In Response to a Chain EMail....

I got this email the other day, and it made me think. So, I wrote this is retort so that this person might understand that God is good no matter what is going on around us. He is always good and he is always just.

I will post the email, and then the response I gave. Your comments welcome.....

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 believe God exists, send this to other people---
If you think God does not exist, delete it!


BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS!!!!!!!

I hope you share it!

Now, after reading, this is how I responded...

This is a good analogy. However, the argument could be made that even Christians go through pain, so pain is not restricted to only non-Christians. Yes, pain does occur to those that do not come to Jesus, but it also happens to those who do. Just look at what happened to Rick Burgess (Rick and Bubba) with his son drowning. Take a look around the world and you will see hundreds of thousands of Christians hurting every day. The real way to address this question is this:

1) We are a fallen creation, even Christians. When Adam and Eve sinned, they brought a curse to man, and it has perpetuated throughout time. All man are under this curse and we will sin, we will hurt, and we will die. That is the whole purpose for Jesus Christ. To bring us back to God. Without Him, we have complete separation from the Father. “I am the way, the truth, and the life and no man come to the Father except through Me”
2) Knowing this, 3 things can be deduced.
a. God allows pain to happen for several reasons: (and we rarely know what his motives are) 1) To punish non-Christians for sin or to correct Christians for their sin 2) For a bigger purpose. He sometimes allows us to go through pain in order that others may come to him or see Him in our reactions to pain 3) To send a message to Christians and non-Christians alike, that although we are independent on this Earth, we are still very much in need of him. Going through a tough time can bring us closer to Him and our relationship with Him can flourish and grow and He desires this very much
b. There will always be pain in the world until Christ returns and the Tribulation is accomplished, Satan is defeated, and God creates a new Heaven and a new Earth. At that time, the pain will no longer be. But until then, we have to deal with Earthly things, pain included. When those times come, depending on what those circumstances are, going through them without God multiplies it infinitely. But with God, all things are possible, and going through pain and having God there to comfort you will make it easier to bare. He understands this, but sometimes we do not. Those times will come, it’s just a matter of when, and if God is with us during those times, we can, by his Grace, make it though and be able to deal and cope with the situation. Without him, we are more likely to break under the pressures of this world and have a much harder time.
c. God will never give someone he loves more than they can bare. He knows by our relationship with him, where we are, and what we can handle, so he delves this out accordingly. He will protect us and never give us something that we cannot overcome. Take a look at Job in the bible. He was by all means, a devout man and God allowed Satan to test his faith. Job stood firm and God allowed this because he knew what type of man Job was. Even in the face of the most horrendous Earthly tribulations, he, with God, succeeded in proving God’s point to Satan (even though the bible never tells us that Job knew about that arrangement at all).
3) God does not allow pain to happen to be mean or to take a vacation from being God. He has very specific purposes for all things that happen. Even pain. We may not want these times to come, we may not understand why God allows it to happen, we may take the easy road and blame God for it, but it truly is ourselves that we have to blame. Man created sin, Man created pain, Man created hatred and jealousy. God did not create us that way, we did this to ourselves. But fortunately, through his Grace and Love, god gave us an out…… He gave us a way that we no longer have to be cursed and under the curse’s eventual conclusion, death without God and Hell. He gave us the answer and the remedy to this problem…. Jesus Christ his Son. By believing in Jesus, accepting him as your only hope to rid yourself of this curse, knowing that he bled and died on a cross that was meant for you and me, we now can have hope, love, faith, heaven, and all the riches and inheritance that are Gods instead of pain, death, isolation, and Hell. We have a new destination… and it’s a good one!

REVIVAL

There will be a Revival at Mount Vernon starting Sunday, November 8th through Wednesday, November 11th. All are welcome. Service times and agendas can be found at http://www.mntvernon.org. Hope to see everyone there.

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