Grace A. Johnson's Blog: Of Blades & Thorns, page 46

Liebster Award: Gabbing With Grace

So, I've come to see that being tagged/nominated specifically for a post will likely never occur, so I've resorted to (1) stealing tags, (2) stalking the internet for available linkup, and (3) considering myself unspecifically tagged, such as in this instance, when my friend (yes, I usually know the bloggers I stalk) Joy Caroline @ Joy Caroline Author. This fantastic writer was at a loss for tags, so I decided to help her out! You can view her post here!

Anyway, without further ado, the rules and questions!

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The Rules

Give a thanks to the blogger who has nominated you (thank you, Joy!) Answer the eleven questions he/she has asked Nominate eleven more bloggers for the award Make sure that they know you have nominated them Ask your eleven nominated bloggers eleven questions

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The Questions

1. What’s your favorite song?

Oi. This? The first question? Er...I don't know! *commences to wailing and flailing about* Better question: Who's your favorite band? LIFEHOUSE!!! IN ALL CAPS, LIFEHOUSE! (Note: the band name is not in all caps. I just love him--er, them that much!) Which begs the question: Which is my favorite Lifehouse song? Eh, it fluctuates, usually depending on which one I'm learning to sing. I love "Everything," "Hanging By A Moment," (diehard Lifehouse fans know these are the obvious choices), "Sky Is Falling," "Falling In," "Take Me Away," (that one's like my prayer song...seriously, a post-grunge prayer song), "Sick Cycle Carousel," and "Spin."

2. How many siblings do you have?

Now, this is a good question! I have 6! I'm the oldest, we're all full-blood siblings, and we're all no more than three and no less that a year and a half apart. In other words, my youngest sibling is two years old.

3. What’s the last book you read?

A Reluctant Bride by Jody Hedlund. I've been waiting for two years to get this book, then since Christmas to read it. I finally picked it up and finished it in two days! (Which is actually a long time for me. XD)

Well, that's the last book I finished reading. The last book I read from was Foxe's Christian Martyrs (the Barbour abridged addition). Now that one's depressing. Hopeful but depressing.

4. If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would it be?

Eccentric. That's my preferred term, over weird or crazy or strange or odd.

I'm a writer. I talk to myself. I love Lifehouse. I hate driving. I want eight or more kids. Yeah, by today's (and my family's) standards, I'm eccentric.

A less self-deprecating word would probably be intellectual. I like to pair that with creative and become a Creative Intellectual. That should totally be a personality type.

5. Do you have any pets, and if not, would you want any?

No. No. And no.

Ahem. I mean no disregard to animal-lovers and pet-owners (my sister has had multiple pets and currently owns three cats). I just don't believe that keeping an animal as a pet is ethical. We as humans only "keep" a person if we are related to them by blood or marriage, or if they are working for us. So, yes, if the cat is for catching the mice aboard your pirate ship, that's one thing. But sleeping with it? Nope.

And, no, I've never had any pets either, although my father owned a few dogs in my early years.

6. Do you speak two or more languages?

Ha! I wish! I'm a native English speaker and that's about it. I do speak the language of my younger siblings, if that counts.

I have been trying to learn French...which has taken me five years...and I've learned, like, two phrases. C'est la vie, mon amis.

7. What’s your favorite place that you’ve visited?

Well, we don't go many places, my family and I. But I LOVE going to the beach! Despite our fancy mountain trips (which always resulted in multiple people getting sick), I'm drawn only to the beach. We've only gone to St. Simon's and Jekyll Island in recent years, but we *hope* to take a week-long trip to the Gulf Coast one day...someday...I'll probably be in my twenties by the time my youngest siblings are old enough to handle such a long trip...but someday...

8. What’s your favorite subject in school?

(1) I'm homeschooled, so subjects vary, and (2) English!! Reading, writing, and everything that comes with it are my favorite subjects! I hate math and some sciences, but I learn everything else (history, geography, sociology, etymology, psychology, and more) just by reading and writing! I also love theology...to a degree. I'm not a fan of reading Christian nonfiction, but I'm warming up to it as I'm forming some opinions on...things.

9. Do you like pineapples on your pizza?

Oh my gosh, YAS! I LOVE pineapple and ham pizza, and my fam thinks I'm crazy! But it's sooooo gooooood!

10. Which do you like better, visiting the beach or going camping?

BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH! That, and I've never been camping before.

11. If you had three wishes, what would you wish for? (And no, you can’t wish for more wishes! I know, super sad. We all wish we could do that.)

Hmm...a 1964 1/2 cherry red Ford Mustang, automatic transmission (and the desire to drive...LOL).

A husband. (No, seriously. I really want to get married! Okay, don't give me that look. Just because I'm fifteen doesn't mean...y'know what? Never mind.)

From time to time, I really wish I had a baby...but, at the moment, I'd love to have some Breyer's peach ice cream. Yeah, big difference there, huh?

Seriously, though, I would wish for a really nice car, a loving husband and kids, and to write 50 novels by the time I'm 65. Talk about a prolific career!

