Amish are the best Christians

[bibleapologist]

StmarkEofE,

No, they are acting like a true Christian should act as all of us should but they are in error… We acknowledge thier love of mankind and we should emulate this and their forgiveness is beyond reproach but that doesnt in itself make them the true faith now does it?

I concur with your statements as quoted above exactly.

To conform to a culture (whether morally upright or not) is not the same as having convictions.

Righteousness is nothing of itself. A Christian’s life should be a life that points to Christ… not just socially acceptable behavior, or morally upright.

Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees…

Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mat 23:24 [Ye] blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26 [Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men’s] bones, and of all uncleanness.

The Amish, like all of us, are sinners… no amount of righteousness will change that… WE ALL NEED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST!!!

John
www.gideonsword.net

 

[seremina]

In my opinion, God asks us to do His will with humility, but the Amish custom of “unusual” clothing and other customs makes them stand out, and in my opinion, makes their doing of God’s will to be not so humble.

**Okay… I was struck by this paragraph plus an earlier one from an earlier message. Opinions are fine and I do not mean any offense, but if people have problems with Amish only helping other Amish and feel that Amish wearing unique clothing and having unique customs are unhumble people, then I’d HATE to know how these people feel about monks and nuns.

True, some monks and nuns help others outside their community…but usually they’re helping each other. They wear unique clothing and have a very different culture and customs. Yet they are still humble. How in the world does clothing and customs=unhumility? The only way I see this happening is from magicians, clowns, mimes, circus performers, etc. They’re in the business of being easily noticed and their job doesn’t really leave them room for being humble.

That’s my 10 cents.
**

 

[deb1]

StmarkEofE,

I concur with your statements as quoted above exactly.

To conform to a culture (whether morally upright or not) is not the same as having convictions.

Righteousness is nothing of itself. A Christian’s life should be a life that points to Christ… not just socially acceptable behavior, or morally upright.

Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees…

Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mat 23:24 [Ye] blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26 [Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men’s] bones, and of all uncleanness

The Amish, like all of us, are sinners… no amount of righteousness will change that… WE ALL NEED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST!!!

John
www.gideonsword.net

Although I agree that everyone needs Christ, I have to wonder about your biblical quote. It seems to apply that the Amish are only doing certain things for an outward show and not because they are good people inwardly. We don’t know their hearts but I would imagine that their forgiveness of the shooter is based on their religious beliefs and is not done for show. I don’t think that the Amish are being hyprocritical.

 

[2shelbys]

That is what we must admit.

They are not involved in worsening the Earths ecology
They are not involved in wars
They are not involved in raising the gap between the poor and the rich
They are not involved in robbing children from third-world countries (buying cheap imports)
They don’t produce weapons.
Their families stick together before bedtime.
They don’t leave their elders; they are committed to help them since they don’t participate in retirement funds
They don’t worship profit
They don’t use machinework in order to avoid unemployment
They are not involved in political dirty games

We may be members of the true Church and have our rules, but this doesn’t change the truth that most Catholics are involved in all the above mentioned.

While there is much to admire about the lifestyle of the Amish I think this post places way too much importance on politics and way to little importance on the fact that they do not follow the true teaching of Christ as members of his true Church. Some of your observations are a little questionable as well.

They are not involved in robbing children from third-world countries (buying cheap imports)

Some of those people are glad to be working at all. In many cases, producing such goods are the only source of income.

They don’t leave their elders; they are committed to help them

Actually, when Amish teens reach a certain age they are encouraged to go out into the world and experience whatever vices they wish and it is up to them whether or not they return.

They don’t worship profit

It depends on what you mean by “worship”. Have you ever been to Lancaster? They are HEAVILY involved in commerce. In fact, here, hours away from their farms and homes just north of Baltimore, the Amish bought a former grocery store and turned it into a market where they sell everything from food to furniture.

They also “shun” people and think less of outsiders. That is not very Christian. Amish are just like us in that they are imperfect, sinful people as well.

 

[thomon16]

One of the major problems with the Amish community has been
their protection of sexual abusers within Amish families. They
believe that once the Amish church community has punished
(“banned”) the abuser and then readmitted the member after
“forgiving” him, there is no need for the “English” (non-Amish)
police and courts to be involved. There are numerous TV and
press reports regarding these crimes.

amishabuse.com/

 

[Jaguar]

We have Amish populations where I live, and it is widely known that there is a lot of incest within their families. In-breeding is common in their communities, due to their isolation. High school kids (I work with many) often talk about Amish fathers offering them money to impregnate their daughters. I guess this is the result of their isolation, also.

 

[rmcmullan]

I don’t want to dis the Amish or the Mennonites but I’m not ready to hold them up as a model to follow. Maybe as an ideal but a pacifist society cannot resist attack without a protector. If God will fight all their battles for them great, but he didn’t often do that for the children of Israel. Is it fair for them to put the burden of the country’s defense on us?

 

[thomon16]

There are a number of major problems with the Amish/Mennonites:

• They have frequent and unnecessary schisms or denominational
  splits over relatively minor issues. Some Amish and Mennonite
  churches are now down to less than 100 members.
• They are too quick to apply the “ban” of excommunication which
  splits spouses and families. “Shunning” separates husband from
  wife, parents from children, and brothers from sisters.
• They do not generally support education beyond the eighth grade
  which limit the opportunities for young people to find employment
  outside the immediate community - especially when they leave the church.

If necessary, I can refer to specific scholarly studies to support these statements.

 

[seremina]

There are a number of major problems with the Amish/Mennonites:

• They have frequent and unnecessary schisms or denominational
  splits over relatively minor issues. Some Amish and Mennonite
  churches are now down to less than 100 members.
• They are too quick to apply the “ban” of excommunication which
  splits spouses and families. “Shunning” separates husband from
  wife, parents from children, and brothers from sisters.
• They do not generally support education beyond the eighth grade
  which limit the opportunities for young people to find employment
  outside the immediate community - especially when they leave the church.

If necessary, I can refer to specific scholarly studies to support these statements.

I wish my education wasn’t beyond 8th grade. All that extra education is very stressful on my head. They’re lucky to only have that much. I think people are overschooled. If they want employment that requires all this extra stuff, they can get it in college, university, or correspondence school.