We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are

We cannot help but see the world through our own eyes - what else can we do? Yet our point of view is so familiar that we usually blind to it and so are sometimes taken aback by the difference of another's viewpoint.

At some levels this is easy to accept. Your liking certain foods or fashions that are different to my tastes, and having different interests to my own - that is easy to handle. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" we think when we are aghast that someone else could find that attractive!

But the issue cuts deeper that this. Consider our values, the things we take to be right or wrong. Now we are not talking about our taste in food or style, but our 'taste in truth'. Arghhh! - a contradiction in terms, for truth is truth is truth, surely?

And you may think that here I am becoming one of those 'woolly liberals' who are apparently prepared to accept anything and everything as equally valid. No, I'm not. But nor am I going to fall into the opposite trap of assuming that my version of the truth is the result of my perfect vision and insight! For I cannot get away from the fact that what I see in front of me is a product of my own (no-doubt-biased, partially-ignorant, completely-sinful) mind.

And I'm afraid that this is true, even when, perhaps particularly when, we come to reading the Bible. We can only see it through our own eyes, and what we see says as much about us as about the Bible.

I was struck a while back in a Bible study group when we were looking at Mark 1 v1-13. When asked what the focus of the passage was, we got the following answers:

• John the Baptist baptising Jesus (which is in v9)
• God confirming Jesus as his Son (v11)
• John telling people that Jesus was coming in order to baptise people with the Holy Spirit (v8)
• That after a time of blessing there comes a time of trial (v13).

So, what have we learned from the passage? That the first speaker notices actions, the second is concerned about identity, the third about the purpose of life, and the last has probably learnt this lesson from painful experience. And each had picked out what was relevant to them.

We can - with some validity - say that God had spoken to each one. We can also say - with some validity - that all saw but a small part and missed a very great deal.

So, what was the passage actually about? What is God telling us through this section of his Word? Which of the above answers is true? Each of the above answers contains truth. We learn not just about God, but the way we see His Word (like everything else) also tells us about ourselves.

[NB. Although there may be many right answers, some answers are wrong! For example, the passage does NOT say the Jesus is one of God's many sons, nor is this said or implied elsewhere in the Bible. So we could confidently challenge such a statement if it were made. Not everything goes!]

But it remains the case that we don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

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Title is a quote from Anais Nin who, though not a heroine of mine, expressed this thought beautifully.