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The Questions

When did you first start your blog? What's something you want to blog about but haven't yet? Why? What's your dream job? Name a movie you want to watch but haven't yet. Why? What's your favorite topic to debate about? (Assuming you like to debate...better for you if you don't.) Who has been your biggest supporter in life? If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? What's something you don't like, even though most people do? (It could be a book, TV show, song, anything!) What makes you stop and think? (Roses? Poems? Big words?) When you were younger, what did you want to be when you "grew up"? If you could make up a question to ask yourself as the final one in this list, what would it be? (For example, "Why was Grace too lazy to create a legitimate question?" By the way, I've an answer to that. It's not laziness; it's ingenuity.)

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The Tags

Oh, boy. Here we go.

So, I'm nominating as many people as I can think of, but if I don't make it to eleven, consider yourself nominated!

#1 Emily @ Painting With Words

#2 Kristianne @ Whimsical Wanderings

#3 Ariel @ Scribes & Archers

#4 Jenna @ Jenna Terese -- YA Spectulative Author

#5 Maya Joelle @ Maya Joelle

#6 Esmerelda @ Lattes & Literature

#7 Addie @ A.L. Darley, Author

#8, 9, 10, and 11: YOU! If you find this post interesting, feel free to answer the questions in the comments or on social media. Better yet, maybe you happen to be a blogger and you'll accept the nomination!

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Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this peek into my life. Maybe I'm not as boring (or weird) as it may seem...eh, doubt that. LOL!

Y'all have a fabulous week, guys!

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Published on January 26, 2021 02:00

Meet My MC Linkup

I have a confession to make, guys. I stalk random bloggers, stow away on their linkups, and plunder their tags.

Not really.

In fact, I am for once doing something legitimately!

Maya Joelle, another fantastic blogger/writer, introduced this linkup after doing Christine Smith's Know the Novel linkup, which was for NaNoWriMo. Well, I didn't do NaNoWriMo and I didn't do Know the Novel (but, man, I wanted to!), so I have jumped at the chance to do Maya's Meet My MC linkup!

So let's get into it, y'all!

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The Questions

#1 Introduce your MC. What’s their name? Age? Appearance? (Sharing collages/inspiration photos encouraged!)

So, what's hilarious is that I have *cough* five MCs I can choose from in Bound and Determined, my current project that everyone has been waiting for patiently for the last year and a half. I've actually done a Meet the Character post for my hero Keaton (which you can read here), so I don't want to repeat myself (even though I've learned, like, a dozen new things about him). I don't want to do my heroine, because answering all of these questions would be a ginormous spoiler. Therefore, I'm going with the character who ends up the MC of pretty much everything, the one I know better than I know myself, the one who I *actually* haven't done a Meet the Character or really any background for on my blog before:

Rina.

*Spoiler alert if you haven't read Held Captive yet*

Catherina Ana Dorcas Rosette Winterbourne Blackstone Bennet. (Yeah, that's her name. Y'all wonder why I call her Rina.) Not only is she the heroine of my debut novel Held Captive, she's also a main character in both Prisoner at Heart and Bound and Determined. And that wasn't by chance. I'd known from Day 1 that she was going to keep growing, book by book. That growth will be taking place over a course of four full-length novels, several short stories, and probably a couple of cameo appearances in some spin-off series in the future.

Anyway, back to the intro.

Rina (as of BAD) is 31-years-old (she was born in 1655), is over six feet tall, and weighs roughly 170 lbs. She has waist-length waves of caramel brown hair, blue-green-grey eyes (the exact shade changes all the time), sun-bronzed skin, and aristocratic features.

I would love to share an inspirational photo, but luck would have it that no one looks like Rina. I've found several people who bear a feature or two (a nose on one girl, the mouth on another, etc.), but no one whose entire face and body fits my character.

However, I do have a collage that I put together for her that fits her overall aesthetic. (Please note: All the pictures featured in this post are from Pinterest. No copyright infringement is intended. If you own the copyright to one or more of these pictures and would like them taken down, please contact me on the homepage.)

So, what do y'all think? I'm a crappy designer, but I tried. Hopefully, my future attempts will be better, but for now I think this shall suffice for Rina.

#2 Explain how your MC fits into the plot of your book (as best you can without spoiling it all…).

What? No spoilers? How am I to go on?? Well, um, hehe. To be frank, none of the book would happen or exist if it weren't for Rina, so there's that. She fits in multiple places for multiple characters, I guess. For Keaton, she's his mentor, his best friend, and sometimes the person leaning on him for help. For my heroine, she's a life-saver, a captain, and a teacher. For Billy and Scarlette and Julius...hmm. Now that's the interesting role I'll keep under wraps.

As for the plot, Rina's the main gear that keeps the story turning. She ends up in the most trouble and gets other people out of it. Yeah...I definitely can't say much without spoiling everything. Let's just say that Prisoner at Heart's epilogue will play into BAD's plot tremendously!

#3 What’s the first thing your MC says in the story? The last? A random quote from the middle that you like?

Ooh...I think I'll do the first and the middle--I haven't made it to the last!

First thing Rina says: "Xavier? What’re you doing awake? I’m not ready for morning yet" (pg. 31). How profound.

One of my many favorite quotes: "Cease looking at the storm around you, the water beneath you, the sky above you. Stay your course and focus solely upon the foundation of your faith, the path upon which you step, the hand that you know will always catch you, the eyes which will forever be brimming with love" (pg. 220). Definitely much more profound, am I right?

