Mark and Justin cross the street where they would catch up to Ruth.

“You stormed off faster than Tyrone’s dad,” says Justin. “Without the milk, of course.”

“What does that even mean?” says Ruth.

“Oh, nothing.”

“It’s just an internet humor, you don’t need to understand,” says Mark.

“Oh, right. I trust you with that, Mark. Thank you for the information,” Ruth smiles at him.

They then go to their classroom and find that Sam and Cesar are already there. The lovers invite them to sit near them. Mark sits beside Sam, Justin beside Mark, and Ruth beside Justin.

While the class is conversing with each other, Ms. Berido comes into the classroom.

“Good afternoon, class.”

“Good afternoon, Ms. Berido.”

“So, contrary to popular belief, I’m not gonna have an orientation class. I’m just gonna go straight to jugular as always. Basically, we’re gonna have a class today.”

Ms. Berido writes on the board, “Philippine History.”

“I’m just gonna use the board instead of the projector because why not, right?”

She paces across the front.

“Today, this school year, our history class will be about Philippine History. We’re gonna talk about the period of Pre-Hispanic, Hispanic, American, etc. We’re gonna cover them this school year and I’m gonna present to you a poem from Pre-Hispanic periods and the history of it.”

She picks up her textbook and reads the notes that are on it. She states the geography of the Philippines; its mountain systems, river systems, volcanoes, and coastlines.

Time considerably passes by as she discusses the common traits of the Filipino people; which are hospitality, close family ties, respect for elders, fatalistic, loyalty, tendency to be lazy, lack of enterprise, and pakikisama or camaraderie.

“And now, class, I’m gonna give you the poem from the Pre-Hispanic period.” She reads off of her notes saying:

“Now that I’m young and pretty

You are in love with me

I’ll soon be old and ugly

So now you’ll marry me.”

The class giggles at the poem and Ms. Berido is amused in their reaction.

“I’m glad with that reaction, that shows that you’re listening to my discussions,” Ms. Berido chuckles.

The bell rings and it’s time to go to the next class.

“You’re dismissed, class. Time for your Philosophy class, and I’m sure Mr. Mag-aso would give you a lesson as well rather than an orientation. God bless in your journey.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” says Mark.

“Thank you for the lesson, ma’am,” says Cesar.

Mark walks with Justin towards the next room where they will have a class.

“That poem sure is funny, Mark,” says Justin.

“Yeah, sure is,” Mark replies.

“When I would marry-“

“Yeah, sure you’ll marry, Justin,” Mark chuckles.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Look, I will marry a beautiful blonde and green-eyed girl. You’ll see.”

“Sure you will marry that girl… in your imagination,” Mark laughs while Justin shakes his head and smiles.

They arrive at the classroom of Mr. Mag-aso and sit in their respective seats. Mark and his friends also sit in the same order as before.

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Mr. Mag-aso welcomes his students in great fervor.

“Hello, my students. It’s been a long time since I’ve last seen you.”

“You’ve only seen us this morning, sir,” Cesar says with a slight chuckle.

“Oh,” Mr. Mag-aso chuckles. “I don’t know why I said that. Maybe I was too busy thinking with The Crown Rights of King Jesus, which I will discuss among other things in the Thought of John Calvin.”

Mr. Mag-aso writes on the board, “John Calvin” and “The Crown Rights of King Jesus” under it.

“Smooth transition,” Mark whispers to Sam and then she giggles.

“This term means,” Mr. Mag-aso starts, “that not only in our spiritual lives Jesus reigns supreme but also our everyday lives and public lives in high and low places.”

Just as he is about to write something on the board, he turns quickly to them and says, “Where are my manners? I often forget it when I am excited to teach.” He straightens himself up and says, “Good morning, students.” He catches himself in chuckles with what he said with some giggles from the class. “I’m sorry for that. Good afternoon, students.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Mag-aso.”

“So, back to my discussion.”

He writes on the board, “Munis triplex.”

“John Calvin invents this term describing the three offices or positions that Christ occupies. Can you tell me what they are?”

Cesar and Mark raise their hands in unison.

