The casting of lots was practiced widely in the Middle East to facilitate decision-making as it was believed that this method could help people know gods’ will. In this regard, Israelites cast lots on many occasions, such as land allocation, property division, duty determination, and assigning guilt, to name a few (Saunders and Locke, 2020). For instance, the Old Testament describes the story when God starts a storm because of Jonah, who tries to escape the Lords’ will to preach in Nineveh on a ship. To find who was responsible for this misfortune, the sailors cast lots that fell on Jonah (NIV, n.d., Jonah 1:7). In a similar vein, the New Testament depicts the scene of Roman soldiers deciding who would own Jesus’s garment by casting lots (NIV, n.d., John 19:24). In the current essay, I seek to discuss my opinion concerning this phenomenon.
I think casting lots can be a useful tool when people seek impartiality of the decisions, where reasoning most probably would fail. Also, casting lots can help deliver judgment when there are two or more seemingly equal alternatives. Moreover, I noticed that it helps psychologically to stick to one’s decision as there is less doubting. However, in my opinion, the casting of lots is not appropriate during such cases as responsibility determination or assigning of guilt. Our ancestors and some people living now would probably disagree with me concerning this matter as they thought/think that casting lots reveals destiny, whereas I believe it is based on chance. Indeed, as the former implies that all our lives are already predetermined, the casting of lots may often be viewed as a messenger of God’s will. Therefore, the result of such an action cannot contradict something that was already prearranged. Conversely, the chance is blind and operates in a world where nothing is decided in advance and, thus, the casting of lots can provide neither good nor bad answers.
In summary, the current essay presented my opinion concerning the casting of lots. It was argued that this action can facilitate the delivery of impartial decisions in cases where the usage of reasoning may be problematic. Furthermore, casting lots can help to choose among the number of equal alternatives and have fewer doubts concerning one’s decision in the future. However, on the contrary, this method of decision-making and information acquisition is bad in such cases as responsibility determination or assigning of guilt.
References
New International Version [NIV]. (n.d.). BibleGateway.com.
Saunders, K. T., & Locke, L. G. (2020). Casting lots, gambling, and artificial intelligence. Journal of Biblical Integration in Business, 23, 58-69.