Another favorite of mine: "But...only the manufacturer himself, only the potter, could achieve such. He could put the pieces back together in their original form, or he could make all things new. ‘Tis all up to the one who puts their self—or their teacup—into his capable hands" (pg. 388).

Rina has a lot of wisdom, which is really ironic considering who she used to be. I'm getting pretty excited about these questions, because Rina has changed and grown so much! If I answered these from Held Captive's perspective, all of the answers would be different, so from BAD's point-of-view she's much more mature and kind, really. I like seeing the growth!

#4 Which other character would die for your MC?

This is a strangely amusing question. In HC, only one (maybe two) characters would have died for Rina--Elliot. Xavier might have risked his life, but he didn't know her very well for a portion of the book. The only true friend she had, who would sacrifice himself for her, would be Elliot. Not Julius. Not even Keaton at that point.

But now? Everyone, probably. Xavier, of course. Elliot and Crimson. Keaton and Billy. Her father and mother. Stark and Charlie. Definitely Julius (even though the two get on each other's nerves more now than they ever did). Yeah, everyone but Scarlette, I'd wager.

#5 Would your MC die for them?

Let me put it like this: "Aye, Rina had risked her life for the girl and her sister, but the woman risked everything for everyone everyday. It was, I supposed, in her nature."

Keaton had just thought this the other day! (In other words, I just wrote this!)

She gives so much of herself that she developes this strong bond with everyone she meets--from Keaton to Crimson and Scarlette (Scar is so rolling her eyes at that one) to two new characters in BAD. She would definitely die for any of them--even Scarlette. Of course, she'd also give her life for her twin boys, Dick and Mav.

#6 Have any major details about your MC changed since you first created them?

Oh, my gosh, YES! Everything has changed--from her name to her voice to her character. When I first created Rina to when I started writing Held Captive (or even The Lady Pirate), a LOT changed. You can read all about it here and here. The most major details are probably her name and her story. Her appearance and personality has stayed roughly the same--but she went from a pirate searching for treasure (whose name was literally just Lady Cathrina) to a pirate searching for restoration (whose name is now seven words long).

What's interesting is that not only has Rina changed from her creation to her first chapter, she's changed throughout the last three novels. In Held Captive, she was a nightmare-plagued, coldhearted pirate with PTSD. In Prisoner at Heart, she was a struggling pregnant privateer who was still learning the ropes of her newfound faith and where she stood with her old friends and family. In Bound and Determined, I combine the cocksure girl full of confidence and Christ (who is continually imparting her wisdom to pretty much everyone) with a mother figure who rails everyone out with a weak, anxious puddle of nerves who has absolutely no idea what to do. Yeah, that's one serious oxymoron, isn't it?

In BAD, I strip her of everything--her husband, the people she can trust, the assurance of her safety, her faith, her intimacy with God, her confidence in her abilities--everything. And I'm still not done with her! She has to go through a lot of trials--and I'm talking a LOT--to grow into an even deeper relationship with God, her friends, and her family.

But I don't stop there. Book 4 will bring her to an even lower point--a point she hasn't been in since the very, very beginning. As in, the beginning you as the reader (and even me as an author) have never seen.

#7 What characters (from books/movies not by you) remind you of your MC? Why?

Okay, this is a very hard question. First of all, I'm sure that there are probably hundreds of characters who are eerily similar to Rina--I just haven't read or watched them.

I really can't think of a movie character like Rina. I mean, you have the cast of Pirates of the Caribbean, but she's not Elizabeth Swan and she's certainly not Jack Sparrow. She's not like any other female character I've ever watched--maybe more like Black Widow than anything, and that's a stretch.

Book characters? Eh. I read historical romances, and there are very few female pirate captains in proper Regency romances, if you know what I mean. MaryLu Tyndall has written many pirate romances, and she's got quite a few female pirates in there--from Charlisse Merrick to Faith Westcott--but none of them are enough like Rina for me to compare them.

If I had to pick someone that reminded me of Rina, it wouldn't be a fictional character.

It would be Grace O'Malley. I think, had the two met, they would have hit it off! O'Malley was the greatest female pirate captain (I may be biased) in the history of piracy--plus, she was the Queen of Ireland. (Okay, historical note, she was noble and politician, but she wasn't actually the queen; they just called her that.) Unlike Anne Bonny and Mary Read, Grace (or Grainne) O'Malley didn't hide her gender or run away with a pirate captain. She was (1) the captain, (2) blatantly a woman, and (3) married, and to a normal guy at that.

Unfortunately (or, well, fortunately, really), Grace O'Malley was a real person, so that kind of excludes her from the list of answers to this question. Therefore, this question remains unanswered.

Do any of y'all know of any fictional characters that remind y'all of Rina?

#8 Share your MC’s favorites! (Color, food, type of clothing, place, type of music, season, smell, etc.)

Okay...this one will be a little bit different than most, simply because Rina lives in the 17th century and is a pirate. But we goin' with it anyway.

Color: Green. Surprisingly, her all-time favorite color is green. Her quarters is bedecked in green--from the curtains to the rugs. That being said, she's a red girl. She looks fantastic in red and red is the aesthetic color for her character and Held Captive.

