Amish are the best Christians

[jbuck919]

The reason the Amish are in general a good people while most of mainstream Chirstianity is heavily (though not universally) involved in worldly vices is that the Amish practice strict enforcement of what they believe, by setting themselves apart, and by practicing levels community conformity up to if necessary the level of shunning. Catholics do not sociallly excommunicate venial members who are short of criminals.

The price the Amish pay for this is, frankly, incorrect doctrine (or at least very partially correct), severe restrictions on the possibilites for intellectual and artistic development, as well as a missing out on some of the beautiful opportunities of life that are availalble in general western culture.

 

[Paganus]

The recent act of the Amish community in giving their forgiveness to the man who brutaly murdered 5 of their own little girls amazes me like I can’t even describe.

That is a true Christian act, and seeing what they did makes me realize how much harder I have to work to live up to those Christian standards. In that instance, they are all better Christians then me, no two ways about it.

I found this very impressive as well. I disagree with the Amish on many points, but this was an impressive act. They acted correctly, immediately and effectively.

 

[Contarini]

I admire the Amish also. Their act of forgivness humbles me greatly. We can certainly learn much from them.

But they could not exist, if there were not people willing to die for the Amish right to practice their faith in the manner that they choose.

That makes no sense at all. The Anabaptists existed for a long time under fierce persecution from other Christians–their identity was forged in a culture where their right to practice their faith was not acknowledged.

Besides, who has attacked the U.S. in order to make the Amish stop practicing their faith? For that matter, I hear a lot about how American soldiers fight and die to preserve American freedoms, but since the Revolution (or maybe the War of 1812) no American war was actually fought in defense of American freedom that I can think of. WWII is the best bet–arguably Hitler would have tried to invade the U.S. eventually (though I think not), and of course the Japanese did attack, though not the North American continent. But even that is a stretch–basically the war was fought to preserve freedom *abroad. *I think that was a good thing, but this rhetoric about “defending our freedoms” is really a bit much. In 200 years no one has tried to take away Americans’ freedom.

Edwin

 

[deb1]

That makes no sense at all. The Anabaptists existed for a long time under fierce persecution from other Christians–their identity was forged in a culture where their right to practice their faith was not acknowledged.

Besides, who has attacked the U.S. in order to make the Amish stop practicing their faith? For that matter, I hear a lot about how American soldiers fight and die to preserve American freedoms, but since the Revolution (or maybe the War of 1812) no American war was actually fought in defense of American freedom that I can think of. WWII is the best bet–arguably Hitler would have tried to invade the U.S. eventually (though I think not), and of course the Japanese did attack, though not the North American continent. But even that is a stretch–basically the war was fought to preserve freedom *abroad. *I think that was a good thing, but this rhetoric about “defending our freedoms” is really a bit much. In 200 years no one has tried to take away Americans’ freedom.

Edwin

Admittedly, I was thinking more along the lines of communism. It would be difficult for the Amish especially to exists under such a regime, if not impossible.

 

[rr1213]

For that matter, I hear a lot about how American soldiers fight and die to preserve American freedoms, but since the Revolution (or maybe the War of 1812) no American war was actually fought in defense of American freedom that I can think of. WWII is the best bet–arguably Hitler would have tried to invade the U.S. eventually (though I think not), and of course the Japanese did attack, though not the North American continent. But even that is a stretch–basically the war was fought to preserve freedom *abroad. *I think that was a good thing, but this rhetoric about “defending our freedoms” is really a bit much. In 200 years no one has tried to take away Americans’ freedom.

Edwin

You are a bit too direct in your thinking here. World War II and the Cold War were certainly struggles where our adversaries wished to conquer us and change our way of life. If Hitler had pervailed, he would have dominated the peoples and resources of Europe and, with the eventual development of the Atom Bomb and other advanced weaponry, forced our capitulation and/or conversion into a puppet state like Vichy France. The Soviet Union certainly had the same goals. In an indirect or intellectual sense, freedom in the United States can be adversely affected when freedom in other countries is diminished. In a more direct way, when friendly nations abroad are forcefully converted into enemy states, then our economy is affected by reduced trade and commerce, the material strength of the enemies arrayed against us is increased, and our people lose confidence in our own ability or desire to defend ourselves. The United States could certainly survive as an insular nation for longer than anybody else in the world, but, eventually, even “Fortress America” would fall.

