Why are the Amish like that?

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Thanks for posting that video, VSEdriver (Very Small Equine?); it’s interesting.

Hi rotlex—I’m not too far from you, over in northern Berks county.
 
AbideWithMe said:
Thanks for posting that video, VSEdriver (Very Small Equine?); it’s interesting.
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yes! Very Small Equine AKA miniature horse. It’s the division the American Driving Society puts mini horses, donkeys, and mules into for their sanctioned events. 😃

those of us that drive and who live near the Amish are very lucky because we have access to quality driving supplies.
 
rotlex said:
We just DVR’d this the other night, but I have not had a chance to watch it yet. It looks very interesting. We spend quite a bit of time in Amish country here in PA, Lancaster, as we travel to the area often for a number of things. (We are from the Lehigh Valley area\Whitehall PA).
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there’s one part that really made me laugh… an anthropologist in the early 20th century who wanted to document Amish life because she believed it was doomed to die off. Guess she didn’t notice those large families!🤷
 
vsedriver said:
yes! Very Small Equine AKA miniature horse. It’s the division the American Driving Society puts mini horses, donkeys, and mules into for their sanctioned events. 😃

those of us that drive and who live near the Amish are very lucky because we have access to quality driving supplies.
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God be praised, I finally understand the picture in your signature. 😃
 
Cavaradossi said:
God be praised, I finally understand the picture in your signature. 😃
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LOL! that is the Disney black pegasus from Fantasia with the wings removed. He looks so much like my solid black mini who has a real pony brain and attitude. 🙂
 
My best friend is Amish. New Order but still Amish. The house they moved into had electricity so they do use that but minimally. They do have a telephone in the house but their order permits phones and he has his own business so it is a blessing for them.
The more I am around her and her family the more alike I realize that we are. Even though they don’t use a lot of the same technology as us they are the same on the inside. Only they try to live a more peaceful, simple lifestyle.
They still deal with the same struggles in their faith and their families. As far as conveniences go, when they buy something they pay more money for it and get the best and it lasts a long time.
 
JRKH said:
I should like to note here too that I think there is much that we as Catholics could learn, or perhaps recapture, from our Amish brethren.
The sense of community, of strict adherence to the code of Church teaching, of sacrifice for Christ, the Church and each other and of simplicity. Years ago there seemed to be more of a sense of that community - at least there seemed to be in the family and the parish I grew up in.

Peace
James
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I was reading Scott Hahn’s Letter and Spirit and then I immediately went on to re-read Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth, so I don’t remember where I read this BUT…

HE was saying that Christianity didn’t abandon the social concept of Jewish family as the locus of faith living, but it nevertheless expanded the “family” to all mankind, as jolting and difficult a job that may be to accomplish. All mankind is our family of faith. The Church community, it seems to me, is an attempt to make the leap to the larger context.
 
I am reading on the early history of the Anabapists. What happened is that the Bible in the vernacular was opened up to them, and they saw many things in the supposedly Christian society in which they lived which were not in conformity with Christian teachings. They tossed all traditions, and developed their own. Many abuses happened in the process, including “god’s kingdom on earth,” polygamy, and abuses of a communistic society. Some of the same abuses that happened in the history of Mormonism. Anabaptists developed a bad reputation, exposing to persecution even the best who evaluated the Bible through the lens of the HS and conscience. This persecution, and their response to it (forgiveness, and ethical judgment) helped the Mennonites and Amish develop what they have today. What we see today is more in conformity to Catholic teachings (of course). So today, we have the RLDS, who are acceptable mainstream Protestants, and the Mormons, who still look a lot like the Munster Anabaptists. 😦 It is no wonder, looking at the various Anabaptist sects in the context of their history, why they are so anti-Mormon. They know that history repeats itself, and they categorically reject those abuses that arose during the development of their traditions, mirrored in Mormonism.

Anabaptism: a social history 1525-1618 by Glasen.

I still haven’t gone to visit the local Amish bishop-- waiting until I have a good picture of the situation before I go. Don’t want to say the wrong thing.
 
i have a bunch of atheists living next to me. with so much aggressive behavior. always wonder why they are like that.
 
I find it interesting how many people here are condemning the use of technology in our lives…while using a computer with internet access and communicating on a forum. Couldn’t you be out doing something besides sitting at a computer, talking to people you don’t even know and leaving messages that will be quickly forgotten?

True, technology is not a god, but it’s not a demon either. As said, it is a tool. There’s no reason to reject and demonize such a useful tool. Yes, the internet and TV has spread sexual sin and other harmful things, but it has also spread God’s word.
 
Great thread. I’m enjoying it thoroughly and am learning oodles. 👍
 
kbwall said:
I find it interesting how many people here are condemning the use of technology in our lives…while using a computer with internet access and communicating on a forum. Couldn’t you be out doing something besides sitting at a computer, talking to people you don’t even know and leaving messages that will be quickly forgotten?

True, technology is not a god, but it’s not a demon either. As said, it is a tool. There’s no reason to reject and demonize such a useful tool. Yes, the internet and TV has spread sexual sin and other harmful things, but it has also spread God’s word.
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I was just commenting to my wife the other day about how rare it is now to see kids playing outside. Even when I lived in a large city I saw kids playing ball in the street or ally. Now its a rare sight.
 