Food: Oranges and rum. Or anything, really, but hardtack and Dorian's sludge. She also enjoys a nice cup of tea.

Clothing: Breeches. And a loose-fitting shirt. With a velvet overcoat and tall Hessian boots. Not to mention an array of rings and necklaces to garnish. Oh, wait--her favorite article of clothing is definitely her tricorn. She can't live without it.

Place: The open ocean. And Port Royal, her favorite port.

Music: All of it. She likes dances jigs to the fiddle or singing folk songs. But her favorite song? Definitely "Greensleeves." It's her dad's favorite too.

Season: Oy, I'm not sure about this one. She's not really a winter person, but not a summer person either. Probably either fall or spring.

Smell: Rum. Cinnamon. Oranges. Jamaican all-spice. She loves those exotic, spicy scents. Or just the smell of saltwater or a fresh-brewed cup of tea. Or her husband.

As for any other favorites, that pretty much sums it up. She does like gold and money. And gambling. She's a regular card sharp. On that note, her favorite thing to do is win.

#9 If your MC wasn’t involved in your story, what would they be doing? (Basically: what’s their dream life? Where do they want to live, what do they want to do?)

If Rina wasn't in my story? Um, she probably wouldn't exist, then. But if I were to lay off and let her enjoy a peaceful life, she'd probably just keep on doing what's she's doing. Of course, there'd be less loss and pain and such. She would live in a beautiful house in Port Royal, raise six kids, and continue to sail the High Seas as a privateer. 'Tis a pirate's life for her, you know!

#10 Share a fun extra (another collage, a playlist, a scene from the story, a drawing, etc.).

Ooh...so, I haven't gotten my Held Captive playlist together yet, which has most of Rina's songs--but I do have Bound and Determined's and a few collages from BAD that I'd like to share.

As for Rina-specific things, I think I'll share some of my many favorite Rina moments in BAD!

This first one is for amusement purposes only. Maybe it'll make you laugh. Maybe you'll find it stupid. I never know when it comes to my strange sense of humor.

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“Captain!”

If someone called for me one more time whilst I was in the middle of something important, so help me…

I pivoted to face the source of my interruption, certain ‘twas the glower I wore that caused the young man to throw up his hands and back away a couple paces. “Aye, sir? What can I help you with?”

Perspiration dotted the boy’s brow, appearing not from the sun but from the same origin of his scattered gaze. Had I forgotten to brush my hair this morning? It could look a touch frightening if I hadn’t tied it out of my face or combed down the wild frizz the humidity produced. Perhaps he were just unused to having a woman over six feet tall glare down at him as though he were a pesky maggot.

That was probably it.

“We’re, um, we’re awaiting your orders, sir, er, ma’am, uh…”

“Captain is fine.”

“Captain.”

I sensed Keaton’s chuckle, muffled by a strategically placed hand over his mouth, and had to stifle my own as the boy nodded aimlessly, repeating that they were awaiting my orders, only this time with an emphasized captain attached to the end.

“Thank you, lad. Mr. Clarke and I need only one more moment to discuss some imperative matters before we prepare to port. If you must, go and relay that to Mr. Blackstone, would you?”

His head bobbed again, a hint of color returning to his cheeks. “Of course, Captain. My apologies, Captain. Finish your conversation. We will…continue to await your orders. Captain.” He spun ‘round on his heel, shaking his head and muttering to himself as he stalked away.

I looked to find an outright grin pasted onto Keaton’s lips. His eyes twinkled ever so gently with mirth and amusement. It was good to see him so lively. If only I knew what would keep him in that state.

“I think he likes you.”

I snorted, dismissing his comment. “I intimidate him, is all.”

“Because he likes you.”

I peered down at my impertinent friend with narrowed eyes. “And you know the boy’s innermost secrets how?”

“I was a boy once myself, you know. I can tell when a lad carries a torch for a lass.”

“Now I know you’re joking with me, Keaton. Not only does that adolescent child not “carry a torch” for me, who is not a wee lass, but you wouldn’t know love from hate if it slapped you in the face.”

“Probably because love wouldn’t slap a person.”

And this discussion was getting me nowhere.

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This scene is Rina's story of grace. I had a lot of fun writing this scene. It's both morbid and profound, I think. This is written from the POV of another character, so the "she" that is mentioned is Rina.

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“You could be hanged, you know.”

Well, that’s nice to know.

I couldn’t suppress a scowl. Her allegorical skills were paling in comparison to her accomplished works of confusion. What had my runaway slave status to do with grace?

She continued, unfazed by my discomfort, if she’d even noticed it at all. “Quite easily, in fact. Word has surely gotten out about your disappearance by now, and no doubt even Cuba has heard. One misstep and—oh! You’re being carted to the gallows. But, then, you’ve never even watched a hanging, have you? Oh, wait! Of course you have—you’ve spent the last two years in Port Royal. But only from a distance, surely. Assuming your master allowed you out into the streets. Well, I’ll explain it for you anyway.

“You are jailed at first, which is true for most any crime and any punishment. Rumors swarm about who you are and what you’ve done, if you’re not as notorious as other criminals. People gleefully await the day of your hanging, which is usually determined right after your trial—assuming you get one—because people always love to see justice prevail. I don’t really think there is much wrong with that, but at times judgment leaves little room for clemency.

