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As Harry Bailly said to the pilgrims at the Tabard Inn, at the end of the General Prologue…
It worked for Jonah! (or did it…)
Where did I put the Urim and Thummim, or even the Purim?
positively biblical in fact!
And therefore clearly how we all ought to be doing it
it was that passage that made me think of the cartoon, pat. when i was growing up i was told gambling was wrong, or at least not a great idea… somehow, i’d forgotten this passage existed, so when i came to animate it for scripture union i was struck by it. big decisions made on a punt. wow!
Now I’m old, I recognise just how hard I’ve found decision making, and that at times this has left my life feeling stuck
Jon – I guess it’s all part of a much larger narrative that was being promulgated here: maybe not necessarily about God being in control of everything in a deterministic way but perhaps as a way of trying to express their experience that God was active in the world in a new way – continuously,with everyday life and for all people, rather than in discrete episodes for particular designated ‘chosen’ people like the prophets.
So I’d read it more as a story which is trying to capture and convey a particular experience, rather than as a definitive statement of understanding – ‘this is how God works’ which is to be taken as normative and, implicitly, authoritative.
Unfortunately, I think it’s the deterministic possibility which people sometimes seem to focus on…taking us back to a (theologically speaking) ‘causally closed’ universe
i just read it as a traditional way of making decisions. a bunch of candidates, loads of positives and a few negatives for each no doubt. a decision to be made, but having no other way of making it bar drawing straws. it was the way of the ancestors and served them pretty well.
can you imagine if at an interview you were told you were in the last three and you would be drawing straws with the other two candidates to see who got the job?!
it may in fact be more honest than the old ‘we knew he/she would be right for the job.’ i love the fact that it cuts out who your favourite personality might be, or who’s more likely to do it your way, or who’s the most attractive. yup, i definitely think drawing straws has its merits.
Was going to draw straws but my pencil has vanished.
Seriously though……..
You can’t really think that this is a good model. For the example you cite, Jon, of some candidates for a job where you really have no way of telling which is going to be best, maybe…….
But what about……
Should I vote BNP in the General Election (for those not in the UK, BNP is a racist political party seeking to return Britain to a fictitious whites-only past)?
Should I sleep with that very attractive woman I met in the pub or not? If so, should I tell my wife?
Should I send money to a relief agency trying to save lives in some earthquake-devastated country, or should I buy another hundred lottery tickets?
Should our country work towards a sustainable, low-carbon economy or just carry on burning oil like there’s no tomorrow in the vague hope that our children will find a magic solution?
Now that I’ve been elected president/prime minister, should I push that big red button or not?
Every individual on this planet
has a duty to their families, their communities, the whole of humanity. Abdicating responsibility for what goes on around us is a moral crime, whether it be by apathy, slavish adherence to unexamined doctrine, or in this case a wilful giving up of our critical faculties for some game of chance.
Think about your choices, and then make one. Make a bad choice, make a good choice, but for God’s sake just make a choice. Then learn from it.
Sorry, I’m a bit angry today so if this comes across a touch aggressive, bite me.
couldn’t agree more andyp. i wouldn’t draw straws on an issue of right and wrong, conscience, or the cultural mandate, or any other such issue. it’s still a pretty good way of deciding on an apostle when all the candidates rock, splitting people in to groups in a hands off way, or a multitude of other things. so i do think it is a great idea, but not as a replacement for the things we’re all supposed and not supposed to be doing as humans anyway.
bite me.
I’m off to buy a lottery ticket…I believe in giving God the opportunity to bless me!
Most people misunderstand the use of casting lots in the NT. First, they chose a couple of excellent candidates.
Then, to avoid any semblance of favoritism or partisan bickering, they cast lots to ‘let fate decide’ (or let God decide, you choose). This seems wise to me.