How to reply to this message?
Ok so I got this forward to me from an idiot the other day, some of you have probably seen it and I haven't decided on how to reply to it yet, any ideas?
This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen.
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: 'I don't believe that God exists.'
'Why do you say that?' asked the customer. 'Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children?
If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain! I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.' The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.
Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: 'You know what? Barbers do not exist.' 'How can you say that?' asked the surprised barber. 'I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!' 'No!' the customer exclaimed. 'Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.'
'Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me.' 'Exactly!' affirmed the customer. 'That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.'
If you think God exists, send this to other people---
If you think God does not exist, delete it!
This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen.
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: 'I don't believe that God exists.'
'Why do you say that?' asked the customer. 'Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children?
If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain! I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.' The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.
Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: 'You know what? Barbers do not exist.' 'How can you say that?' asked the surprised barber. 'I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!' 'No!' the customer exclaimed. 'Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.'
'Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me.' 'Exactly!' affirmed the customer. 'That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.'
If you think God exists, send this to other people---
If you think God does not exist, delete it!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nelson on -
while this is strictly true, we must remember that the logical argument from evil is made against an orthodox conception of god that is at once omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent. sure, a god could exist that is two of these without being all three but this is not the god most people would say they themselves believe in or indeed the god that the three monotheisms exist for. so, yeah, it doesn't follow from this argument that gods do not exist but it is quite damaging to the notion that an orthodoxly conceived monotheistic god exists and that's the context in which it is offered.
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Permalink Reply by Loop Johnny on -
That whole mail implies that God saves the one who "come" to him. I know allot of people that do not come to God and aren't doing any of that suffering and cruelty.
How come those who do not come to god, live a better life? Those who use the scientific method to create the world around you, including medicine, transport, clothing, food, etc. That would be a reverse question.
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Permalink Reply by Ava Wilson on -
Well this is pretty stupid. Some of the people I know that suffer the most are also people that are the most religious. The other problem is that I think that's a poor argument on Atheism's part to deny the existence of God and that's fundamentally NOT our problem with theism. If I was a believer, I would say that God allowed suffering because the complexity of reality simply escapes human cognitive limitation-- we can't imagine why a benign god would allow people to suffer. What's the point of life if nobody suffered? Really? If everybody on earth had a mansion and a million dollars in the bank and an expensive car . . . how could you appreciate it? How would society work? It just wouldn't. Suffering is there because it needs to be, regardless of what humans think a god should or shouldn't do. If anything it only supports the idea that there could be a Deist god-- a god who made the world and then left it alone because it needed to be left alone.
My problem with God is instead that the idea is purely illogical and, in my opinion, *impossible*. There is absolutely no evidence pointing to God at all and it's not a notion I consider with any length of seriousness anymore.
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Permalink Reply by Cathleen Sessions on -
I don't think this deserves the dignity of an answer. I would not reply I would delete and move on. And/or I would block the sender. It is just typical a typical spam mail/chain letter thing. Possibly carrying a virus.
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Permalink Reply by Timothy Van Uytfang on -
Just don't reply to this message at all and forget about it. It's just one of those "look at my amazingly cool metaphore!"-mails that keep on circling the internet. By the time you have replied to this mail, 100.000 more of these have been sent out into the wonderful world of the internet. It's just no use.
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Permalink Reply by M on -
This is nice and all, but the bible will tell you any number if different hypocrisies regarding whether you have to go to god or he'll come to you, whether he knows all or only knows selectively, etc.
Plus, what the others said: how many people have gone to god and it has done pretty much nada for them? Either god's an a@@hole or he doesn't exist; either way, I'm voting against and not for.
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