“Say you stay in jail for a week. In your case, that seems like a short enough period of time. Then you’re dragged, hands and feet bound like the slave that you are, across town to the gallows. The hangman awaits. The judge awaits. The prosecutor awaits. What’s more, a city full of people gawk at your muddied face and soiled clothes, swollen eyes and bleeding feet. Then you take the stair steps to the platform, are shoved directly beneath the noose, and then slowly secured within the knot. ‘Tis not too tight, not whilst you’re standing. But you know what is it come. Seconds pass like hours as you wait, dreading the final moment when the hangman releases the lever, the wood you stand on disappears, and whoosh! You are left dangling mid-air, a rough hemp knot digging into your throat, a tingling sensation beginning in your neck and traveling to your fingers, your knees, your toes.

“You are left there, swinging for hours before the last drop of life is strangled out of you. And then, within minutes, vultures and crows and flies come to feast upon your flesh. Once you’ve been picked over by the smallest of unsuspected predators, your filthy carcass is literally hauled off and thrown away. No one cares to bury you. Even if they did, why would they? You were a rotten criminal sentenced to death by hanging. You didn’t deserve the common Christian courtesy.”

Her face had remained utterly passive, her tone as smooth and cold as a glacial river, until, nearing the end, she winced, hung her head and clasped her throat as though a noose had once been closed around it and she had lived to tell it.

“That was to be my fate. Egad, it very well still could be! And much worse, I’d wager. Pirates give and receive no quarter, ‘tis true, and well I deserve it. The one who stand before another human being and willingly slaughters them, watching as their eyes roll back into their head and their body is severed entirely in half, blood streaming everywhere, and feels no drop of remorse… That person, regardless of who they were or who they are, deserves the worst punishment imaginable. I deserved the worst punishment imaginable. But Someone stepped in. A loving Father—nay, two loving fathers, in fact—extended a silver platter, upon which was inscribed Mercy, and allowed me to drink from the cup of immeasurable grace. Even if my earthly father had not secured my pardon, God’s grace would have raised my head as I faced the gallows, for I shall see Him beyond the gates of pearl and be granted His gift of eternal life. But I don’t need to remind you of this, do I?”

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Now, for those other goodies I mentioned! I recently designed some collages for my novels, so here are the collages for Held Captive, Prisoner at Heart, and Bound and Determined!

HC's collage pretty much encompasses everything Rina's about: piracy, fighting, coin, and rum. Yeah, that's very moral, isn't it?

I had a lot of points to make with PAH's collage. The chains and stormy sea are Crimson; the feather quill and papers represents Rina's privateering career; the treasure, coins, and the compass all tie into the story; and the sword represents the division wrought between Rina's old life and new, and the division on her ship.

Wow. That was way more profound and deep than just slapping a few aesthetic pictures together. Didn't know I had it in me!

My colors for BAD are orange, yellow, and brown--similar to fire or a sunset. I went with a lot of pictures that fit individual elements in the story--the boots, books, compass, pots, ship, and streetlamp are not just aesthetic; they're also items present in the story. Even the harbor is there, since Rina's ports several different times. That particular picture also fits certain scenes in which characters are at the harbor during the night.

Again, not the greatest designer! I have a friend who designed from character collages for me that I'll be sharing closer to BAD's release, as well as some character collages I did (that aren't as good).

I've also put together BAD's playlist. It is extremely long (over three hours) and some songs fit the story more than others. I'll share the playlist closer to BAD's release with my commentary on some of the songs, but y'all can go ahead and check it out below!

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Whew! This was a long post! I hope y'all enjoyed getting to know BAD's Rina and getting a peek at some of Bound and Determined's fun goodies! Don't forget to check out Maya Joelle's linkup! On the 30th, she'll share everyone's posts, so keep your eye out!

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Published on January 25, 2021 02:00

Predestination - Part 1 (Theories of Man)

What Is Predestination?

Predestination is a broad and nuanced theological theory. It is, in fact, less a theory and more a belief system in and of itself. To pick apart this system would take decades. The perspectives from which I could do that are innumerable. I will only select a few, although by far the most important. But before I dive into the many aspects of predestination, you must first understand exactly what it is, in every respect.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about Calvinism here. Calvinism is the umbrella under which predestination rests. Jean Calvin drew many conclusions in his study of the Bible, forming the Calvinistic belief system many people, churches, and denominations have adopted over the last four and a half centuries. Only one of these conclusions, of which there are many, is predestination. It is the foremost, yes, and the most regularly debated, while his other theories and discoveries, such as the preservation of the saints and the total depravity of man are less acknowledged, although they are tied directly to predestination itself.

However, I will not be examining these other things today. I am not, by definition, examining Calvinism, as Jean Calvin did not invent predestination—the theory has existed in many other religions, cultures, and eras long before, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Before we begin, I want it to be clear that neither am I supporting Arminianism or conditional elect nor am I condemning those who believe in Calvinism and predestination. I, like yourself, am learning step by step the intricate nuances of this belief and what the Bible says concerning it. The reason why I’m studying predestination is because it is quite easily the most debatable and seemingly proven theory present in the Christian faith.

