''And so I genuinely felt obliged to call...'' ...you out.

I know, I know, ''it's just a picture, Mike!'' and I should ''chill out.'' But I couldn't help but think that some people accept this without any further thought on the matter. So here we go:



1.) Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.

Before I get too far into that, let me preface with this: God is love. Forced love is no love at all. If God created no possible avenue for humans to choose evil, that would be God, forcing us to do what He wants. If God imposed His will for perfection on us, He would no longer be who He is. ''So you're saying that God has limits?'' I'm saying that God is bound by His love for us, and His intolerance of evil. He allows us to make choices, even if it breaks His heart that we choose our own destruction. God does not force anyone to do anything. This is not an issue of ability; but an issue of God giving us a chance to choose for ourselves.



2.) Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is the author suggesting that if God doesn't ''step in,'' and put a stop to all evil, that God, Himself, is evil? I suppose it could appear that way to some. But what if God forced each person to surrender all freewill to Him; and to do exactly as He wishes? He would have a bunch of ''robots.'' He wouldn't really have ''us;'' --that would be God, just taking what He wants. He could have a bunch of robots any time He wants, but what God really wants is us. This is why our ability to choose is so important. Malevolent? No. Heartbroken? Yes.



3.) Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

He is both able and willing. ''Then how did evil come to be?'' We are the ones God allowed to choose evil or good. Any evil in the world exists because we chose it. God doesn't force us to do anything.



4.) Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him ''God?''

He has given us sovereignty over our own destinies. He will eventually deliver us over to whatever it is that we have chosen for ourselves.



So? That still doesn't prove God exists!

Correct, but it does deconstruct this argument.





And about the comment at the end ''Atheists. Winning since 33 A.D.'' I can appreciate a good joke, and that was clever.

...Except the fact that this was actually the dawn of Christianity. Since Christianity is ''just one more theist religion'' to atheism, the dawn of Christianity is more accurately described as the point in time that atheism began to fail more and more, as time progressed to present day.

On a hike!!

Here are some pictures I took from these hills my friends from work and I took a hike on :-)

There were frogs, coyotes, avocado groves, eucalyptus trees, thorny plants, long, steep climbs, and ALL kinds of FUN! :-D

Now this is the California I came back for

He was totally oblivious to me until I whistled to get his attention.




A sea anemone! They try to grab you if you touch 'em! (yeah, it's actually their poison/stinging cells that shoot into your flesh, but it's on such a small scale that it feels like it's just really ''grippy.'')

This all used to be under water back in the summer.

At least the fires made some vivid sunsets.

The water was lavender. Wow.

So I went to Crystal Cove today...

Note: some of these pictures are huge.

Pictures galore!

This is the kind of beauty one gets accustomed to in Dana Point.

I wrapped it up with a big bang here; this one's not scaled down from the original size. Click it and pick your favourite part! :-D

It's my new car!

Awww he waited for me!

Just a block or so north of 17th street and PCH; look over to the far right and you can see Ruby's on the Pier.

Cali Pics

Click the pics for larger versions :-)

My first night in California, Miss Ortal took me to Moonshine, an adorable restaurant in Malibu, just off the Pacific Coast Highway. It was perfect. Good food, fresh ocean air... :-)

A few days later, Miss Joni and I met up at In 'n Out and fed the little birdies our leftover french fries :-) awwww look at 'im! :-)

Then we went to huntington beach, where we first met :-)

I wrote in the sand and took a picture of what I wrote, because that's how I roll.

And here's California, being photogenic, again ;-)

Then today, I was driving around and found this place near Camino Estrella and Camino Capistrano, in Dana Point. That's a good view of Dana Harbour in the distance.

High tide of the same scene I took pictures of about a year and 5 months ago.

Look at all those pelicans hangin' out on that rock... pelicanning.

That's right between the pelican rock and the big rock. See in the distance, there would be a walking trail to go around to the cave, but it's allllll under water! So, I went to the jetty.

This is about halfway on the jetty, looking south.

Same picture, with the moon at the top :-)

Hey man, you should watch where you're walking. I bet that rock's slippery.

Oh, hey guys! I mean...gulls ;-)

Awww look at little Plantie! he thinks it's springtime. Aww :-)

And here is Little Sprout. i know the seed came from plantie, i'm positive. maybe it was the milkman... i don't even have a milk man, so i should have suspected something when he showed up that one day...

don't worry, i'm going to find out very soon what kind of plant Little Sprout is...he's actually starting to form bark already, and he's got a few flowers starting. he's only a few months old!