Comment by Rodeli on December 7, 2011 at 12:57am

You bring up some good points John, and I'm sure there are many of those 300+ Christians who have also asked themselves the same question. But I would still rather be a bald Christian, than a bald Atheist. Why? Because I believe my heavenly Father does care and love me and He does listen when I come to Him with my prayers and requests. Who does the atheist go to? Alopecia is not a respecter of people--it afflicts people of all ages, races, income levels, etc. Do the followers of other religions blame their gods for their hair loss? I am also a mother and I can tell you that I love and give and do many things for my son, but do not always give him what he wants nor can I make all his hurts go away either. Some I would not want to so that he grows and learns from them, nor does he want or expect me to take them all away. He (and I) have been through some really hard times--most caused by other peoples actions and attitudes toward us (our physical challenges are nothing in comparison)and I can honestly say that our challenges are what makes us stronger and better human beings. I would have preferred not to have alopecia, but good has come from it when I open my mind to it. I have also seen God answer prayers and do miracles and many wonderful things. Just because God does not answer our prayers the way WE want him to or in OUR timing does not mean he does not listen or care. He knows what is really important, especially in the long term (eternity). We see things through tunnel vision and are often short sighted and temporal. God does not test us for HIS ego, when and if He chooses, He tests us to make us stronger and better people. Also, some of the "testing" is not done directly by Him but by our fellow human beings just being humans. God see how we handle the trials others place upon us. I don't fight all my son's battles for him--only the ones that are really important for me to intervene in for his welfare--nor would he want me to in many cases. He likes to handle things on his own a lot of times--he just likes to talk to me about them and use me as a sounding board. I use to ask God often to give me my hair back. Did God hear me? Sure He did. Did he give me my hair back? No, not yet. Does that mean He does not care? No. It just means that as He told the apostle Paul "my grace is sufficient for you." To me that means that God does not feel the need to give me hair back to make my life all better--there are more important things in life and those things HE does help me with. When I changed my prayer to God, if I can't get my hair back, can you help me to cope better and give me purpose and meaning in my life. That God helped me with. When I get to heaven, God promises me that all my infirmities will be gone and I will have a perfect body. I can wait until then. I have more important things to do with my life and time and heart than to spend too much time fretting that I don't have hair in this life. I stopped asking God for hair years ago. If it grows someday, great. If not, I'm okay with that too. Life is so precious and my hair is not as important to me as the many blessings I do have. I do not feel God "inflicted" me with alopecia to test my love for him. I was only 3 years old when I lost my hair and I don't think God felt a three year old needed to have their love tested by taking all her hair away. But I think alopecia is one of a host of diseases and conditions that have befallen mankind since the Fall. God created a perfect world and gave humans free will with some instructions for successful living--we are the ones who chose not to heed His guidelines--but He still loves us in spite of ourselves. We are the ones who mucked it up, not Him, but we often want to blame Him for it. As Christians we know that God's adversary also afflicts humans to try to make them turn against God. But do I believe the devil gave me alopecia? No. I believe my alopecia comes from a default in my

Comment by BTB (John) on December 7, 2011 at 1:39am

Thanks Rodeli a very thoughtful answer and has given me a lot to think on, I am flying out of Bangkok in 4 hours and when I get home I will have more time to digest your comment. Thanks for answering many people think we atheists are evil and want to destroy your religion but you are open to debate and I thank you for it will answer you more fully when I get home. Keep the Faith and I will keep the non faith LOL

Comment by Jennifer Krahn on December 7, 2011 at 6:58am

Rodeli, what a well-thought and insightful answer...much appreciated. Great question John...one that many atheists and Christians alike ask themselves at some point in their journey with any illness.

Comment by Deana DG on December 7, 2011 at 9:14am

This is only my opinion and what I believe in. Please understand I was raised catholic but have been non practicing for many years. I have had AU for over 20 years and why do I think I have alopecia because it has nothing to do with god or what you believe in. I am a true believer in Darwins evolution. Our earth developed from hundreds of micro organisms and through out evolution a cell developed the coding to cause a genetic trait of hair loss or a gene changed that was easily triggered by the environment that would cause the hair loss in certain people depending on their own bodies chemistry. I believe we all have a right to believe in whatever gets us through our hard times. I myself enjoy learning about all religions, I feel it is a true way of understanding those that believe in something different. But yet the one cause of war since man time began has been religion. So whatever God you personally believe in is not at fault for our hair loss, I would say it is our bodies chemistry reacting to the environment around us. I guess you could say this is the scientific way of looking at Alopecia.

Comment by Dominique Cleopatra on December 7, 2011 at 2:17pm

This question brings up the philosophical problem of evil, how a Tri-omni God, meaning all-knowing, all powerful and all good could allow evil and suffering in the world. The answer requires a plausible theodicy, or an explaination for how a tri-omni God and evil and suffering can be logically compatible to exist together. It's a tough one, but many philosophers have attempted to tackle it, usually it involves lessons we needed to learn or free will in some way. Also by the way, not all non-christians are atheists. There are other options!

Comment by Georgia Gardner on December 8, 2011 at 5:32pm

I've never been seriously religious, nor has my family ever gone to church. But i was christened Church of England and went to scripture at school and stuff. I eventually abandoned this when I was older and consider myself agnostic now. I don't think, statistically, christens can get more alopecia than and other religious demographic. I think christens dealing with alopecia may talk about their religion a little louder than atheists talking about evolution. Evolution holds little emotional comfort.
I held a lot of resentment when I was younger towards the idea that a god would choose to give me this condition. I asked the same question you have here many times. I think it's easier, if you don't follow a religion, just to not let other people's beliefs bother you.

Comment by Karen Smith on December 9, 2011 at 8:59am

John thanks for this question and what a great discussion. I was so heartbroken when AU hit my daughter in high school along with several other calamaties going on at the same time that I became depressed and had all of those questions. At the end of it I couldn't live without believing in a caring God. We live in a fallen world. One of the things that helped me is knowing that I have a Savior that understands. Isiah 53:3 really helped me, because I can identify with a Savior that understands suffering. The Christian religion does not promise that we will be free of suffering. The early Christians were martyred for their faith. Suffering happens to beleivers and non-believers as a result of the fallen world we live in. As a Christian we have hope.

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