dprh

In 2005, an episode (episode 7: Clash) of Justice League Unlimited aired which introduced Shazam (aka Captain Marvel) to the Justice League.  Shazam, for those of you who don't know, is a 10 year-old boy (Billy Batson) who was given vast powers on par with Superman.  This was depicted in the recent movie of the same name.
While he magically has the "Wisdom of Solomon", there are times when the 10-year old boy's outlook overshadows that wisdom.  The excitement that he felt when inducted into the League was a prime example.  He showed a lot more eagerness than a mature, powerful superhero may have normally felt on such an occasion.  Further childlike eagerness was displayed when sent out on his first several assignments.
At some point, the Justice League noticed that Lex Luthor was doing some "humanitarian" work that was larger in scope and further out of his character than ever before.  They obviously get suspicious.  But Shazam looks at how much time and energy Lex has been spending on the good of the world around him and decides that he must have turned over a new leaf.  He decides to give him the benefit of the doubt.
The rest of the League, however, is not convinced.  They cannot stand the fact that, with all their combined resources and abilities, they cannot figure out what Lex's true plan is.  This festers and fumes until Superman decides to snoop a bit too much.  When he determines that there is a lead lined underground area, that must be the location of the "true" plot.  So he attempts to tear it apart.
Realizing that this is against the law, Shazam stops Superman from destroying Lex's project.  They eventually CLASH in a big way and end up tearing everything apart, partially due to Superman's rage and partially due to the fight they end up having.
After things are torn apart and the lead lined area is exposed, they discover... Nothing.  There was absolutely nothing wrong happening.  The reason for the lead lined chamber was that the generator which created "clean energy" was powered by Kryptonite.  And he didn't want it to harm Superman or anyone else.  (For those who don't know, Kryptonite can do some damage to humans over prolonged exposure.)
Lex takes it all on the chin with a "Well, no harm done.  This can be rebuilt" message for the cameras (the news was all over the fight between Superman and Shazam).
While the League is in the middle of a damage control meeting (publicity) Shazam shows up and declares that he's leaving the Justice League because "I wanted to join you because you were my heroes.  But you just don't act like heroes anymore."
All this is done to the point where, even the audience is wondering if Lex truly did change for the better. But then...
The big reveal is that Lex planned the whole thing.  He purposefully put on this huge charade where he truly was doing nothing wrong, just to enrage the Justice League to the point where they would not be able to contain themselves anymore.  And for Shazam to get into that fight with Superman was just icing on the cake.  Lex couldn't have planned for a better way for it to explode.
Later...
Shazam decides that if the Justice League are not heroes anymore, then he'll go work for the one guy who acted like a gentleman and a hero throughout the entire event... Lex Luthor.

Oh, you are not wrong to have a bad reaction at the transparently blinder-wearingly-one-sided bias here.   But something to consider:
When you play golf, you think about the wind direction, and you swing to the left or right because you expect the wind will blow the ball towards the hole.  It's the same deal reading news - any news - from any source.   There is always a wind direction, the secret is to be able to tell which way the wind is blowing and adjust your information gathering appropriately.
The buzzfeed article, for example - presents many useful facts (the hole).  The biased commentary is just the wind.  
IMO, you do yourself a disservice when you refuse to expose yourself to known bias, just because it ain't your bias.  Because:
- Sun Tzu's "know thy enemy" is good advice. 
- The (probably fake) Ancient Native American wisdom to "walk a mile in a foe's moccasins" is good advice.
- The Lord's commandment to "love thy neighbor" and "forgive thy enemy" are both much easier if you understand them.  And they're also good bits of advice.
 

I'd like to interject something not germane to the topic, but with this quote.
It is important to note that Shakespeare never said this.  He wrote it to be said by the character Plonius.  The nit-picky distinction here is that Polonius was kind of a doofus.  And these "pearls of wisdom" that he was imparting to his son as he was preparing to head out to school abroad were considered cliche'd and naive attempts at wisdom.  Things that they teach you in kindergarten kind of things.  The fact these very trite sayings were the best that Polonius could come up with were an indication of how much of a fool he was.  Such was his lack of mental capacity.  He also didn't follow his own advice.
Today, people tend to invoke them as profound, when it was never meant to be that way by Shakespeare, himself.

I've tried to figure out Eve's leg in the past. Best I can figure out is the following, which makes sense... BUT is nonetheless just awkward in the piece of art.

To quote Joseph Smith: "Happiness is the object and design of our existence..."
To quote Lehi: "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
To quote Guide to the Scriptures: "The purpose of mortal life is for all people to have joy."
Love is a divine attribute, incredibly important to be sure. But we do not develop divine attributes for the sake of having divine attributes. We do so because they allow us to experience a greater fullness of joy. It is the same with physical bodies.
D&C 93:33-34 For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.
So if we want to narrow the purpose of life to a single reason it would be our happiness/joy, making everything else only a means to this end, including love. 

