The Perception of Truth; The Truth about Perception...

By Webster’s definition, to Perceive is to attain awareness, or to become aware of through the senses. The noun; Perception, defines as 1. The act of perceiving 2. Awareness of ones environment through physical sensation.

I love it when a dictionary term is defined by the same name it is supposed to define. That tells me that there are no decent definitions for the word being defined. However, even though the first definition of the word “perception” is defined as “The act of perceiving” it does go on to say, it is the “Awareness of ones environment through physical sensation”. This tells me something very important about the word, that is this, the word lacks any credibility to me in the human language besides a way to tell people how you (as an individual) come to understand and feel about something at a very particular moment in time. I’m not trying to completely downplay perception as a useful tool for awareness and insight., however all to often the word perception and truth are used synonymously with each other. And although I believe there are certain truths that accompany perception, the fact remains that perception alone is not a basis of truth.

Perception is, using our own experiences to formulate a truth about the world we live in, and more importantly the God who created it. Through our experiences (and lets be honest, stereotypes and biased teachings) we have figured out a way to describe our belief in something, and still have the ability to pull it off as truth. All by using the misconception of perception. And how we perceive things falls right in line with the truths we ultimately believe in.

Now lets talk about truth for a moment. The Webster’s definition of Truth is as follows; “The body of real events or facts; Actuality”. And, an “Agreement with fact or reality.” True enough our perception of certain things can be based on real and true events. This is perfectly normal and acceptable as long as our perception leads to real truth and not perceptive truth. For example, When I was a young child in Elementary school I remember a certain mountain of a hill in the back of the school where recess was held. I also remember sledding down this mammoth every winter. At that time I perceived that hill as the largest and steepest hill in the state. You probably see where I am going with this. I visited the mountain twenty years later to find that what I once perceived as a mountain was no more than a hump of a hill with no more than a ten degree incline. I laughed to myself. Perception was no longer reality. I now see the hill for what it really is. So, As a child, was my perception of the hill, truth? I do not believe so. Truth was revealed to me later. Now, say I’m standing at the very same hill with my daughter. She may say to me “Look daddy at how big that hill is”. What now happens is that perception becomes an individual experience separated from truth. It is inconsistent. Perceptual truth is a very influential device. We look on it as the authoritative insight to our beliefs. Perceptive truth can be a very dangerous thing, especially in reference to God. There is hope. In John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” and John 1:17, “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”. There is truth out there. We are no longer bound only by the memories and false perceptual beliefs of our own sinful minds. We have Truth in the Flesh, and he never changes, Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

It is my belief that Truth and Perception are far from the same thing and that perception, although at times based in truth, is still the deceptive factor of our black hearts. To many, our perception is without a doubt, our truth (or reality). The problem I foresee is that ones perception generally only applies to the individual. And in many cases perception lays way to deception. In Genesis 6:5 it states “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. This verse clearly states the intention of man from the very beginning of time in his sinful nature. Our ability to perceive things in the Light are diluted by the evils of our own hearts. We can not know Truth without God, only the perception (or our idea) of truth. This is because without Gods Word, our perception cheats us of Truth, for we no longer look towards God for it. We believe that we have found it in ourselves. We believe our experiences have taught us everything we need to know about truth. We make our own truths, in expectation that others are going to meet it. We dilute Gods word and trust in our own idolatrous thoughts. I quote Martin Luther, “Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.”.

Often, how we want to see things affects our perception of it. Sometimes we want so badly to perceive something in a certain way that it clouds real truth and lays way to deception. A basic theological example would be the perception of God that, “Hey, I’m a relatively good person, and if God is all loving then I’m sure I will go to Heaven.“ Great thought, bad argument. It is clear from the Book of John 14:6-7, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." And to know God is to Walk in the Truth, You perceive yourself as a relatively good person when the truth is you are a sinfully, black hearted wretch. “For the wages of sin is death; But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Romans 6:23

The scriptures are pretty clear about how we must approach truth, In John 4:23-24, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”. If it’s truth your looking for, look no further than the Truth. John 31-32, “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”.

Truth does not lie, and perception can not hide from it. In closing I urge you to seek the Truth. Not truth perceived, but truth. Let it be revealed to you.

"Trust in the LORD with all thy heart; and lean not to thy own understanding." Proverbs 3:5