THE BLIND BARBER

Benjamin was a popular barber. He was skilled and had many regular customers. During his work, he used to talk eloquently to entertain and enlighten his customers. One day an evangelist visited his saloon. While cutting the hair, the barber declared that he did not believe that God existed. The evangelist enquired about the reason for his argument. The barber described the pain, poverty and suffering that people had to endure, everywhere. He argued that if there was a God, who was loving and mighty, he should have removed such misery from society.

After his hair was cut, the evangelist came out of the barber-shop. In the street, he saw a mad man with long and dirty hair and an untrimmed, ugly beard. He returned to the saloon and told the barber, “Now I am sure that there are no barbers in this street.” “Why, why do you say that?” he enquired emphatically. Pointing to the mad man, the evangelist explained, “If there was a barber here, how could that man have such long and dirty hair and untrimmed ugly beard?”

The barber defended his position, “I am the best barber in this city. There are several barbers in the other streets. That man is mad and does not come to any one of us to have a hair-cut. It is not our fault.”

The preacher replied, “That is quite true. Just like the barbers, God also exists. The problem is that people like you never search for Him and refuse to meet Him and seek His blessings. That is why you find so many in sorrow and suffering.” The atheist could not argue further.

“Fools say to themselves, “There is no God” {Psalms 14: 1}.

“Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” {Matthew 7: 7}.

© By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India. For more moral stories, parables and anecdotes for students, catechists, teachers and preachers, kindly visit my web-site: http://www.moralstorieschristian.blogspot.com