Appreciating the Amish
With the shocking news of a suicidal milktruck driver gunman on a sexual-fantsy killing 5 Amish girls aged 7-13, I have learned a lot about these special people.
Firstly, they are deeply spiritual; they accepted the deaths as God's will, albeit, "permissive will" and that the deceased are in a better place.
They are forgiving. They forgave the killer and they visited the widow of the gunman, offering help and support.
They are communal in a way that is so foreign to US culture. They are the exact opposite of individualism. They live in community and they die in community. The funeral processions of horse buggies and the private cemetery burials were evidence of that.
They are plain, humble people. They are the opposite of "what's the latest fashion or trend?" They wear the same handmade clothes as their 18th century forebears. They ride in horse buggies, not autos. They favor face to face conversations; no telephones are in homes. There is no electricity save solar batteries or diesel powered motors for farming.
They are peaceful. They refuse military service, violence, voting, and public offices. They follow the Jesus' teaching in the Sermon of the Mount. They want to be peace-makers.
They are marriage and family-centered. No divorce. Averaging 7 children per married couple, they live and work on farms, growing their own food. Every other Sunday they meet in a house for worship with a few other families. The Sunday weeks in between worship is reserved for visiting relatives. Good balance between worship and relatives.
They believe in being different from the world. They aren't worried about what the world thinks of them. All they want is to follow Christ, as they understand Him.
They are discerning and discriminating about technology. Every new gadget that comes along is tried out and evaluated with this question: "Will this bring us closer together, or will it separate us?"
The believe in cooperation, not competition. Barn-raising, the gathering where the local Amish community helps a family build their barn in one day is the epitome of cooperation.
Now, I don't agree with everything the Old Order (ultra-conservative) Amish believe or do. I think they over-emphasize "being separate" or isolation. They may be a bit legalistic is some areas. But, they know what they believe and they apply their beliefs in concrete, compelling ways. I commend them.
The Amish have not only survived for 280 years in the US, they are growing rapidly, through biological growth. When they first arrived around 1720, they were 3,700. Today, all the Amish groups together total 198,000.
They must be doing something right!
Firstly, they are deeply spiritual; they accepted the deaths as God's will, albeit, "permissive will" and that the deceased are in a better place.
They are forgiving. They forgave the killer and they visited the widow of the gunman, offering help and support.
They are communal in a way that is so foreign to US culture. They are the exact opposite of individualism. They live in community and they die in community. The funeral processions of horse buggies and the private cemetery burials were evidence of that.
They are plain, humble people. They are the opposite of "what's the latest fashion or trend?" They wear the same handmade clothes as their 18th century forebears. They ride in horse buggies, not autos. They favor face to face conversations; no telephones are in homes. There is no electricity save solar batteries or diesel powered motors for farming.
They are peaceful. They refuse military service, violence, voting, and public offices. They follow the Jesus' teaching in the Sermon of the Mount. They want to be peace-makers.
They are marriage and family-centered. No divorce. Averaging 7 children per married couple, they live and work on farms, growing their own food. Every other Sunday they meet in a house for worship with a few other families. The Sunday weeks in between worship is reserved for visiting relatives. Good balance between worship and relatives.
They believe in being different from the world. They aren't worried about what the world thinks of them. All they want is to follow Christ, as they understand Him.
They are discerning and discriminating about technology. Every new gadget that comes along is tried out and evaluated with this question: "Will this bring us closer together, or will it separate us?"
The believe in cooperation, not competition. Barn-raising, the gathering where the local Amish community helps a family build their barn in one day is the epitome of cooperation.
Now, I don't agree with everything the Old Order (ultra-conservative) Amish believe or do. I think they over-emphasize "being separate" or isolation. They may be a bit legalistic is some areas. But, they know what they believe and they apply their beliefs in concrete, compelling ways. I commend them.
The Amish have not only survived for 280 years in the US, they are growing rapidly, through biological growth. When they first arrived around 1720, they were 3,700. Today, all the Amish groups together total 198,000.
They must be doing something right!
posted by Carl | 9:11 PM
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