 

[deb1]

Hello Edwin,

I found this on Wikipedia. I’ve been told that it isn’t the greatest source, but it says that all the Amish imigrated to America to avoid persecution in Europe. If that isn’t true, please correct me. If I’m wrong, I won’t get offended.

*** The Amish congregations left in Europe slowly merged with the Mennonites. The last Amish congregation to merge with the Mennonites was Ixheim Amish congregation which merged with the neighboring Mennonite Church in 1937. Some Mennonite congregations, including most in Alsace, are descended directly from former Amish congregations. [3]***
No Old Order movement ever developed in Europe and all Old Order communities are in the Americas.

 

[slyboots]

… In 200 years no one has tried to take away Americans’ freedom…Edwin.

Edwin,
On the contrary. The ACLU is working very hard at removing some of my American freedoms. And there are many others who feel our constitutional rights should be changed or removed.
Just because they are not yet doing it with troops and terrorism in this country doesn’t mean we aren’t under attack.

 

[Contarini]

Hello Edwin,

I found this on Wikipedia. I’ve been told that it isn’t the greatest source, but it says that all the Amish imigrated to America to avoid persecution in Europe. If that isn’t true, please correct me. If I’m wrong, I won’t get offended.

*** The Amish congregations left in Europe slowly merged with the Mennonites. The last Amish congregation to merge with the Mennonites was Ixheim Amish congregation which merged with the neighboring Mennonite Church in 1937. Some Mennonite congregations, including most in Alsace, are descended directly from former Amish congregations. [3]***
No Old Order movement ever developed in Europe and all Old Order communities are in the Americas.

That’s absolutely right. But they existed for a couple of centuries in Europe without their right to worship beig recognized.

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

… In 200 years no one has tried to take away Americans’ freedom…Edwin.

Edwin,
On the contrary. The ACLU is working very hard at removing some of my American freedoms. And there are many others who feel our constitutional rights should be changed or removed.
Just because they are not yet doing it with troops and terrorism in this country doesn’t mean we aren’t under attack.

Of course, opinions differ on who is attacking whose rights.

The point I’m making is that American wars have not (since the very early days) been wars of resistance to attempted conquest, yet patriotic Americans regularly speak as if this were the case. It’s a sentimental fallacy designed to slur over the actual rights and wrongs of these various wars, because, don’t you know, if you criticize any war you’re criticizing American freedom. . . .

Edwin

 

[auhsoj88]

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.

You forgot to add that they don’t use advances in Medicine or Technology. Nowhere in scripture does it support such. Every once in a while you hear that an Amish child died for lack of a flue shot, or was denied medical treatment and surgery.

As a Catholic Christian, I believe God has allowed us through his many Graces to make advances in Medicine and Technology. It is the wickedness of man that uses some of these advances for the development of the Atomic bomb, stem cell research, etc…You are correct, we must not profane any grace God gives us, and the same time we must not deny any Grace that helps us.

With that said, denying any of Gods graces for literal interpretation of scripture is ignorant and may be a sin. God bless the Amish people and I hope they are more open to Gods graces.
But, nonetheless they are good Christians and are truely exemplary for others in there conduct.

In Christ!

 

[ALLFORHIM]

It’s true that in most case we are probably not involved directly into none of this. But through our state and our community and our shopping and our entertainment we are indeed involved in every aspect of this (at least I find myself involved through our community, I apologize for being assumptius for others). The Amish community on the other hand, is not involved in any aspect in any of this.

Forgive me, I don’t want to judge, it’s just that I admire the Amish life-style

Hi,
I agree with you. In some way we are all involved in all of those. If we vote–we are involved in politics and wars(indirectly) because who we vote for are the people who vote for war or not. Everything we do is so entangled with this world at some level.

The only thing I do not agree with the Amish on is the fact that they isolate themselves from the world. That is not what God calls us to do. On the other hand–sometimes I would like to do that with my children:thumbsup: I dont know what their doctrine’s are.

 

[Saint_Michael]

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.

It’s not as great as you think, they have their problems too, I would recount a story relavent to the topic but I was admonished last time I did. But I’ll just say that they definitely have their own major problems. As far as not being involved in wars, weapons etc… Well don’t forget they have that privelege because we protect them. As far as families sticking together, also remember that those that leave the Amish community are never spoken to again. Just remember that.

 

[deb1]

You forgot to add that they don’t use advances in Medicine or Technology. Nowhere in scripture does it support such. Every once in a while you hear that an Amish child died for lack of a flue shot, or was denied medical treatment and surgery.

