Acts 1

It wasn't the the classic memory verse (number 8), the miraculous ascension, and the last words of Jesus on this earth, and two angels thumping the disciples on the foreheads. It was a biblical oddity that drew me to this chapter. I want to understand the casting lots thing.

First of all, I don't pray either/or with God. I try to leave things open-ended because I have historically been much more pleased with option C that I never saw coming.

Second, I'm not so sure Peter wasn't just pulling an OT verse out of the blue when he decided that it was even necessary to replace Judas in the first place. To me that first one he quoted says not to replace him. I tend to think they were just good old Jewish boys who are traditionally obsessed with the number twelve because of the whole twelve tribes things. Biblegateway it. Twelve is all over the OT.

Third, since when do you pray and ask God for an answer and then roll a dice to get your answer afterwards? What, is this Atlantic City now? I know this isn't the first time casting lots was in the Bible, even the high priests used a heads or tails equivalent, but this is now the NT. Is this condoned under the new covenant?

Fourth, taking the book of Acts as a whole, I think it's pretty clear who the starring 12th apostle is. Paul takes center stage in most of it (maybe tied with Peter). Matthias is literally never mentioned again anywhere. It makes we wonder if Luke included this as sort of a "what not to do" kind of illustration.

The bottom line is, from spitty mud to ravens bringing food, God is clearly not bound by any rules we try to impose on Him. We cannot put Him in a box. Like C.S. Lewis repeats a lot in the Chronicles of Narnia, "He's not a tame lion." I'm not going to start using a Magic 8 Ball to hear from God, but I'm certainly not going to draw a line around God that says that's out of the realm of possibility for Him. Stranger things have happened. Just look at Matthias.