The Concept of Truth
Greetings and good morning brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This morning we will ponder our lives as we seek to understand the meaning of the concept of Truth.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Concept of Truth
"Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father but by me." John, Chapter 14, Verse 6.
Brothers and sister, this morning we examine the concept of truth. When Jesus stood before Pilate, he said that he came to bear witness to the truth. Pilate responded by saying what is truth? Who can tell? Jesus also said that he was the truth, the way, and the life. What is Truth? We can only be sure of what is true only as far as our experience extends. Therefore being mortal, our experience of truth is extremely limited. We come into a world that is already in existence. When we finally gain self consciousness, we become aware that there are many other people that have been here before us. From our experience, we know that we come into the world at some point. Now we can not directly prove that we came into the world at some point, but we are told that we did, and we know that we are here, and so we had to come into the world at some point.
We are born, become self conscious. We increasingly recognize others, and increasingly began to interact with them. As we grow our reactions with others increase in scope as well as in intensity. We become involved in others peoples lives, and come to know something of what they are experiencing to the degree that we are apart of that experience. For example, if someone that we are in relationship with becomes ill, we do not directly experience that illness, but we experience the effects that this illness has on the relationship. Thus we experience to a degree this person’s reality. Whenever we participate in an experience with someone else, we experience part of their reality, though the degree of our experience will vary depending upon the degree of sharing. For example, if we are involved in an accident with another person, and we both are injured, then we have a common experience, though the degree to which we are injured may not be the same, and thus our experience will vary somewhat, not being absolutely identical.
We are born, live-interacting with our environment, with others and with ourselves through our emotions about the interactions and with our memories of the interactions. We experience a range of emotions ranging from joy through sorrow. We then die. Sometimes the duration of these experiences may be cut short due to premature death. But is this the truth of a human life? Is this all there is to it, all the truth? Is this the truth that Jesus was witnessing?
When Pilate said to Jesus, What is truth? He was referring to his experience of life, and Jesus’ comment that he came to bear witness to the truth was confusing to Pilate, because he could not see how Jesus could know his truth since he had not experienced it. Pilate could not comprehend that Jesus bore witness to the truth because he (Pilate) was a moral coward. By his own admission, he acknowledged that Jesus was innocence, but crucified him any way. Such dereliction of duty blinds the soul to truth. Since it is the moral nature that qualifies us to enter the threshold of truth. But even though Pilate was blinded by the truth as others have been, Jesus still remains the witness to truth. Jesus did come to bear witness to the truth, the truth that was beyond an aspect of human experience. From the mortal point of view there was no truth beyond birth, life, and death. So Jesus came to reveal something outside the purely material aspects of life-something outside the physical, emotional, intellectual and moral aspects of life.
The concept of Truth, and thus total reality has its origin outside the temporal existence of mortal man. It exists beyond his conceptual limits. Of it own, there is no way the material mind can discern any truth outside the boundaries of that which is mortal. As far as it is concerned all of its values, all the worthwhile experience, all that is true, beautiful, and good in his experience such as the experience of loving another person is doomed to perish upon the taking the last mortal breath. But as hard as it is for the material mind to conceive and believe, there is truth outside of the mortal’s concept.
Jesus, the creator of our universe and us exists outside our mortal reality. He is the Son of God, the Son of the Source of all truth, and within his person is the concealed expression of all truth. He is the personal revelation of the God the Father. Having taking on the form of a human being and experienced this greater truth as a human being, it becomes possible for all other human being to experience this truth. He took on the form of a mortal human being, and came into the world as an helpless infant just like you, and began the process of demonstrating that there was truth outside the mortal consciousness, and came to offer this dimension of truth to all who would accept it.
In the process of revealing this truth, he was confronted by unbelieving authorities of his day. When he referred to one of their ancestors, Abraham, as having seeing this day by faith, and was made glad, the unbelieving pharisees said that Jesus was not fifty years old, and how could he know what Abraham had said. Jesus replied, that “before Abraham was, I am” thus demonstrating his eternal existence. Of course this truth was immediately rejected by the Pharisees, but nevertheless despite their rejection, the truth still remains as to his identity as being the Son of God. Since he was eternal, he offered this eternal life to all who would believe in him. He offered them life beyond the grave, the most dearest hope of all mortals.
But this reality being eternal is beyond the reach of the material mind, and thus requires a new dimension for human comprehension. He offered this new dimension of human existence in what he referred to as living water and the bread of life, referring to the spirit of the Father, and the spirit of the Son. These two attributes would allow humanity to experience this enlarged comprehension of truth. The living water, the divine spirit would create a soul in the material mind of man so that he could begin to experience this enlarged reality within his soul, and the bread of life would impart those qualities that would guide the soul into this new living reality. By accepting these two new attributes of human existence, man would become a son of God, thus fulfilling the truth that man is created in the image of God.
Upon acceptance of this new reality, man would immediately began to show forth the fruits of this new reality, the fruit of the spirit. He would begin to experience not only the revelations of truth but also divine love-that spiritual quality that is the essence of God the Father. Jesus is the way because no one experiences truth beyond the mortal experience of birth, life and death without Him. All who seek to experience living truth without him will fail. Jesus is the truth because he contains with himself the full relationship between man and God. He is the life because it is he who releases us from the mortal embrace of death, and imparts eternal life to our souls.
Now since truth exists beyond the dimension of mere mortal living and beyond the comprehension of the mortal mind, some other mechanism must be used in order to experience this truth that Jesus offers. And this other quality is faith. Faith is necessary to experience the truth that Jesus offers beyond mortal living. Truth is a living reality, and it must be lived, must be experienced. We can think the truth, but we can not stop it and put it under a microscope and examine it. When we do, it speedily dies, and we are left with a collection of powerless facts that are devoid of the saving power of faith and salvation. But this exercise of faith, places a strain upon the material mind that is skeptical of all non material reality. Nevertheless we have the power within us to overcome this doubt. And this power is faith itself. Doubt can not stand before the whole hearted exercise of faith. But for all of us who give into the lure of faith, we immediately began to experience the truth, its value and its meanings, including all of those qualities that are associated with it-the relationship of sonship with God the Father.
The concept of truth signifies that there is a greater reality beyond our five senses, even beyond our existence, even beyond the next one. The concept of truth having its origin in the God the Father who is eternal, infinite, and absolute, means that we are never able to come into complete knowledge of the truth. We are always growing within its liberating embrace, and its satisfying meanings as we continue the never ending journey of exploring the never ending relationship with God the Father through his Son, Jesus.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the concept of truth. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Your Kingdom Come; Your Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages of Light
By Dr. James Perry
The Concept of Truth