“Two? Alright. Who am I gonna choose? I’m gonna make you shine even more. Cesar, let it rip.”

Cesar stands up and says, “His offices are Prophet, Priest, and King.”

“Correct,” says Mr. Mag-aso. “You never disappoint me, my child. Give him hands, class.”

They applaud Cesar with him saying, “Thank you, classmates.” He then sits back in his chair.

“So, Christ is the prophet,” says Mr. Mag-aso. “That means he’s the voice of God to us. In the beginning was the Word. Jesus is the Word to us. He is the Prophetic Word of God.

“Christ is the Priest, which means he’s our Word to God. He intercedes on behalf of us to God.

“In what we have learned, it is reciprocal. God talks to us and we talk to God through Jesus, our Mediator. It’s not a one-way communication but a two-way communication. In this way, he has the authority over us and he submits to God. That’s where Christ is King.

“John Calvin is not much an innovator when it comes to the topic of predestination but of the things we have talked about, the Munis triplex of Christ.

Mr. Mag-aso writes on the board, “The Five Points of Calvin” and writes “TULIP” under it in a vertical order.

“Can you give me what the T stands for?”

Mark and Cesar raise their hands along with their classmates. Mr. Mag-aso chooses a student.

“Total Depravity,” the student says.

“Very good,” Mr. Mag-aso says. “What about the U? Can you tell me what the U stands for?

Mr. Mag-aso chooses Mark, “Yes, Mr. Mercado. Can you tell us what the U stands for?”

“It stands for Unconditional Election,” Mark says.

“Very good. Calvin would say that we are totally depraved so much so that we wouldn’t choose him but he chooses us. He chooses us unconditionally, not according to what we’ve done or our virtues. We respond to him choosing us and we have nothing to conjure it.

“Can someone tell us the meaning of the letter L?”

He chooses a student. “Limited Atonement,” the student says.

“Very good. What Limited Atonement means is that the death of Christ is only for those he chose. There can be an opinion that with this point, the atonement of Christ is not enough because he cannot save others other than those he chose. But the flavor of it is that the death of Christ surely is for those he chose, it’s not meant in the context of the unelected or unchosen.

“Now, can you tell me what the letter I mean?”

He calls a student who says, “Irresistible Grace.”

“Excellent. You know the answers but you don’t raise your hands. So please, raise your hands if you know the answer. Now what the Irresistible Grace means according to Calvin is that Christ changes your heart making him irresistibly attractive to you. It doesn’t mean that you are dragged and forced by God into Heaven. You know, you don’t want to be saved, you want to be in Hell since that’s where your friends are. You’re chosen. While the unchosen and unelected who live their lives in holiness in the faith of Jesus, go to Hell. That’s not what this means, and that’s what most people conjure up when they talk about the Irresistible Grace or of Calvin in that matter. That would be a misrepresentation of Calvin’s view. He would say that we, by our nature, are bound to Hell and he changes our hearts so that we want Christ, making him irresistible to us.

“Now, what does P stand for? Mr. Mercado, I choose you.”

“Perseverance of the Saints,” Mark says.

“Correct. Now I’m gonna sidetrack a bit. John Calvin didn’t know about the Five Points of Calvin. It was long after his death that this is being formulated based on his Theological views. Now can you tell me how these points came about? Anyone?”

Cesar raises his hand and is called to speak.

“It was formulated by the Remonstrance based off of the points of Jacob Arminius who objected to his Calvinistic training and the Dutch reform. This was in the 1600s. It was originally against Calvin and was rebutted by the Council of Dort which in turn, gave way to Calvin’s teachings made robust.”

“Very Good. Excellent, Cesar. Now, going back to the Perseverance of the Saints. I rather prefer this term to be the Preservation of the Saints. Why? Because God would preserve us from falling from grace and into our glorification in Heaven. We may seriously fall in our walk with God but we will not totally and finally fall from the grace of God, as R.C. Sproul would put it. Now we may profess our faith in Christ but if we fall away from the faith, we don’t really have what we professed. If we truly have what we professed, we wouldn’t ultimately fall away because of the convictions and guidance of the Holy Spirit because he preserves us in our perseverance to finish the race with Christ.”