As a Catholic Christian, I believe God has allowed us through his many Graces to make advances in Medicine and Technology. It is the wickedness of man that uses some of these advances for the development of the Atomic bomb, stem cell research, etc…You are correct, we must not profane any grace God gives us, and the same time we must not deny any Grace that helps us.

With that said, denying any of Gods graces for literal interpretation of scripture is ignorant and may be a sin. God bless the Amish people and I hope they are more open to Gods graces.
But, nonetheless they are good Christians and are truely exemplary for others in there conduct.

In Christ!

Are you certain that the Amish don’t use advances in Medicine. I thought that they did. Could you have them confused with Jehovah’s Witnesses?

 

[ALLFORHIM]

It’s not as great as you think, they have their problems too, I would recount a story relavent to the topic but I was admonished last time I did. But I’ll just say that they definitely have their own major problems. As far as not being involved in wars, weapons etc… Well don’t forget they have that privelege because we protect them. As far as families sticking together, also remember that those that leave the Amish community are never spoken to again. Just remember that.

Yeah we all have our problems. Sometimes things look good on the outside but you know how that saying goes—

Unfortunately other religions do the same thing to family members who decide to leave their faith. Including protestants and catholics. That is wrong.

 

[Mijoy2]

The original posters message is well appreciated.

 

[1ke]

You forgot to add that they don’t use advances in Medicine or Technology. Nowhere in scripture does it support such. Every once in a while you hear that an Amish child died for lack of a flue shot, or was denied medical treatment and surgery.

Perhaps there are some individual Amish who refuse medical treatment, but that cannot be said of the Amish as a whole. It is not against their religious tenets to use modern medicines. I know the Amish around here get their children immunized, wear glasses, go to the hospital (one neighbor lady just had knee replacement surgery).

They also do use technology-- they use gasoline engines and the Amish who have been working as contractors renovating my house for the last 5 months have an impressive array of power tools. They just cannot be connected to the electric power grid in their homes, but they sure can use my electricity or gasoline engines to run their nail gun, saws, and other equipment.

You really don’t know that much about the Amish based on what you’ve posted.

As a Catholic Christian, I believe God has allowed us through his many Graces to make advances in Medicine and Technology. It is the wickedness of man that uses some of these advances for the development of the Atomic bomb, stem cell research, etc…You are correct, we must not profane any grace God gives us, and the same time we must not deny any Grace that helps us.

With that said, denying any of Gods graces for literal interpretation of scripture is ignorant and may be a sin. God bless the Amish people and I hope they are more open to Gods graces.
But, nonetheless they are good Christians and are truely exemplary for others in there conduct.

In Christ!

They are not ignorant. You do lack knowledge of their practices, so hopefully you are better informed now.

 

[Sabda]

They also do use technology-- they use gasoline engines and the Amish who have been working as contractors renovating my house for the last 5 months have an impressive array of power tools. They just cannot be connected to the electric power grid in their homes, but they sure can use my electricity or gasoline engines to run their nail gun, saws, and other equipment.

How come they can not connect power tools to their own homes? I thought that they did not use anything electric but if they are using power tools then apparently they don’t have a problem with electicity. Which leads me to ask. If they have no problem with modern technology then why do they continue to use a horse and buggy instead of driving a car? Is there a good site that talks about Amish beliefs?

 

[StMarkEofE]

The recent act of the Amish community in giving their forgiveness to the man who brutaly murdered 5 of their own little girls amazes me like I can’t even describe.

That is a true Christian act, and seeing what they did makes me realize how much harder I have to work to live up to those Christian standards. In that instance, they are all better Christians then me, no two ways about it.

No, they are acting like a true Christian should act as all of us should but they are in error and a splinter group of Protestants plain and simple. 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?

 

[seek]

It’s not as great as you think, they have their problems too, I would recount a story relavent to the topic but I was admonished last time I did. But I’ll just say that they definitely have their own major problems. As far as not being involved in wars, weapons etc… Well don’t forget they have that privelege because we protect them. As far as families sticking together, also remember that those that leave the Amish community are never spoken to again. .

They must 1st join the church and then choose to leave the church to be shunned. Otherwise they still may have contact with their families.

 

[stinkcat_14]

Now, I have nothing against the Amish, but I watched the following movie and it may be that the Amish aren’t as admirable as we think.

One caveat, however, the movie is about a small sample of Amish, so it is unclear whether it is representative of the Amish as a whole.

npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/may/amish/