I don’t necessarily disagree. Although I don’t think we should lock up everybody for life for the first sexual offense (10 years seems about right), but definitely, after the second offense.
I don’t think anybody is insulting the Amish. Plus, what’s the point of being Amish if you’re going to use a cell phone.
Well, that is a toughy then. Of course, we are all called to a “religious life,” but I know what you mean. The only place you will find a true spirit of poverty and pious community is in a monastery/convent/abbey.
I think you are referring to the Mennonites, a similar, but more diverse group. Some of those follow the very simple Amish lifestyle, but others do have more modern conveniences (including deodorant!
). I was talking about the Old Order Amish, the ones people typically think of when the word “Amish” comes to mind. And BTW, the choice to embrace or shun modern technology has nothing to do with being “intelligent, loving, happy Christian people;” one finds people of that description, as well as a few grumpy, judgmental, cantakerous individuals, in all sects and denominations. It’s called being human. 
Since these are very close family friends (our families vist each others’ homes, etc.), and they refer to themselves as Amish - as do all of their extended family in other states. I am pretty certain I am not confusedI think you are referring to the Mennonites, a similar, but more diverse group. Some of those follow the very simple Amish lifestyle, but others do have more modern conveniences (including deodorant!
Actually, speaking of religious life and marriage…
So it seems it is quite possible to be consecrated religious, for a while, then get married. Wish I knew the details. Check with the legionairres.Just last week at one of those “team-building seminars” at work (), they showed a clip from the barn-raising scene from the movie “Witness.” A couple of the younger women present commented about it being “sexist” how the men were doing the barn labor and the women were preparing and serving food. But it’s not a matter of sexism, it is a matter of cultural differences. To go in and try to change their way of life would only reinforce to them their need to separate themselves from the rest of the world.
Also, both genders probably have extremely difficult work. The male’s job might take more arm muscle but the female’s job, working in the kitchen and making clothing, is not less difficult or time consuming. I think that probably the younger women don’t realize that neither the male or female jobs are being done with the convenience that modern working tools create.
If I were there, I would have rather cooked the food while the women raised the barn. Just like when the car gets a flat tire, I send my wife out to change it while I make sandwiches for the kids.
If I were there, I would have rather cooked the food while the women raised the barn. Just like when the car gets a flat tire, I send my wife out to change it while I make sandwiches for the kids.
(How crazy has the world become??)
Dude, you should see her biceps! I’m scared of her!!
I think that the most physically strong member of a married couple should do the majority of the heavy labor. If that happens to be your wife, then more power to her.
I have a friend who is originally from Iowa and she has similar stories. Many of us have romanticized the “simpler” life that the Amish people live and practically canonize them as living saints for being able to live without many of our technological toys. The reality is, there are good and bad people in every group, even the Amish.It’s not easy to see the warts of a quaint closed society like the Amish. But they have had their child abuse scandals–physical and sexual and incestuous–and it’s easy for the closed communities to circle the wagons and protect the abusers from social services investigators. No amount of piety makes that right. The forgive and forget ethic can be used to perpetuate injustice. Just google Amish child abuse and start reading.
I used to live and work at a Quaker boarding high school and was a little too impressed. That can only survive at soft focus and briefly. The Quaker families that ran the school thought it was OK to do drugs with the high school kids, and to permit one of them to be the drug supplier for the community (assisted by her mother).
Yeah, shocking, but it awakened a moral sense in me and was a major step to moving me past my relativism and indifference.
Sin is everywhere but there is a real problem when good is called evil and evil is called good.
Dude, you should see her biceps! I’m scared of her!!
(Just kidding honey…)
I think they were grumbling more about the lack of equal opportunites.
But unless they have taken to survivalist camping or some such, they don’t have a clue how much work is involved to prepare a meal when you have to kill and clean the chicken, bake the bread from scratch, etc. etc.I don’t get that, either. I can see how women yearned for equal opportunities for some of the traditional men’s professions such as law, medicine, engineering, etc., and it is right and good that women are now accepted in these professions. Some of us are old enough to remember when this was not always the case! But I just don’t see the appeal for a woman to work on a construction crew, or as a plumber, or as an auto mechanic, unless it’s just a matter of money. But to each her own, I guess; if a woman finds that more “exciting” than a traditionally-feminine job, best of luck to her. I’ll stay in my nice air-conditioned hospital, thank you.
But if he were Amish and didn’t like farming, carpentry, or whatever, tough luck; there would be no switching to the kitchen allowed.Whoo-hoo, you go, girl!Dude, you should see her biceps! I’m scared of her!!
(Just kidding honey…)