'So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.' 2 Cor 4:18

Seeing is believing is one of the catch phrases of the 20th Century, but its origins go back at least to Ancient Greece. The Greeks thought that seeing and knowing were identical or very similar. It's emergence in the modern era is linked to a more cynical take - 'show me the money or I won't believe you.'

Strangely enough, the period beginning with the world wide web has ushered in an epoch of increasingly credulity. Anything might be believed or disbelieved on the basis of a tweet, a doctored photo, a website claiming authenticity, a rumour spread on social media. Fact-checking becomes a frenetic attempt to douse spot fires sparking in every direction.

The Greeks also had a pantheon of gods for whom they made images - likenesses that reminded them of the physical characteristics of the deities. The Christian and Hebrew God has no such 'graven image' - in fact - expressly forbade it. Faith in the unseen is distinctly difficult in a world that privileges a totalising effect of the visual.

And yet, it abides.