Those who believe in Calvinism and/or predestination, of which there are many, do not understand the entirety of this system, as it has rarely been expounded upon. It is too vast a subject to cover in Sunday School. So, please, I ask that you not approach this post as though I am trying to persuade you. In fact, my intention is to inform you of the true nature of predestination, in whatever light you choose to see it.

The fundamentals of predestination is all I will expound upon for the time being, as there are five subdivisions of predestination: conditional election, infralapsarianism (the sister of supralapsarianism), double predestination, corporate election, and Middle Knowledge.

Conditional election is, you could say, the glue holding Arminianism together. It is the exact opposite of unconditional elect, which inspired Calvin’s views on predestination. It is less a part of predestination and more closely related to the subject of free will. Conditional election is the belief that God ordained salvation for all those He foresaw would have faith in Christ. This, in fact, is perhaps the most plain of these “types” of predestination. As God is all-knowing, He knew before the foundation of the world who would go on to choose His Son in the future, and therefore established their destiny, or their “destination,” in Heaven.

“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Romans 8.29-30).

Infralapsarianism is the view held close by Calvinism, often referred to as “double predestination,” which is the belief that instead of relying upon His foreknowledge, God used His own free will to chose salvation for whom He would and damnation for whom He would. With this view, Calvin gave his definition of predestination:

“By predestination, we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. Not all are created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestined to life or to death.”

Although infralapsarianism includes other intricate views (such as the time at which God predestined the elect), its basis is double predestination, which can be considered a form of predestination apart from infralapsarianism.

On the other hand, you have corporate election. Simply put, it is a combination of free will and predestination. Rather than ordaining the salvation of individuals prior to creation, God chose a group of people—for instance, the Church. Therefore, it is by one’s own free will that one chooses to become a part of the Church, but by God’s ordinance that the Church as a whole is accepted into eternal life.

Middle Knowledge is wholly separate from Calvinism, as it was developed by Jesuit theologian Luis de Molina, and thereby falls underneath Molinism. This view holds that God knew, before the creation of the world, what every freethinking creature would choose of their own will in every possible situation they might be presented with in life, and that He chose which of these “possible realities” was the most aligned to His will. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, doesn’t it?

To pick apart each of these views and belief systems would be exhausting, especially considering some of them do not directly apply to what we believe now, in our modern-day American denominations. Therefore, I want to focus on unconditional election, the backbone of predestination that remains mostly unchanged despite other surrounding ideals and theories.

Unconditional election is just that—selecting random people to become saved. There is nothing they can do to avoid, halt, or change their fate. Likewise, double predestination is applying unconditional election to damnation as well as salvation. As God chose some for Heaven, He chose some also for Hell. In other words, He did not take His chosen—His elect—and then leave the rest. He willfully assigned people to Hell without bias toward who or what they would become once placed upon the earth.

Most of us assume that Calvin invented predestination; however, many other scholars and even other religions held to this belief long before the famed theologian came along. Predestination existed, firstly, in Judaism. According to Josephus (a first-century AD Romano-Jewish historian), wrote that the Essenes and Pharisees, two Jewish sects during the time of Second Temple Judaism, held to the belief that God’s providence (also known as His sovereignty) ordered all human events. Unlike them, the Sadducees had neither an opinion nor a doctrine regarding God’s sovereignty. Although several other scholars have argued the accuracy of Josephus’ portrayal of these groups, the consensus is that these Jewish sects believed that God ordained the salvation (which, of course, had a different definition before Christ) of certain Jewish individuals, if not everything.

Throughout the next several centuries and on into the Middle Ages, scholars and theologians such as Origen in the 3rd century and Augustine of Hippo had many thoughts on the subject of predestination. They believed that God’s predestination of certain individuals was based upon their merits, which preserved the idea of free will. Augustine’s opinions began to change as he accepted double predestination and irresistible grace, and his views closely mirrored Calvin’s by the late 4th century. Several councils in the early church also accepted these beliefs.

Ninth-century Saxon monk and theologian Gottschalk believed in double predestination. In the 13th century, William of Ockham taught that God predestined people based upon their good works and merits, while a century before Thomas Aquinas held to the belief that it was due God’s goodness that He chose whom He would save rather than that of the people themselves.

By the time the Protestant Reformation came along, predestination was already a widely-held belief within the Catholic Church. Jean Calvin was merely the first theologian to gather all of these warring theories together, label them, and sell them to both the Catholics and the Protestants.

This is more than just a theory. Predestination changes the way one views everything in life and in the Bible—from creation to the fall to Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection—so don’t take it lightly.

With this in mind, I want to explore with you the belief systemof predestination (namely, unconditional election) in several different areas: Calvinism, Arminianism, Catholicism, Protestantism (mainly the Baptist and Lutheran doctrines), other historical contexts, and within the Word of God itself.

Welcome to “Theories of Man.”

