I think we all realize that it is quite easy to convince ourselves. That is, to believe what we want to believe. I think for a good chunk of my life I lived in a naïve fantasy. I am not telling anyone that their beliefs are fantasies, but how do we guard against slipping into fantastical thinking? It is easy to find the speck in a brother's or sister's eye. But what about our own.
I am thinking first that we have to be humble enough to accept the possibility that we might be wrong.
Then we have to be able to look at the same information in a different way.
I think that this is really a very big question.
I would rephrase the topic, this way.
The Bible presents a picture of what our shared reality is like.
(This is not a personal fantasy, and I am not addressing what is not in this shared reality.)
This shared reality, from the Bible's point of view, is VERY IMPORTANT, because
we are commanded to bear true witness about this shared reality. (Or, saying this
another way, we are commanded NOT to bear false witness about this shared
reality. Bearing false witness, in the Bible is called LYING.
And lying, is a sin that can keep us out of the kingdom of heaven.)
The Bible's definition of "Lying", takes this topic out of the realm of
personal preference.
Our shared reality, as the Bible presents it, includes a number of COMPONENTS.
Some of these are...
1 our physical universe
2 biological life
3 God's moral-ethical code, revealed to each of us through a conscience
4 God's written revelation to us (the Bible)
5 God's existence and power, through the power and beauty of nature
6 abstract ideas (such as "ownership")
7 God's interactions with human beings, in certain events in the past
8 valid reasoning methods (such as formal logic, and estimation methods)
...
We are morally-ethically responsible for, before God, what we perceive
in this shared reality (by paying attention, and searching), and HOW we
perceive evidence in this shared reality.
It is true that we can perceive this shared reality differently than the
Bible presents it. We can choose NOT to perceive parts of our shared reality.
We can avoid searching for truth.
We can be intellectually lazy, and so misunderstand our shared reality.
We could not care about telling the truth, and so prefer to make up a
reality that pleases us.
It is not that we do not perceive reality as the Bible presents reality.
It is more that, if we honesty seek truth, as a moral ought, then we
will begin to perceive our shared reality as the Bible presents it.
I think that this is a better approach to finding truth, and properly
perceiving our shared reality.
(By the way...
If we choose to get high on drugs, then we are living in an altered perceived reality.
But it is not living in our shared reality.
If we believe conspiracy theories, then we are surrounding ourselves with stories
and gossip and explanations that HAVE NOT BEEN GROUNDED IN EVIDENCE FROM
OUR SHARED REALITY. So believing conspiracy theories, is one way of lying about
our shared reality.)