Oh, they'll still vote......

I'm not worried about things in the grand scheme of the eternities.
Though I'm a good arguing buddy from time to time, and I get on my hobby horse like we all do occasionally, I'm not worried about the battles that are won by the 'other' side.
I ultimately only care about the eternal perspective and find comfort in knowing the Savior wins the actual war.
As much as vaccines, liberals, loss of freedoms, etc. pull me into the storm, I'll continue to do my best to focus on what matters.

Something fascinating: those not getting the shot are largely republicans. So, they have a better chance of dying. Which will lead to less of them voting. Which will lead to liberal values being advanced. 
 
So, every liberal will open up champagne, and they should. @Godless, your side will win this battle. You are welcome, and be sure to thank them later. 

I think you might have misunderstood me.  That was in reference to the Church's handbook's reference to "counsel with competent medical professional."  Needle asked if it needed to be a virologist or if a lab tech would be sufficient.  I just gave my opinion of what the church meant by "competent medical professional." 
Who would you suggest the average member to counsel with?

We had a flash flood on our property one year, and it surprised us.   A week of light rain, and then 30 minutes of very heavy rain did it.  There's a 3-4' high drainage pipe under the road between me and the neighbor across the street. I always thought it was stupid and overkill, until this flash flood.  We watched the neighbor's property fill up with water, and that drainage pipe was blasting water so fast there was a decent sized stream across my property and the next two downstream.   The neighbor's property was almost full, and the water was about to spill over the road, when the pipe started draining it faster than it was coming.  Neighbor and kids went running out to see the once-in-a-lifetime river running through our properties.  It was slow and calm enough that the neighbor picked up his boy and threw him into the stream.
Oh, so THAT's why we have no-build areas on our neighborhood plat!  THAT's why the drainage pipe is so large!  THAT's why 3 houses down there's a berm across that guy's property, which turned into a lake that stayed for 2 weeks!  It was all good erosion control and flood management practices!  I have to admit that I gained just a touch of respect for all the stupid hoops developers and builders have to jump through to build stuff.

From David Eddings, Pawn of Prophecy.
We took the family to Utah from California for an elder daughter's wedding.  During the trip (8 people squished into the cab of a Ford F-150), we wanted to listen to an audiobook, so I picked this book (which I remember fondly enjoying in my youth).
After we listened, I stopped the recording and we spoke about this passage at length.  It was then that I realized that this single concept had left an indelible mark upon my life. 
I had read this book probably when I was 14 and remembered the passage clearly as if I had just read it.  When we finally arrived in Utah, I saw my twin brother and spoke to him about the book as well.  I commented about how much I respected the character Durnik.  His first comment was...  the piece that goes underneath, right?  
I was like, "YES! Why don't people get this?!"

I once calculated that the universe has existed for about 13 billion years.  This means that as spirits we have been around for a long time.  If we look at just the time since the universe was created and think of a foot being like 1,000 years then we have been in existence for about the distance from Salt Lake City to Los Angles California.  The 70 years you are talking about would be about (not quite) one and a half inches.  So if you are on a journey from Salt Lake City, Utah to LA - what would possibly change your arrival in the last inch and a half of your journey?
I would also point out that there are millions of soles that die as infants before accountability or any possibility of even being exposed to the love of which you are speaking.
It is my understanding that the experience of death is the experience of evil and to experience the Atonement is the experience of good - both of which are spoken of in scripture as the purpose of morality.   I agree than only those that have the Love of Christ (charity) will obtain the Celestial Kingdom.   Also keep in mind that the plan of salvation is for all G-d's children that accepted that plan in the pre-existence - not all of G-d's children that become mortal will be Celestial.  That such things can only be completed by faithfulness in the pre-existence, in mortality and in the spirit world after this life.  Our learning of love extends beyond this life but no one - not a single sole will have any opportunity to perfect the love of Christ that does not experience morality - which all (without any exceptions) will obtain a body and experience the good from the evil.
 
The Traveler

Competent medical professional on the subject of COVID might be hard to find.  COVID is new and science takes awhile to settle.  Competent medical professional on the subject of YOU should be within the realms of your main doctor (assuming you have one).  The doctor that knows you best would be the most competent to advise you.

Nope.  I never take flu shots.  I don't need to talk to a doctor about flu shots.  Covid-19 is a flu.  I have never yet heard a doctor say not to take the flu shots.  They always say take it.  In my 54 years of not taking flu shots, I've had the flu maybe 3 times.
Neither did I receive any promptings from the spirit to take the shot.  

