Why God Allows Pain

[Pandora]

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen. It's an explanation other people will understand.

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 a 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! What happens is that people do not come to me."

"Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens is that 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."

 

[willie]

I take the hint, I'll get a haircut.

 

[Penn]

Very good parallel.

You have to seek if you wish to find; knock on that door, if you want it to be opened.

 

[domeglowing]

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen. It's an explanation other people will understand.

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 a 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! What happens is that people do not come to me."

"Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens is that 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."

Nice, but there are just as many faithful people who devote their lives to the Lord and suffer.

Look what happened to the amish

 

[itsbob]

Nice, but there are just as many faithful people who devote their lives to the Lord and suffer.

Look what happened to the amish

You only hear about the surviviors that prayed, you never hear about the ones that didn't make it that prayed. A person survivies cancer, and owes it all to the power of prayer, how many died that prayed just as much if not more?

The ones that get me are (for example) football players, baseball players after they win the big game, or hit the walk off homerun.

I PRAYED that we were going to win, I PRAYED before the Superbowl, I prayed before I swung the bat.

What? None of the losers prayed?

 

[willie]

Very good parallel.

You have to seek if you wish to find; knock on that door, if you want it to be opened.

It's a good parallel if you are a believer, I suppose. So the bum goes in and gets a haircut, he still stinks and has a mental problem. Why did God create him with disadvantages in the first place?

 

[itsbob]

I JUST heard it on TV...

HARRY POTTER and WARLOCKS are enemies of GOD.. and if Harry Potter lived in Bibilcal Times he'd have been put to death!!

A woman teaching/ sermonizing at a Christian summer camp for children.

Did anyone tell her Harry Potter and Warlocks are FICTIONAL!??

Pentacostal "summer camp"

 

[domeglowing]

You only hear about the surviviors that prayed, you never hear about the ones that didn't make it that prayed. A person survivies cancer, and owes it all to the power of prayer, how many died that prayed just as much if not more?

The ones that get me are (for example) football players, baseball players after they win the big game, or hit the walk off homerun.

I PRAYED that we were going to win, I PRAYED before the Superbowl, I prayed before I swung the bat.

What? None of the losers prayed?

GREAT POINT!

 

[Penn]

It's a good parallel if you are a believer, I suppose. So the bum goes in and gets a haircut, he still stinks and has a mental problem. Why did God create him with disadvantages in the first place?

The unkempt, dirty, long-haired, stinky person in that story was not created that way; I assure you he is a product of his own doing (or undoing).

We all came into this world in the same manner. What direction we choose to follow is more than likely of our own devices.

And that, refers to Free Will. Knock on that door, and it will be opened to you.

 

[willie]

The unkempt, dirty, long-haired, stinky person in that story was not created that way; I assure you he is a product of his own doing (or undoing).
He was born with a brain defect. It happens.
We all came into this world in the same manner. What direction we choose to follow is more than likely of our own devices.
What direction can the surviving children of Darfur take?
And that, refers to Free Will. Knock on that door, and it will be opened to you.

People are created equal?

 

[Penn]

Quoted from the story:

" 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."


Your quote willie:

He was born with a brain defect. It happens.

I don't see where you came up with that one? Who said he had a brain defect?

I did say that we ALL came into this world they same way; meaning we all started fresh without any influences or even without sin.

What direction can the surviving children of Darfur take?


I doubt the man was from Darfur, it's not in the story. So, now you want to put a different spin on this?

Why inject something into the meaning of a simple story that is not a part of it?

I cannot explain the direction afforded the children of Darfur; neither can three quarters of the world population. More than 3,500 years ago, the Jews faced the same trials from the Egyptians, and their captivity lasted over 400 years. So, what choices were they given?

Capture, enslavement and execution, until Moses led them out into Israel.

 

[willie]

Penn, you said:
"We all came into this world in the same manner. What direction we choose to follow is more than likely of our own devices."
That is hardly true.

My example of brain damage at birth and children of Darfur is in reference to your statement:
"I did say that we ALL came into this world they same way; meaning we all started fresh without any influences or even without sin."
.
The statement that God created everyone equal is simply not true.

 

[Penn]

Quote: "The statement that God created everyone equal is simply not true."

About a century and a half ago, another man felt quite differently, when he said:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."


So, do you propose Abraham Lincoln was incorrect in his statement?

 

[willie]

Quote: "The statement that God created everyone equal is simply not true."

About a century and a half ago, another man felt quite differently, when he said:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."


So, do you propose Abraham Lincoln was incorrect in his statement?

Absolutely. Presidents aren't infallible, some don't even know the definition of "is".

Now you are drifting. Abe was not talking about people born with disability's.

 

[willie]

Quote: "The statement that God created everyone equal is simply not true."

About a century and a half ago, another man felt quite differently, when he said:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."


So, do you propose Abraham Lincoln was incorrect in his statement?

Since you have brought up the subject of Blacks, do you think a baby born of a crackhead momma in S.E. Washington, will have an equal shot in life as you (I presume) and I? No matter what the kids IQ, he will have hurdles to overcome that would be way too much for a lot of well off white boys. Ebonics would be his first language. Do you call this "starting fresh without any influences"?

That "all men are created equal" is ignorant. That's what happens when you do your homework by candlelight. Quite often I say a big THANK YOU to my creator for putting me right here in the USA and making me a happy white boy.
Amen

 

[BS Gal]

I'm not saying a word.

 

[missperky]

I'm not saying a word.

 

[itsbob]

Quote: "The statement that God created everyone equal is simply not true."

About a century and a half ago, another man felt quite differently, when he said:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."


So, do you propose Abraham Lincoln was incorrect in his statement?

Of course he was wrong.. hell, he didn't even mention women.

 

[Penn]

Of course he was wrong.. hell, he didn't even mention women.

He obviously had a strong, masculine side to him.

 

[Tonio]

Pain is an inevitable part of life - there is no escape or magic cure-all for it. There is no avoiding the fact that bad things happen to good people for no reason. Joseph Campbell said there must be pain and suffering for there to be a world at all. "What we are really living for is the experience of life, both the pain and the pleasure."