Or, another title could be, “The Death Knell of Gnosticism.”
Scriptures commend those who have the eyes to see that which is unseen. But there is more than one kind of “unseen,” and we have to make sure we are not limiting the eye of faith to just the heavenly realities. It is good for us to set our minds and hearts on that which is above (Col. 3:2). We are to set our affections on that which we cannot yet see, and this will bless us in all the things that we can see. Over and over the Scriptures teach us this principle (John 20:29; Rom. 8:24; 2 Cor. 4:18).
And learning how to function with the eye of faith in this area helps us with seen/unseen problems in other areas as well. A superstitious eye is dazzled by the immediate, and doesn’t like the strain of thinking too much. A faithful eye does not make surface judgments, and is willing to take account of that which is unseen. And by unseen, I mean unseen, but nevertheless necessary . . . if you just think about it.
Let me give a few examples of this before getting to the merry jingle of the cash registers.
Centuries ago, Bastiat taught us the “broken window” fallacy in economics, and the whole thing hinges on that which is seen and that which is unseen. If someone breaks a window, it is quite true that the glazier gets some extra business. That is seen. But the money that the owner of the window spent on the new window is now money that will never go anywhere else. That is unseen.
If a company closes down a factory, the television crews can go find the laid-off workers, and ask them questions about how rough Christmas is going to be this year. That is seen. But if the factory stays open, losing money, nobody knows where that lost money would have gone if the factory had closed down. No hypothetical beneficiary gets interviewed. That is unseen.
The old adage is true. Believe none of what you hear, and half of what you see. This is because what you see is frequently just half the story.
Suppose a doctor believed that everyone in town had a cold because everyone that he saw that day had a cold. He was misled on the unseen, based on what he had seen.
Now, to the cash registers. What is seen? Every year we are shown footage of the malls, crowds and lines, crowds and more lines, and lots of money changing hands, cash registers just a-going. Oh, the commericialism! But through the whole history of the whole world markets have always been like this. Money changes hands, and you can always take pictures of the places where that happens.
Sometimes we are treated to footage of landfills and bulldozers, so we can see the pathetic aftermath of all this consumerism. But this is like showing us a picture of a cow, which is where the steak comes from, and then a picture of a sewage treatment plant, which is where it is all going, without showing us a picture of the candlelit anniversary dinner, with the filet mignon done to perfection. In other words, what we are shown may represent the seen in a way that misrepresents and forgets the whole point.
We are shown this kind of cash register footage, because it is seeable, and seen, and can be videotaped. We are also constantly hectored about our consumerism, and how we are forgetting the whole point. But it is the nay-sayers taking these pictures, and issuing these warnings. They are the ones who are forgetting the whole point. All those shoppers are heading home to give presents to people they love.
You are shown pictures of harried shoppers standing in line, but you are not shown all the child-like delight that occurs when the presents are opened. Picture a family celebrating Christmas like they ought to, and exchanging gifts with true love and real thoughtfulness. Every one of those presents went by a cash register somewhere, and there was a little electronic beep to prove it.
The apostle Paul does teach us that covetousness is idolatry (Col. 3:5). To make an idol out of stuff is no good. Don’t do it. But if you want to persuade me that people are committing that sin, you are going to have to show me more than a picture of them standing in line at a cash register. What did you want them to do? Steal it?