiritual" comes from the Latin term spiritualis, which refers to breathing, wind, or air. The idea invokes the breath of the gods, or the energy in us and around us that's different from the physical, concrete world.

Every religion on the planet has this strange idea - so much so that it automatically makes sense to us when you mash those religious ideas together and set them in a galaxy far, far, away.

In the Middle East, semitic languages use the term "Ruach" or "Ruuh" to describe the same concept. In Jordan, when I wanted to go somewhere, I'd say I wanted to "Ruuh" there - literally, "I want to spirit away there."

It was this word that Jesus used when he described the nature of God to a Jewish religious leader:

'The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.' - John 3:8

"Wind" and "Spirit" are the same word in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin.

The Greek Bible (which was the trade language in the 1st century AD), uses the word pneuma for wind and pneumatos for spirit, which demonstrates again how all cultures have an idea of breath, life, wind, and God that are tied together. We still use this word for "pneumonia" today.

The Latin Bible, more readable because we still use the Latin alphabet, demonstrates more visually how the words are the same:

Spiritus ... spirat ... Spiritu

So what does that have to do with Jesus or "Good Friday" or Easter or the point of this op-ed?

Jesus claimed he was the fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecy in the Jewish scriptures. He based His identity and reputation on that claim.

"Chosen One" stories resonate with us as humans, whether that's Star Wars or Harry Potter or Dune.

We don't like those stories because we simply like the stereotype. We like them because they activate something primal in us that we can't explain. Something invisible. Something like the wind.

People know deep in their hearts, somewhere an MRI machine can't look, that life is more than eating and sleeping and making babies. It is why humans seek romance and comedy and tragedy. It's why our wars have propaganda. It's why we need purpose. It's why parents become more religious after having their first child. It's why our "secular" governments turned dialogue about people's sexual habits into a religious movement. We cannot help ourselves.

The push and pull of the spiritual world is everywhere.

But what is it, and who controls it?

For over a century, the atheists have said we humans are nothing but meat machines. Now, the only thing left of their movement are a few crusty fedoras at random Goodwill stores ... and a few European enclaves of childless white people who will soon be replaced by millions of migrant babies.

Meanwhile, the collection of history, poems, prophecies, and eyewitness accounts that these atheists vilified is still going strong. For thousands of years, what we now call the "Bible" has been a guide that specifically details 1) how the world was made, 2) who made it, 3) what he is like, 4) what he wants from us, and 5) what our future looks like.

In claiming to be the fulfillment of all those stories and predictions, Jesus didn't just claim to be the Chosen One, but to be God Himself, who entered human history as a person.

Jesus said to them, 'I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?'

'We are not stoning you for any good work,' they replied, 'but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.'

-John 10:32-33

Jesus claimed to be here, as God in a human body, to die the death that all of us deserve for our bad deeds, not just in the physical world, but the spiritual one.

After being brutally whipped and nailed to a cross by Roman soldiers on a Friday two thousand years ago, Jesus said this in a loud voice:

...he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

If that were the end of it, it'd be pretty dumb. A martyr's death might spur some good men into a Braveheart-style rebellion, but if that had been the end of the matter, Christianity would have stopped being a thing after five seconds.

It all hinges on what happened the following Sunday. Jesus' closest friends went to his tomb and found him missing.

Then he started appearing to them, including two walking on the road to a town named Emmaus.

[Jesus] said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

We all know what the pirates say:

The only way Jesus walked and talked with his disciples is if he actually came back from the dead.

Many people get tripped up by unanswered questions in the Bible, or the mistakes churches make. They think the true religion would have all the answers and look more ... well, perfect.

But the Bible never promises us all the answers. It is the starting point - a reference for our bearings, with a whole lot of messiness and adventure between where we are now and where we are going.

'For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully...' - 1 Corinthians 13:12a

The lives of Jesus' friends showed how God wants us to take steps of faith without knowing all the answers. They suffered horrible imprisonment and death to tell people that their friend came back from the dead.

And yet, Jesus promised that their message would be shared to the ends of the earth. And it has. That actually happened, and you can't ignore it.

They had no idea what was going to happen over the next two thousand years, and yet here I am, writing too-long-of-an-article about it on a magical communications device in a country and language that didn't even exist back then.

Do you remember what Jesus said about watching the wind blowing?

Happy Good Friday.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.