I am not talking about what God can do in some vague and meaningless sense. The proposition you challenged was "Whether God can do whatever he wants," not "Whether God can do anything whatsoever in some abstract or speculative sense."
You were hitting the buzzer over what you thought was an error of logic. Surely you see the logical difference between "God can do anything whatsoever," and "God can do whatever he wants."
So, likewise, the quote from James only applies if we know that God wants to change, and the one from Hebrews only if we know God wants to lie.
In a larger sense though, Protestants generally seem to think, contra Paul, that Freedom is the ability to chose whatever course of action one pleases. Catholics, with Paul, understand that freedom is the ability to choose the good and to act on one's choice.
We see a difference between the alcoholic's craving for a drink and our Lady's grace-given desire to be the handmaid of the Lord. The first is not freedom.
The relevance is that God is utterly free For him to want to change or to lie is a failure or defect of wanting, not true wanting. He knows the good, 'wants' the good, and does it. He can do whatever he wants, as the Psalmist says.
It is, I must admit, a source of pleasure to have someone contradict the plain sense of Scripture to prove a Catholic wrong.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2503880/posts?page=392#392
campion -post 392... “He’s God. He can do whatever he wants. “
MD: ‘You were hitting the buzzer over what you thought was an error of logic. Surely you see the logical difference between “God can do anything whatsoever,” and “God can do whatever he wants.”’
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MD: “In a larger sense though, Protestants generally seem to think, contra Paul, that Freedom is the ability to chose whatever course of action one pleases. Catholics, with Paul, understand that freedom is the ability to choose the good and to act on one’s choice.”
That is not an accurate summary of Protestant thinking. I don’t know where you got it, but I don’t know of any Protestant doctrine that teaches that. It is much closer to what you claim is Catholic thinking.
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MD: “It is, I must admit, a source of pleasure to have someone contradict the plain sense of Scripture to prove a Catholic wrong.”
Well, too bad it’s such a short lived pleasure because I didn’t do that. You only think I did.
Certainly I can. But the statement that was made was what I copied and pasted above, with the link. It is a false premise and any argument which starts that way is doomed.
Ooops. lost a response there somehow.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2503880/posts?page=392#392
campion -post 392... “He’s God. He can do whatever he wants. “
MD: ‘You were hitting the buzzer over what you thought was an error of logic. Surely you see the logical difference between “God can do anything whatsoever,” and “God can do whatever he wants.”’
I do know the difference. I was responding to what was posted. If campion had meant different, it would have behooved him to make that more clear. I can only go by what I read. If someone implies different meanings that what the words actually say, there is no way for anyone to know that.
I can accept your clarification.