A man went to a barber shop to have his hair and his beard cut.  He proceeded to have a good conversation with the barber who attended him.

They talked about many things and various subjects. When they touched the subject of God the barber said, "I have come to the conclusion that God does not exist."

"Why do you say that?" asked the client.

"Look around.  You can see proof that God does not exist. If God existed there wouldn't be sick people, there wouldn't be abandoned children, and there would be no suffering nor pain. I can't think of loving a God who permits all of those things."

The client quit talking and pondered what the barber had said.  The barber finished cutting the client's hair and the client left the shop. Just outside the door he saw a man walking on the sidewalk with long, untidy hair and a scraggly beard.

The client turned right around and went back to the barber shop and said to the barber, "I have come to the conclusion that 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 said, "they don't exist because if they did there would be no people with long hair and beards like that man outside."

"That man has chosen not come to me.  That doesn't mean I don't exist.  That is why his hair is long."

The client pointed out, "People have chosen not to go to God.  That doesn't mean He doesn't exist.  That is why there is so much pain and suffering in the world."

Author Unknown

Submitted by Ross Lybarger