Gurpreet Singh, 22.09.03
This is a good example of an answer to one of the most
common reasons people give for ignoring God and His goodness:
A man went to a barber shop to have his hair and his beard cut
as always. He started to have a good conversation with the
barber who attended him.
They talked about so many things and various subjects. Suddenly,
they touched the subject of God. The barber said: "Look man, I
don't believe that God exists as you say."
"Why do you say that?" asked the client. "Well, it's so easy,
you just have to go out in the street to realize that God does
not exist. Oh, tell me, if God existed, would there be so many
sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed,
there would be no suffering nor pain. I can't think of loving a
God who permits all of these things."
The client stopped for a moment, thinking, but he didn't want to
respond so as to cause an argument. The barber finished his job
and the client went out of the shop. Just after he left the
barber shop he saw a man in the street with a long hair and
beard (it seems that it had been a long time since he had his
cut, and he looked so untidy).
Then the client again entered the barber shop and he said to the
barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist." "How can you say
they don't exist?" asked the barber. "I am a barber and here I
am."
"No!" the client exclaimed. "They don't exist because if they
did there would be no people with long hair and beard like that
man who walks in the street."
"Ah, barbers do exist, what happens is that people do not come
to me." "Exactly!"- affirmed the client. "That's the point. God
does exist, what happens is people don't go to Him and do not
look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in
the world."