Comments on: The Least of These

By: Kim Siever

Kim Siever — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:24:51 +0000

Interesting. Imagine if she had left that one sentence out. Thanks for sharing that.

By: Coffinberry

Coffinberry — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:19:21 +0000

No, I'm thinking of the talk on February 14, 1984. I looked it up after mentioning it here, and discovered that the idea that had so struck me was a mere sentence, almost in passing, and not "quite" on topic for this conversation (because she refers to prisons "of our own making"). But what I remember about that one single sentence buried in the middle of her talk is that the idea struck me so forcefully that when I returned to my dorm room that day I took time to look up the scripture in Matthew, and make a note in the margin. That set of scriptures is long gone (victim of small children in the interim) but the notation is burned in my heart. Funny that.

By: Kim Siever

Kim Siever — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:02:42 +0000

Is this the talk, Coffinberry.

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6200

By: Coffinberry

Coffinberry — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:34:55 +0000

ahem, that would be Coffinberry... who fat fingered the enter button.

By: Coffin

Coffin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:33:44 +0000

I recall, oh so very very long ago, the general Relief Society President (I think it was Barbara B. Smith) spoke at a BYU devotional. I distinctly remember her teaching this point, that there are many kinds of prisons that our brothers and sisters find themselves in, and that we have an obligation to come to where they are and visit them. What struck me at the time was the idea of meeting them not merely physically where they are, but also mentally and emotionally. It has been probably a quarter of a century since then, but whenever I read that passage in Matthew, I remember her words.

By: rick

rick — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:00:27 +0000

It says "the least of these my brethren", and not "these the least of my brethren" which implies that the examples given are not exclusive.

The 'these' is not applied to the group as a qualifier it is further explained to be 'my brethren'.

Using 'these' before 'the least' makes it sound more specific to these particular brethren i.e. those people with the listed problems.

By: Mary Siever

Mary Siever — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:42:14 +0000

I think it would fit.