Predestination in Calvinism

To begin with Calvinism, we must go all the way across the Atlantic to Picardy, France in the year 1509. Here, Jehan Cauvin (French, Jean Calvin; in English, John Calvin) was born to a cathedral notary and an innkeeper’s daughter, brought up within the Catholic Church, and later trained as a humanist lawyer in Orleans. As Luther brought revival to Europe, young Calvin broke away from the Catholic Church, converted to Protestantism, fled to Switzerland, and there began his career as one of the most well-known and revered theologians within the Christian faith. His works, including the Institutes of the Christian Religion, his commentaries on multiple books of the Bible, and confessions of faith intended to unite the reformed churches, followed his conversion and set the groundwork for what we now call Calvinism.

Calvin himself describes his Institutes as the summary of his views on Christian theology. Within his first book, he argues the self-authenticating attributes of the Scripture rather than proving the authority of it; opposes the Catholic Church by speaking against images of God, deeming them a form of idolatry; and writes on wisdom and knowledge, stating that the knowledge of God can only be found in studying the Scriptures.

“For anyone to arrive at God the Creator he needs Scripture as his Guide and Teacher."

In the second book, he expounds upon the fall of man and original sin, referring back to Augustine, who fully developed these views in the 4th century. He also wrote about the Old and New Covenants, outlining how they work in tandem to fulfill the same promise of a Savior.

In the third, his focus is on predestination. Rather than fleshing it out, he merely defended and agreed with the doctrine founded by Augustine and expressed by Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther. Although he stood by the existence of double predestination, this is what he wrote:

“The decree is dreadful indeed, I confess.”

In his final book, Calvin expressed his views on what the true Church was: the Body of Christ, united as one catholic (e.g., universal) church. He writes on the sacraments, of which he accepted only two, baptism and the Lord’s Supper; and on the separation of church and state, arguing that civil and church authorities should not interfere with each other.

Although he is often likened to Luther, Calvin’s views were more focused upon the sovereignty and power of God as an authority over all, rather than as the One Who stepped down from Heaven and took on the form of a babe to give grace to the lowest of sinners.

His views on predestination closely resemble those of the early Jewish sects; however, Calvin’s view of Judaism was controversial in his time and ours. As a covenant theologian, he often examined the two promises God made to His people: His first to Abraham and His second with the coming of Christ. He only wrote concerning Jews in his treatise, Response to Questions and Objections of a Certain Jew, stating in it that the Jews misread their own scriptures. He also wrote, “I have had much conversation with many Jews: I have never seen either a drop of piety or a grain of truth or ingenuousness—nay, I have never found common sense in any Jew.” Along with many other Catholics and Reformers in his day, he believed that the Jews were a rejected people and presented many antisemitic views; of course, you’d have to speak with him yourself to know for certain how he felt toward them.

Apart from the similarities between Jewish beliefs and predestination, Calvin stood firm in his defense of Augustine’s doctrine. The sum of his thoughts would be described in this quote:

“God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.”

In the formation of Calvinism, his acceptance of this doctrine and expansion of it are foremost. Along with what Augustine taught, Calvin invested a great deal of thought into what predestination, in the simple terms Augustine put it, meant in its entirely. He explored the fall of man and original sin, which aligned his views on predestination to infralapsarianism (the belief that the time at which God predestined people coincided with the fall of man); the total depravity of man, the argument Augustine originally gave when Pelagius said that men are not born with or into sin; the “costliness,” if you will, of irresistible grace and the extension of “common” grace to all mankind; and God’s sovereign power and providence over all.

While many throughout the years since Augustine and in Calvin’s lifetime discredited or ignored the doctrine of predestination, he (along with several others) stood firm against controversies, defamation, and even death. He went on to write about this in his third installment in the Institutes:

“This great subject is not, as many imagine, a mere thorny and noisy disputation, nor speculation which wearies the minds of men without any profit; but a solid discussion eminently adapted to the service of the godly, because it builds us up in sound faith, trains us to humility, and lifts us up into an admiration of the unbounded goodness of God toward us, while it elevates to praise this goodness in our highest strains.”

When posed with what this meant for the security of one’ salvation, he wrote:

“For there is not a more effectual means of building up faith than the giving our open ears to the election of God, which the Holy Spirit seals upon our heart while we hear, showing us that it stands in the eternal and immutable goodwill of God toward us; and that, therefore, it cannot be moved or altered by any storms of the world, by any assaults of Satan, by any changes, by any fluctuations or weaknesses of the flesh. For our salvation is then sure to us, when we find the cause of it in the breast of God.”

This brings up a host of questions—from the unpardonable sin to the Arminian (and Church of God) views on “losing” one’s salvation—and takes us to my next section:

Predestination in Arminianism

Just as with Augustine and Pelagius in the 5th century, Calvin had opposition. This, of course, came in many forms, the largest of which was the Catholic Church and those against the Reformation—but the one we know the most is Jacobus Arminius, the theologian Arminianism was named for.

Like in Calvinism, Arminius did not invent his views. He merely enforced them and gathered them into a concise form that was quickly adopted by those who could not reconcile themselves with Calvin’s predestination. His doctrine began with Pelagius, but it is not quite as extreme.

In short, everything Calvin said, Arminius said the opposite—but he did not do so on a whim. He began as a scholar and sought the answers in much the same way Calvin did:

By studying the Word.

