A minister opens to a random Old Testament passage, and sometimes discusses it briefly
The minister selects a hymn to be sung by the congregation, the congregation sings, and then the minister prays out loud
The minister opens to a random passage in the New Testament - this passage serves as the basis of most of the sermon, although the Old Testament passage (or fore-reading) is often referred to as well

Yes Paul did. And Jesus said render unto Caesar which can be seen as slaves obey. Plus there's confusion over slave vs bondsman, etc. But that has nothing to do with homosexuality.

As for Paul only, we don't know who wrote Jude which also has some strong condemnation, but you have a good point. Never the less, if you toss out Paul then you wipe out a good part of the NT.. unless you want to say he was right on this and wrong on that.

My position is simple. I believe that people should be responsible for their personal actions.

And if their actions do not harm someone else then we should keep our long and pointed noses out of their lives. If God disagrees with their, or my, actions then I am sure he will do as he desires.

Newspaper accounts at the time of the accident recounted the fears and concerns of close friends and family members that after 14 years of sobriety, Hastings had once again started doing drugs, and the post-mortem toxicology report would seem to validate those suspicions. But the report also only found trace amounts of pot and meth, certainly not enough to have rendered him impaired physically in those early morning hours.

But given my own experience as a driver in the Hancock Park area, I would note that there is a slight but very distinct rise and fall on Highland Ave. as it crosses the intersection with Melrose Ave. If you remember the area, you're perhaps aware of that, too. Because of that rise, most drivers on Highland slow down considerably when approaching Melrose in either direction, even if they have the green light. But Hastings, who had only recently moved to L.A., was likely unaware of it.

Per the LAPD report, traffic cameras on Highland show that Hastings' Mercedes coupe ran at least two and possibly three red lights at a very high rate of speed while approaching the Melrose Ave. intersection from the north. When Hastings hit that cross street, his car became briefly airborne as it crossed the intersection, before landing very hard just east of Pizzeria Mossa's valet stand, as evidenced by the tire marks left in the street.

According to Detective Connie White from LAPD West Traffic Bureau, who was the lead investigator, these were marks left by a sudden impact of tire to road, and not skid marks made by a driver's application of the brakes. She concluded that Hastings had already lost control of his vehicle by the time he had sped past the pizza parlor, and then his car hit the palm tree and exploded mere seconds later.

We have to accept the fact that life is peppered with random incidents, and some of them can be fatal. Absent any evidence to the contrary, I have to conclude that Michael Hastings's own reckless behavior behind the wheel that early morning caused the crash which killed him.

People who promote conspiracy theories about his death need to provide evidence in support of such, and not simply depend upon their own self-feeding suspicions of government, regardless of however well-founded they feel those suspicions to be.

I get the feeling they could find a video of Trump F-ing a goat and he would only get more popular.  No one cares Kim Davis was married 3 times, that Trump used to support abortion, or that the 14th Amendment is here to stay.  They care about what they are saying today, and today he is unhinged, but the kind they like a whole lot.  If they had any sense they stop getting rolled over by every charlatan who uses religion to dupe them, again and again.

But what else are they going to do, get behind HRC ?  Same with Fox, they either get on board or hand HRC the Presidency for 8 years.  Trump has shown he is King Dingaling.

In obvious retrospect, while he wasn't giddy about it, he also showed absolutely no reticence whatsoever -- nor any remorse later on -- about going there. It may have appeared a reasonable position at the time he said it but now, it's scary to note how quickly he channeled his own fear as well as ours, to first invoke and afterward justify such extremist behavior. For all his considerable bluster, Dick Cheney seems to be a very fearful man at heart.

I believe that all of us possess a so-called "dark side" -- for immediate want of a better term -- that's hardwired within ourselves somewhere, a likely vestige of our innate mammalian instinct for survival. But for most of us, it's not pre-programmed in our psyche as our immediate default position during those moments when mere adversity rears its head, because we have a pretty decent sense of proportionality.

Personally, while I admit to having been foolishly reckless and over-the-top at times in my younger days, those experiences have rendered me a very sober person as a middle-aged adult, one who recognizes that fear is a powerful and dangerous emotion if left unchecked.