My father is high-risk, his medical professional told him and my mother not to take the vaccine despite him being high risk.

I think I have a healthy relationship with my doctor, someone I trust.  If he'd told me it was best to not get vaccinated, I probably would have gotten a second opinion, but if it was the same, I'd followed the advice.  That's a hypothetical question though.  You are the one who quoted the handbook.  I'm simply asking if you (generic, or specific, I'm not sure if you (NeedleinA) have received the shots) followed the handbook and sought advice from a physician.
On the other question, definitely follow the Holy Ghost.  
It may seem like I'm attacking or condescending and I'm not trying to.  I'm actually trying to avoid that.  I really am wondering if the people who aren't getting the shot are following that guidance to get advice from a medical professional.
Edit:  Oh, just thought this might be relevant.  My wife was pregnant when the vaccine became available for her.  Her OB/GYN told her to wait.  There weren't enough studies yet on the vaccine for pregnant women.  So she waited until three weeks after the baby was delivered as recommended by the doctor to get her first shot. 
Edit2: As I read my edit, I can see it can be read sarcastically or condescendingly.  I didn't mean it like that.  I honestly hadn't thought of my wife's experience when first replying and when I did remember it, I thought it would be relevant.  

I agree. 
With that in mind, here I remain unvaccinated.
I have spoken with medical professionals inside our stake, with a bag of mixed answers, speculation and best guesses... none of which are virologist.
The Church suggests speaking not just to a medical professional but a 'competent' one. Does that mean, like actual virologist competent or just primary care physician competent? What about Lab Technician competent? What about Walgreens/CVC pharmacy competent?  Or milk, eggs and the jab at the grocery store competent?
I wonder how many people went and got the vaccine without consulting an actual competent medical professional first?

Out of all the reasons to not get vaccinated, this is one of the harder to understand.   Since 'downtime' and 'issues' with catching COVID are orders of magnitude higher than vaccine side effects, it sort of begs the question.   If downtime is something you don't want, why not decrease your odds of having it by like 288X?

My brother and sister-in-law in California were amongst the first to get Covid. They are actually part of the major studies in California and were also part of where they were able to see how it distributed to California residents in San Diego. When I recently spoke with my sister-in-law she mentioned how her anti-body count was significantly still higher than those who are now getting the virus. I find that interesting. Her anti-body count is also higher than those with the vaccine.
Now, to be fair and honest, despite their high anti-body count they both decided to get the vaccine because their anti-body count was getting lower, but I wonder if that also has to do with how much plasma -- anti-bodies -- from themselves they have donated. And because their count is so high they keep getting asked to come back and donate. They were part of the plasma donations in the beginning in California for people who were getting Covid.

A person's lineage is only partly biologically based. The other part has to do with a person's mission in this life and perhaps into the next. Since we are genetically descended from many people it is very possible to be descended from multiple tribes of Israel. When this is the case our official lineage as stated in our patriarchal blessing is based on what role God wants us to fill. This will determine which of the tribes we are officially a part of. Of course there is still much we don't yet know about what our tribal lineage entails. Make that question #862 when I die. 😉

How do parents with Brown eyes... produce a blue eyed child?  It was at one time a mystery.
It happens and science has figured out how.  But science has had no reason to target religious lineages, and the Lord has not revealed the how.
 
Personally... My father was Ephraim, my mother was Manasseh.
All my siblings and myself are Ephraim.
My wife is Ephraim
My oldest son is Manasseh. My two middle kids are Ephraim.
To use the eye color example above it appears that Manasseh is a recessive trait in my line.  But we do not know what brings it out
 

Members of Israelite tribes frequently intermarried with members of other tribes; but Israelites seemed to have continued to refer to themselves as being “of a” particular tribe.  It may be that Lehi had been raised to consider himself as a member of a different tribe (Levi, for example, which would explain why Lehi and Nephi felt justified engaging in sacerdotal duties like sacrifice and temple-building); but on working out the bloodlines he discovered that he was also a descendant of Joseph and thus an eligible heir to the blessings pronounced upon Joseph’s seed.
By way of analogy, for those who subscribe to LDS theology:  my patriarchal blessing identifies me as of the tribe of Ephraim.  My wife’s similarly identifies her as of Ephraim.  So naturally when our oldest daughter got her blessing, she was pronounced to be of the lineage of . . . Manasseh.

How is a person obtaining a physical body better able to show or experience love than another person
who only has a spiritual body?  Or let me rephrase  - did you love God more or less in your pre-mortal
life than you do now in your physical body?

Pretty much, yes.
https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/09/01/1918-flu-pandemic-end/

Pretty much, yes.
https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/09/01/1918-flu-pandemic-end/