Jacobus Arminius was born Jakob Hermanszoon in the year 1560, fifty-one years after the birth of Jean Calvin, in the Spanish Netherlands. As a child, he was orphaned and taken in by Theodore Aemilius, who provided for his schooling. After his death, Rudolf Snellius became his benefactor as young Jakob furthered his studies in Leiden, Basel, and Geneva. During his early years, Jakob adopted the Latinized form of his name, Jacobus Arminius, (is it just me or is it strange that all these theologians changed their names?) and began to study under a staunch anti-Calvinist.

Despite this upbringing, Arminius was more focused on his own studies of the Book of Romans. It was not his views against predestination that fostered Arminianism, but rather his sermons on Romans 7 and 9. For his views on sin, grace, and depravity, he was labeled Pelagian (you remember, that fellow who didn’t like what Augustine had to say). He was called a heretic and discredited by many, but never charged with Pelagianism. Therefore, he continued to study Romans and create an intricate view of grace that closely mirrors Bonhoeffer’s “costly grace” and Paul’s “sufficient grace.”

It wasn’t until he was defending Calvinism to Theodore Coornhert that he truly began to question predestination. With his foundation in what he called prevenient grace, his doubts on unconditional election and determinism were constructed and his doctrine of free will was outlined in an attempt to reform Calvinism.

He lent his name to Arminianism, which became a movement succeeding his death in 1609, when his Dutch followers adopted his views and wrote the Five Articles of Remonstrants. With the immediate domination of Calvinism, Arminian pastors and scholars were persecuted and pushed back. Arminianism didn’t really gain the footing it has now until John Wesley and his brother Charles supported it with their Methodist doctrine.

Romans 7:6-25 was what started it all:

For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

“In discussing Romans 7 in 1591, he taught that man, through grace and rebirth, did not have to live in bondage to sin, and that Romans 7:14 was speaking of a man living under the law and convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, yet not presently regenerated. This was met with some resistance, and some detractors labeled him Pelagian for teaching that an unregenerate man could feel such conviction and desire for salvation, even with the influence of the Law and the Holy Spirit” (“Jacobus Arminius”).

On this, Arminius said:

“It is an eternal and gracious decree of God in Christ, by which he determines to justify and adopt believers, and to endow them with eternal life but to condemn unbelievers, and impenitent persons.”

His belief was not that election or predestination did not occur, but that grace through faith was the deciding factor. Grace, he said, is “sufficient for belief, in spite of our sinful corruption, and thus for salvation.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 are the fabulous verses both doctrines have adopted:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

In the subject of free will:

“[T]he grace sufficient for salvation is conferred on the Elect, and on the Non-elect; that, if they will, they may believe or not believe, may be saved or not be saved.”

I have heard many Calvinists argue “salvation through works,” stating that Arminianism is basically an acceptance of this view (which no one really accepts; not even the Catholics, so y’all just let that go...please). However, back in the days of Augustine and before, predestination was determined by works or individual merits. Calvin reformed this view with infralapsarianism, but that doesn’t mean Arminius ever accepted it. Free will has nothing to do with works and boasting; it is all about being made in the image of God and being given the same free will to accept the grace that God used to predestine people.

Predestination and free will work in tandem.

And, to begin with, Arminius believed that.

Anglican evangelist Dr. William G. Witt states that “Arminius has a very high theology of grace. He insists emphatically that grace is gratuitous because it is obtained through God's redemption in Christ, not through human effort.”

It wasn’t until others took over Arminianism after his death that the doctrine adopted the extreme views we are accustomed to.

The continually lost salvation that brings Pentecostals to the altar every Sunday was not original to Arminius’s doctrine. I would wager to say that how most of us see Arminianism (including myself) is extreme in and of itself. While it is true that the theology has differed from its original state, most of the wild views associated with it have been conjured up in recent years.

Man’s words are not infallible, as Scripture is. We cannot trust theology and theory to have remained unaltered over time—in fact, the point of the human thought process is to continually evolve and grow. Theology, the study of the existence of a supreme spiritual being, is meant to change. The ideas presented by man are not always true and pure.

This applies to everything man-made and man-thought in life, but especially views such as predestination and free will.

Only one thing stays the same, only One is true.

* * *

This examination is far from over. However, I’m finding that this post is looking more and more like a college thesis; therefore, I shall break it up into two parts. Think on this for a while, then return within a few weeks for Part 2 of Theories of Man: Predestination!

* * *

Works Cited

Fairchild, Mary. "Calvinism Vs. Arminianism." Learn Religions, 25 Aug 2020, https://learnreligions.com/calvinism-vs-arminianism-700526.

“John Calvin.” Britannica, accessed 23 Dec 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Calvin

“John Calvin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Dec 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin

“Jacobus Arminius.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Dec 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobus_Arminius

“John Calvin Quotes about Predestination.” AZ Quotes, accessed 24 Dec 2020, https://www.azquotes.com/author/2355-John_Calvin/tag/predestination

“Predestination.” Britannica, accessed 23 Dec 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/predestination

“Predestination.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Dec 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination#Types_of_predestination

Robinson, Jeff. “Predestination Is Biblical, Beautiful, and Practical.” The Gospel Coaliton, 30 July 2018,https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/predestination-biblical-beautiful-practical/

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Published on January 24, 2021 10:42

Predestination (Theories of Man)