How To Cast Lots?

It is a practice mentioned in the Old Testament for 70 times and seven more in the New Testament. Though it is mentioned several times there is no information about what consisted of the actual lots. It is anything like a die, pebble, ball or paper used to determine a question. Here there in no human intervention and the decision ids left to God or chance. Thus it is believed to be some thing similar to flipping a coin in the modern times.

It is a biblical term. It was used by priests to choose goats for sacrifice, decide a course of action and several other purposes. It is said that this method was used to divide the Promised Land among the Israelites. There is a story that says that the sailors in Jonah's boat tried to find out the culprit responsible for the terrible storm that befell them. The replacement for Judas was also selected by casting lots. Thus it is an age old term and method.

Casting lots is the act of determining some outcome by some random means. It refers to coming to a decision by using a method that provides an alternative from a number of random or unforeseen possibilities. It can be done in several ways such as casting dice, flipping a coin, drawing a stick etc.

In cases where several individuals have to perform several tasks and the intention is to distribute the tasks randomly paper chits can be used. The tasks to be performed can be written on even pieces of paper, neatly folded and placed in a bag, pouch, hat etc. The chits are then shuffled and each person draws out a chit. The task mentioned on the chit is the task to be performed. For simpler decisions a dice can be used, judging a decision on the numeric outcome. Tossing of a coin is in some cases easy to play around with and hence less reliable.