Hey, wait! I wasn’t going to comment on here again ’til someone else did. Oh, well… maybe I can hold off after this one. 🙂
A quibble. Defying two millennia of tradition, I never counted the guy the Apostles picked to replace the traitor as a “real” Apostle. Elected to the board of directors right before the corporation dissolved, in effect. Apostles to me meant those twelve expressly called by and taught and trained by Jesus. So, by my reckoning (of the Webworker Mail-Order College of Theological Studies), the Originals left to testify were only eleven. Colson wanted to make a parallel with 12, though, so, fine. As I said, a quibble.
There were of course plenty of other disciples to go forth and testify, and die for the Truth. How might Christianity have gone if Saul hadn’t witnessed Stephen’s sacrificing testimony!
Honestly. As a kid, I likewise thought it odd that Paul was called an “Apostle.” Same reasons as the electee, plus, Paul never even met Jesus… you know what I mean, in the flesh. Historically speaking, though, I’d readily grant that Paul ultimately qualified a bit more for “honorary Apostleship” than the mysterious Matthias!! 😉
I always thought it was a little weird that the remaining disciples felt it necessary to choose someone to replace Judas, and that they did it by casting lots — something that would have been frowned on in the strict fundamentalist circles in which I was raised. (My mother was so adamantly opposed to gambling that she refused even to buy raffle tickets for charity fundraisers, even for charities she supported.) Did the disciples think eleven was an unlucky number or something?
Anyway, as I recall, Matthias was barely heard from again after that, as God apparently had chosen someone else.
No doubt casting lots was common and acceptable in that society; however, in twentieth century Fundamentalist Evangelical Protestant culture, it would look way too much like gambling, which we all knew would endanger our immortal souls. And my parents weren’t even as strict about this as some in our subculture were; there were some families who wouldn’t even allow their kids to play games involving dice.
Weirdly, my father had no objection at all to investing money in the stock market, which is not that much different…
polination.blog 
Colson quote: Well, that’s nice, but…
Hey, wait! I wasn’t going to comment on here again ’til someone else did. Oh, well… maybe I can hold off after this one. 🙂
A quibble. Defying two millennia of tradition, I never counted the guy the Apostles picked to replace the traitor as a “real” Apostle. Elected to the board of directors right before the corporation dissolved, in effect. Apostles to me meant those twelve expressly called by and taught and trained by Jesus. So, by my reckoning (of the Webworker Mail-Order College of Theological Studies), the Originals left to testify were only eleven. Colson wanted to make a parallel with 12, though, so, fine. As I said, a quibble.
There were of course plenty of other disciples to go forth and testify, and die for the Truth. How might Christianity have gone if Saul hadn’t witnessed Stephen’s sacrificing testimony!
Honestly. As a kid, I likewise thought it odd that Paul was called an “Apostle.” Same reasons as the electee, plus, Paul never even met Jesus… you know what I mean, in the flesh. Historically speaking, though, I’d readily grant that Paul ultimately qualified a bit more for “honorary Apostleship” than the mysterious Matthias!! 😉
Wikipedia link to Matthias. I learned stuff.
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I always thought it was a little weird that the remaining disciples felt it necessary to choose someone to replace Judas, and that they did it by casting lots — something that would have been frowned on in the strict fundamentalist circles in which I was raised. (My mother was so adamantly opposed to gambling that she refused even to buy raffle tickets for charity fundraisers, even for charities she supported.) Did the disciples think eleven was an unlucky number or something?
Anyway, as I recall, Matthias was barely heard from again after that, as God apparently had chosen someone else.
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Casting lots was part of Jewish tradition, wasn’t it? http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-urim-and-thummim
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cth: Casting lots was part of Jewish tradition, wasn’t it?
That’s what the Wikipedia article on Matthias’s selection also said.
It’s like a coin toss when choices are evenly qualified, whether you call it leaving it up to God or to chance, it’s generally considered fair…
…except when the coin toss goes against an African American skater on the U.S. Olympic team, then it’s racist.
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No doubt casting lots was common and acceptable in that society; however, in twentieth century Fundamentalist Evangelical Protestant culture, it would look way too much like gambling, which we all knew would endanger our immortal souls. And my parents weren’t even as strict about this as some in our subculture were; there were some families who wouldn’t even allow their kids to play games involving dice.
Weirdly, my father had no objection at all to investing money in the stock market, which is not that much different…
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That is weird!
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