JustaServant said:
I was just commenting to my wife the other day about how rare it is now to see kids playing outside. Even when I lived in a large city I saw kids playing ball in the street or ally. Now its a rare sight.
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There are many Mennonite families, and some Amish, in the area where I live, and I have to say that I almost never see overweight kids in their families. When I go to Mennonite greenhouses or on-farm workshops, the kids are outside playing, tanned and wiry.
 
Sufjon said:
I don’t think it’s a dogma based sort of thing. The Amish are committed to calmness, composure, placidity and simplicity. The rejection of incessant stimuli and a life of speed helps to calm one’s mind to a point wherein it is possible to actually be alive in the minute one is in. Their lifestyle seems to me to be a great way to put the ego into remission, and lessen the tendency we have toward being distracted by a myriad of disjointed thoughts on a constant basis. Imagine what life could be like without the TV news person telling you about traffic and last night’s homicides, while your blackberry is going off all while you’re eating your breakfast, only to be tossed out into traffic where people are flipping each other off and your employees are on the phone with issues you need to address while you’re still in the car spilling your latte all over yourself. We have set ourselves up for such a life, while asking why the Amish would do otherwise. 🙂

I think their motives are pretty obvious. It is hard to be calm, composed and placid in the environment we have created. Their ability to be clear headed was evident in the way they handled the schoolhouse massacre a few years back. I was so impressed by their handling of the affair.

Your friend
Sufjon
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So was I. I believe I could live a life of simplicity the way they do. Could you imagine such a place onlyw with a Catholic Parish at the center?
 
DaveEucharist said:
What confuses me is their attitude towards outsiders and leaving their comfort zone. I’m not espousing the use of all technologies. Heck, I personally dislike facebook, only watch two TV shows (on Hulu), etc.

It’s like some of the things they do seems to be for show and has little scriptural basis. They supposedly believe in their own denomination? OK, so why be so isolated?

Really, it seems like everything they do and don’t do is for show. “Oh look at is in our buggees we are so special because we are so different. Forget education beyond the 8th grade lets just work work work until our hands became hard.”

Time to assimilate a little more. It’s not the 19th century anymore.

I respect them as people, but there is no need to respect or even admire their general lifestyle.

Do any of them even use the internet or try to learn about other religions/atheism, etc.
I’m ex-atheist, and wouldn’t be Catholic without the luxuries of learning.

Calculus, organic chemistry, medicine, all above 8th grade. Who needs all that useless stuff since God left us 19th century technologies and hard work?
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Why can’t you respect their lifestyle? Their lifestyle does not go against biblical teachings. Admiration is only for things you like anyway, so you don’t have to like it.
 
DaveEucharist said:
There is no way around it. It is ridiculous to discourage higher education for purposes of sheltering people from the oh so evil world out there. Whatever.

Humanistic and Atheist undergraduate (university/four year colleges) institutions? You can still be Christian and attend a secular school. I completed my undergraduate degree at an Ivy League institution and there was plenty of religious freedom, including a very active Catholic population (daily Mass, Adoration, Rosary, etc). You can be Christian and expect the world to tailor its ways to you. Why not encourage education (undergraduate) to those who want it and allow them to “fight the good fight” per se in school?
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To some it is easier to avoid the temptation than to risk a fall.

Proverbs 4:14-16

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

14 Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee.

15 Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.

16 For they sleep not except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.

Proverbs 16:17

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

17 The path of the just departeth from evils: he that keepeth his soul keepeth his way.
 
DaveEucharist said:
Just to throw in there:

Sometimes certain topics seem impractical but are still very important. Maybe some Amish are reluctant to step into the secular world and complete undergraduate studies in molecular biology/biochemisty of this and that? It doesn’t seem practical to work, right? Still, it’s important.

I just don’t get how they can disallow the pursuit of education.
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Why do you say work is not practical?
 
My best friend, years ago, was discussing this subject; he was a Guernsey County farmer and had Amish neighbors, and associated with them often: we had many good conversations in his basement, surrounded by hand cut sandstone walls and warming our shins in front of his coal fired stove.
He explained the Amish as derived from Mennonites, and told me the men wear beards but never mustaches, because the mustache is a uniquely military decoration, which they abohr – despite their skill at bare-knuckle brawling.
(As an aside, I was a lawman for eighteen years. Voice of experience: never, ever get in a good knock down drag out fight with an Amishman. You will come out in second place.)
He then said that back in Europe they had a blood feud with Catholics, and in one village, tortured and killed every Mackerel Snapper in town.
When the blood-fury cleared from their brains the next morning, they realized just how thorough the horror of their actions, and they forever renounced the military and the world and technology which allowed them to perpitrate such a blood-horror: to this day, he said, there are Iron Maidens hung by chains from lamp posts as decoration and reminder of that terrible time.
I recount this not as historical fact, but as that which was told me by a fellow storyteller, one winter’s night when snow banked deep against the house and the wind sobbed like a child in the chimney’s throat.
 
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