Their Like Everyone Else !!!

[big rockpile]

Thinking about Amish.I live among the Amish and Mennonites and every weekend it is so busy around here because of people from the city doing business with them.I do business with them but it is like if I lived in any other town,I would do business there.

What makes them so speicial? I've seen them buy Vegatables in another town 25 miles away,then have people come from that same town buy them back.I bought a Picnic Table from them worst one I ever had.I've had them ask advice on raising Animals,on Gardening,had one couple have me show them how to butcher a Hog.

I went to a Sawmill one time,had to walk through the woods there was a couple Mennonite Guys beating the something out of each other,soon as they seen me they both were just as friendly as could be.Went to look for my Son on time,I knew he was with this Drugy and Drunk,found out where the Guys Parents lived,so I go over there was surpriced to find out they were Amish.I was setting in the Store seen Mennonite come in there and buy Cigarettes.I asked the old Woman running the store about it,she said yes they just wasn't as open about it as everyone else.

I just don't see it,I know I can't do any business aroud here because of them.But I can take my goods and sell to them,they can turn around sell them no problem.That is a big joke around here if you get a Big Black Hat set up along the road you can do all the business you can handle.

Like I say I just don't see it.It is a Religion.They are like everyone else!!!!

big rockpile

[OUVickie]

Originally Posted by big rockpile

Thinking about Amish.I live among the Amish and Mennonites and every weekend it is so busy around here because of people from the city doing business with them.I do business with them but it is like if I lived in any other town,I would do business there.
What makes them so speicial? Like I say I just don't see it.It is a Religion.They are like everyone else!!!!
big rockpile

I think their like anyone else that gets media attention. People are fascinated by someone who's different. Maybe people think the products their getting are "blessed or more pure" because the Amish are supposed to be so pious.
It's no different than celebrities, people want to imitate them or be around them. Like something will rub off if you do business with them.
But like you said, they're just people. They have the same kind of problems as we do. I think people get the idea that all Amish or Mennonites are pure organic farmers and that they're way too pious to ever rip you off on anything.

People who think they have to be around or socialize with those who are different are in desperate need of a real life!

We have some Amish builders around here. If you offer them a beer, they will politely decline. But, if you set a cooler of cold beer out there and leave, there are lots of empties when you return.

[Hogsubie]

New to the board...thought I'd add something.

I spent 2 weeks out in Lancaster County PA, and that by no means makes me an expert. In every community, group, religion, political affiliation, etc. etc... there is hipocracy.
One of the larger tourist traps run by Amish had electricity to run the cash register, lights, computers, vending machines, kitchen etc. Capitalism at it's finest. The group I was with, not a tourist group (went for training), visited a "genuine" Amish farm that was owned by a friend of one of the trainers. We had a traditional lunch, which was good!, then they let us wander the barns and such. While I was in the barn, I came across a Black & Decker rechargeable drill. If they have no electricity how would they recharge it? You might say there are degrees of Amishness.

What I said is in no way meant to disparage or demean the Amish or Mennonite's in any way. No offense please.

[southerngurl]

Being affected by modern society like everyone else.

[renabeth]

The one's around here are WILD. They have big bass boats, big trucks, everything a red-blooded american could want. Cell phones, computers, but no TV. Straight to hell if you have a TV or a radio. They seem alright, but they ain't foolin' nobody. As far as living off the land-that's a joke.

[Ruby]

They are not true Amish, the ones who have all the electric light and so forth are people who break away and just use the faith to make money. The reason a lot of people want to buy goods from them they think they are getting good stuff because the Amish (the real ones) take pride in their work.

Hogsubie, they probably had a generator they charged the battery in the drill, they are allowed to have electricity generated any way, except from the power company.

The man who did all our welding when we lived in Indiana, has a huge welding shop. It is run by a huge diesel generator. There is some of them that turn to worldly things, just like any faith. Just because they dress Amish dosn't mean they are true to their faith.

[Oilpatch197]

I can't stand the Almish(especally behind the Slow buggies)

I like how the Mennonites live, no T.V., but have Radio/computers, they DRive White or black colored cars/trucks, Mennonites are more "practical" they use Modern Tech for good, not evil. The Almish, they're still in buggies.

Mennonites are great, if you don't mind smelling Hogs and Turkey's when your downwind from the farms. :P

[Oilpatch197]

Reading SouthernGirl's Signature....

"1 in 4 babies die of a preventable disease: abortion."

That my Freinds is STUPID and very foolish. We got Birth control Pills, and we STILL have abortions, brutally killing little babies. These people , I don't know what is wrong with them, a modern day Babalyon?

and a few weeks ago, a woman didn't want a C-section to save the child, don't blame her not wanting to get all cut up! > and yet THE POLICE press charges on HER! but yet we let these Doctors SUCK THE BRAINS OUT OF Babies. What a Moral Decline.

[Cedar]

You all have Hollywood Amish.

[Hogsubie]

Ruby,
I was posing that more as a rhetorical question, but I did not know that generated power was okay.