Therefore, because I'm not at all prone to panic, it would likely require some rather extraordinary circumstances for me to first unlock and then unleash my own "dark side."

Here, maybe this might help you.

A second video has emerged showing two Texas police officers shoot and kill a man who appears to have had his hands up.

The new video shows, a "very clear view" of the confrontation, Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood said Tuesday. LaHood said it was unclear what the suspect's intent was in raising his hands and cautioned against a rush to judgment.

"I don't know what his intent was," he said. "All I can tell you is the video is disturbing. But my encouragement to everyone is to press the pause button."

The shooting was first seen by the public in cell phone footage obtained by a local TV station, KSAT, and available on its website, which shows two San Antonio-area sheriff's deputies shooting 41-year-old Gilbert Flores Friday after they responded to a domestic disturbance call.

According to another station, KENS-TV, police said the deputies found a woman who was bleeding from her head and holding a toddler, who also may have been hurt.

At first, Flores is seen running shirtless in front of a home as the officers approach him. He then seems to put his hands up moments before they shoot him to the ground.

SNIP

The incident began when deputies received a call to a block in the northwest section of the city regarding a woman who allegedly had been assaulted, according to Bexar County Sheriff's Office public information officer James Keith.

According to Keith, Flores at one point grabbed a deputy's taser and threw it as deputies attempted to use non-lethal force during the approximately 20-minute confrontation.

Because the video is shot from a distance, it's not clear whether Flores is holding a knife, and though it's clear Flores has one hand up, the other is obscured by a utility pole.

It is up to the prosecution to decide whom to try and when, but the consensus seems to be that the trials will be held serially and not simultaneously.  

So, who gets tried first?  Seem like each successive trial will probably build on the one before it, so it may be important which officer they decide to try first.  If the other 5 trials build on that first one, and that first defendant is acquitted, will that be fatal to the chances of convictions in the other trials?

I have no idea, but it does seem like an advantage for the defendants, as those who have not yet been tried will have the opportunity to strategize based on what takes place within the trials before their own.

As will the prosecution, but perhaps not to the same extent.

Michael Schatzow, who is a deputy in the SA's office, is, by all accounts, just a top-notch lawyer:

Credit Schatzow, whose hiring was one of Mosby's smartest moves since taking office in January. Almost twice Mosby's age, Schatzow is a former federal prosecutor and an experienced trial attorney known for his brilliance, integrity and tenacity. He retired as a partner at Venable LLP before going to work for the state's attorney.

While at Venable, he supervised dozens of attorneys in major litigation, with Enron among his clients. But he also represented the indigent. Most notably, he and attorney Mitchell Mirviss represented plaintiffs in DeWolfe v. Richmond, an important case that established the right to counsel of poor defendants at their initial bail hearings in Maryland.

"The quickest wit on the block, incredibly hard-working, incapable of holding back or giving it anything less than 200 percent, the most zealous advocate you will ever meet" is how Mirviss described Schatzow recently. "Few lawyers can match Mike's brains, integrity, relentless passion and absolute conviction that the only way to practice law and live life is to speak truth to power, passionately and fervently. Just a superlative lawyer in every respect."

Charles G. "Chuck" Bernstein, a longtime attorney and former Baltimore circuit judge, once joined Schatzow in representing an indigent defendant in a federal death penalty case.

"Mike excelled at everything he touched, from prosecution to criminal defense," Bernstein said. "Mike argued the Richmond case several times before the Court of Appeals. This was public service by a magnificently talented lawyer."

Said Dan Clements, a retired Maryland trial attorney, former federal prosecutor and Schatzow peer: "I don't know Mosby, but the fact that she hired Mike as her chief deputy gives me confidence in her judgment."

And confidence in the state's case against the Freddie Gray Six -- now, by Williams' order, the Freddie Gray One-At-A-Time-Times-Six?

Says Clements: "I know that Mike would not put his own reputation on the line or risk the city state's attorney's office's reputation without being comfortable with the facts."