I don’t get why they felt the need to cast lots. Peter’s listing of the qualifications for an Apostle make sense and then praying for God’s guidance makes sense but then throwing dice to determine God’s answer?
It seems out of place. Was this a common practice of the early church? Is it ever mentioned again in the New Testament? Should we be doing this today to determine God’s will?
It just seems to me that they were Apostles - eleven of the original Apostles - they had witnessed Jesus’ miracles - He told them that if they asked anything in His name, He would answer them - why not rely on the literal moving of the Holy Spirit to tell them who the replacement should be?
I’m not trying to argue with anyone - if it is not a mystery to you, good for you, but it is one to me.
I’m not trying to argue either, just thinking this through. :-)
We’re not told of the Lord’s instructions to the eleven concerning this matter. But I don’t think either of us want to charge them with acting without instructions.
So if they were following His instructions in all other aspects here - the first three listed above - seems to me they were following His instructions in the fourth as well.
The Holy Spirit had not been sent to them yet. That would occur a few days later, and the Lord’s instructions to the church thereafter would come through the mouths of the apostles, through those who received gifts of the Spirit through the apostles’ hands, through visions and angelic direction, etc.
In short, if the Lord instructed it, that was the right way to do it. Going beyond that is treading on dangerous ground.
Whaddya think?
Well, we do see it a lot in secular contexts where questions of merit are unclear and yet nobody is thinking of demons. “Let’s flip a coin.” And “fair lottery” is understood as a tautology.
I’d suggest it is a matter of attitude. If you found yourself flipping coins a lot, you could consider if there is a better way to make the kinds of decisions you are needing to make. In a group of people, a lottery might be viewed as fairest because it puts the question completely out of the realm of human bias. It is attitude that dedicates the lottery to God or to Satan (the god of this world). Not the mechanism.
>I don’t get why they felt the need to cast lots. Peter’s listing of the qualifications for an Apostle make sense and then praying for God’s guidance makes sense but then throwing dice to determine God’s answer?<
Do what evangelicals exhort and “search the Scriptures” (cf. Acts 17:11)
Casting lots has abundant Scriptural support, as it was often done in the OT.*
And like a coin toss, and unlike so many the historical elections of popes - and Rome has never used the method of Acts 1 - it was a non-political method that was done in the open and which left the result up to God.
Do you really think there would have been a dynasty of Italian_popes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Italian_popes) if the election was done by lots?
Certainly God can accomplish His purposes despite the choices and shenanigans of man (even by the early 4th c. a pope employed a murderous mob in working to secure his seat) , but even RCs debate whether the cardinals are led by the Holy Spirit in their chose of popes. Esp. now. However, I hold they never were (the apostles were manifestly not RCs (http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/deformation_of_new_testament_church.html).
*Lev 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
Josh 18:6 Ye shall therefore describe the land [into] seven parts, and bring [the description] hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.
Josh 18:8 And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh.
Josh 18:10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.
And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. (Joshua 21:8)
Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot. (Joshua 21:10)
1Sam 14:42 And Saul said, Cast [lots] between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.
Unto the sons of Merari were given by lot, throughout their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. And the children of Israel gave to the Levites these cities with their suburbs. (1 Chronicles 6:63-64)
1Chr 24:31 These likewise cast lots over against their brethren the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, and Zadok, and Ahimelech, and the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites, even the principal fathers over against their younger brethren.
1Chr 25:8 And they cast lots, ward against [ward], as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar.
1Chr 26:13 And they cast lots, as well the small as the great, according to the house of their fathers, for every gate.
1Chr 26:14 And the lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a wise counsellor, they cast lots; and his lot came out northward.
Neh 11:1 And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts [to dwell] in [other] cities.
Ps 22:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
Joel 3:3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
Obad 1:11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou [wast] as one of them.
Jonah 1:7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil [is] upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
Nah 3:10 Yet [was] she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. (Acts 1:26)
And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. (Acts 13:19)