Comments on: Better than Orange Juice

By: CWC

CWC — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 21:59:09 +0000

I would distinguish between “invite to join the church” and “invite to hear more about the church” or even, “invite to ask me any questions you have about my church,” as the latter two seem reasonable and the former calls to mind John Cleese, “A kiss boy! What about a kiss? Must we go leaping to the clitoris?” In this tortured analogy, brought to you by CWC, the Mormon is the lover, and the Church, regrettably, is the clitoris.

I don’t know why we don’t rely on analogies for obfuscating the obvoius more often.

By: Lynnette

Lynnette — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:50:26 +0000

I love the dating analogy, precisely because that’s been my experience. I’ve introduced extremely awkward dynamics into friendships by asking them if they were interested in having some orange juice, so to speak. And quite frankly, it’s something I regret–it really can make your motives suspect in a way that alters the friendship. It’s not easy to go back.

And playing a bit with the orange juice analogy, I would also add that many people close to me are apparently quite allergic to orange juice, and have had extremely bad reactions to it. That makes me a bit wary of offering it to anyone else. And it probably doesn’t help that I myself don’t always find the stuff all that appealing, and sometimes only force myself to drink it because I think it might be good for me.

By: Hunter

Hunter — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:51:39 +0000

denebug, yeah, I was thinking that an offer to join a MLM group is a good analogy, too. Too bad we don’t have spiritual sealings anymore these days – talk about an “up line”!

Ziff, so to extend your dating analogy, what is the missionary equivalent of the first kiss? I could see extending this analogy further and further and causing some raised eyebrows in Sacrament Meeting.

By: Ziff

Ziff — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:33:46 +0000

Jessawhy, you’re braver than I am!

Denebug, I like it!

Bruce, do you mean it tastes weird but it’s good for you?

By: Bruce H.

Bruce H. — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:20:58 +0000

I find the gospel to be more like grapefruit juice.

By: denebug

denebug — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:27:37 +0000

My husband and I loved this post. We’ve talked about it a couple of times during the week. Our suggestion would be inviting your friend to join your multi-level marketing business to sell cosmetics or herbal supplements or household cleaning products. But because we flee anytime an acquaintance offers to have us over for a demonstration, we can’t really fill out the analogy completely.

By: Jessawhy

Jessawhy — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:39:15 +0000

Ziff,
I’m teaching the 13 yo Sunday School class on missionary work today. I’ve thought about including the analogies mentioned here. We’ll just see how it goes

By: Ziff

Ziff — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:35:23 +0000

Emily, exactly! In fact, the very next line from the talk after the part I quoted is this:

I have often worried how I would answer some friend about my hesitancy when I meet him beyond the veil.

Perfect fodder for youth conference talks.

By: EmilyCC

EmilyCC — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:40:02 +0000

The orange juice analogy is like those youth conference talks I heard growing up where the speaker says, “Won’t you feel bad when your friend is in Spiritual Prison and she says to you, ‘Why didn’t you ever give me a Book of Mormon?’”

When I hear these missionary scare tactics, I tend to go out and ask my friend on a date (to use your excellent analogy, Ziff); it’s always been awkward at best, and it usually takes a few weeks for us both to recover.

By: BrianJ

BrianJ — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:14:54 +0000

mmm...Orange Breeze.