A friend sent me an email a while back with a message that really made me think.

A Christian went to his barbershop for his weekly haircut. While sitting in the black leather chair, the two men struck up a conversation that eventually turned to the subject of God. The barber commented, “I don’t think that God exists.”

“Why do you say that?” asked the Christian. The barber replied, “Well, it’s easy. You only have to go out in the street to realize that God does not exist. If God existed, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abused or crippled children? If God existed would there be suffering or pain? Would there be murder or even war? I cannot imagine a loving God who would permit any of these things.”

The Christian didn’t want to get into an argument and could think of no immediate response to the barber’s logic. The barber finished his job and the Christian fellow left the shop. The moment he stepped out the door he saw an unkempt man with stringy, long hair and scraggly beard sitting on the curb. This pitiful-looking person was certainly in need of a barber’s attention.

The Christian turned and reentered the barber shop and said to the barber, “You know what? Barbers do not exist!”

“How can you say that barbers don’t exist?” exclaimed the barber. “I’m here and I’m a barber. I just cut your hair.”

“No!” the Christian insisted. “Barbers do not exist because if they did exist there would be no people with long hair and scruffy beards like that man out there on the street.”

“Oh, barbers do exist! What happens is that people first have to come to me. They seek me out and find me!”

“You are exactly right!” said the Christian. “That’s exactly the point. God does exist.  What happens is people do not go to Him. They don’t look for Him.”

Author Marilyn Adamson believes, “Throughout history, in all cultures of the world, people have been convinced there is a God. The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today. Mere ‘chance’ is not an adequate explanation of creation,” not only that, but our inherent sense of right and wrong cannot be biologically explained.

How would you answer someone who questioned whether God exists? In the Bible, the apostle Paul says God is not far from anyone of us (Acts 17:27). Regarding suffering, a terminally ill minister once commented that God didn’t do this to him because, “We live in a sinful world where sickness and death are the curse man has brought on himself.”

God loves each one of us and created us to have a relationship with Him. Jesus Himself said, “Come to me” (Matthew 11:28).  If someone were to ask me how I know God exists, I’d tell them, “I know He does because I talked to Him today.”

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Jan White is an award-winning religion columnist.  Her email address is jwhite@andycable.com.