The ironic thing about the tourist trap I mentioned was half the crap in there was made in China/Taiwan!

[southerngurl]

(regarding abortion rate)

That my Freinds is STUPID and very foolish. We got Birth control Pills, and we STILL have abortions.....

Yea, I saw that on a bumper sticker (1/4 of babies in USA are killed by abortion) and I couldn't believe it. I looked it up and it's true. Sickening. Whatever happened to "First, do no harm"?

[GeorgeK]

Oral Birth Control Pills do not prevent conception, they prevent embryonic implantation. They are simply an early form of abortion in pill form.

Originally Posted by Oilpatch197

Reading SouthernGirl's Signature....

"1 in 4 babies die of a preventable disease: abortion."

That my Freinds is STUPID and very foolish. We got Birth control Pills, and we STILL have abortions, brutally killing little babies. These people , I don't know what is wrong with them, a modern day Babalyon?

and a few weeks ago, a woman didn't want a C-section to save the child, don't blame her not wanting to get all cut up! > and yet THE POLICE press charges on HER! but yet we let these Doctors SUCK THE BRAINS OUT OF Babies. What a Moral Decline.

[GeorgeK]

A summer or two ago here, there was an Amish Cocaine Drug ring that was busted in Central Kentucky. They got away with it for years because nobody suspected them. They apparantly thought it was fine to sell Cocaine to the "English"

Originally Posted by big rockpile

Thinking about Amish.I live among the Amish and Mennonites and every weekend it is so busy around here because of people from the city doing business with them.I do business with them but it is like if I lived in any other town,I would do business there.

What makes them so speicial? I've seen them buy Vegatables in another town 25 miles away,then have people come from that same town buy them back.I bought a Picnic Table from them worst one I ever had.I've had them ask advice on raising Animals,on Gardening,had one couple have me show them how to butcher a Hog.

I went to a Sawmill one time,had to walk through the woods there was a couple Mennonite Guys beating the something out of each other,soon as they seen me they both were just as friendly as could be.Went to look for my Son on time,I knew he was with this Drugy and Drunk,found out where the Guys Parents lived,so I go over there was surpriced to find out they were Amish.I was setting in the Store seen Mennonite come in there and buy Cigarettes.I asked the old Woman running the store about it,she said yes they just wasn't as open about it as everyone else.

I just don't see it,I know I can't do any business aroud here because of them.But I can take my goods and sell to them,they can turn around sell them no problem.That is a big joke around here if you get a Big Black Hat set up along the road you can do all the business you can handle.

Like I say I just don't see it.It is a Religion.They are like everyone else!!!!

big rockpile

[Jena]

I think the Amish have changed with the times, like everyone else. They try to stay simple, but they simply cannot do so in today's world...so they adapt.

I'm sorry, but the ones with lights, etc are true to faith...the real deal...honest Amish. That's just how they live today.

They can have a telephone, just not in the house. So they build a little phone booth thingy in their yard and hook up an answering machine. I've seen them pulling engine driven balers and such with horses. It seems stupid to me....an engine is ok, but they still have to use the horses???

I think that most of the myths about the Amish are thought up by people like us. I've never had anyone Amish tell me that they don't use technology or that they can't have a phone or that they live totally without modern conviences. We come up with all that based on....I don't know what.

Jena

[CarolinaBound]

Every AMish/Mennonite parish can have it's own rules. Some allow prints, some only allow subtle colors etc.

When you are a Mennonite, you go to the meeting/service that best fits you. There are some VERY progessive groups, they believe in abortion, women preachers etc. There are some that are more conservative and even ultra conservative. You go where you are fulfilled and you think things are right.

Electric isn't evil and neither is TV. It is what comes from the electric and tv, (Like that show The Simple Life for example) that can be considered evil. If you are connected to the power grid for your electric, it is a loosening of your independence from the English or the "worldly" and you are at their mercy to keep being supplied with power.

The reason that people crowd to buy Mennonite things is because of a past reputation of things being made individually (my grandfather made his dove corners by hand with a little hatchety type thing), with pride and with good materials. And if a thing didn't come out "right" it wasn't sold. Things were made with integrity. (On a recent trip to Deutsh country I noticed the made in China stuff too. :no: Oh well!)

But if you look at homesteaders now, how many of us have learned the old ways, the canning, the spinning, quilting, basket making etc? We take pride in our things, and sometimes we sell them for a little money. If oyu look around, you can still find quality Amish/Mennonite things. Just not in the toursit traps.

[big rockpile]

Oilpatch its opposit around here,Amish Drive cars and have Eletricity,Mennonites have Horse and Carriage.

They do good work,but what gets me no one around here can sell any goods from their house because of them.

My wife tried to get them to let her sell their goods over the Computer,the Pastor just looked at her,laughed said your pushing it aren't you.But there is another group Advertising over the TV.

big rockpile

[Gayle in LA]

Big Rockpile, sounds like where you are you have Beachy Amish, who can have cars; and conservative Old Order Mennonites who live more like Old Order Amish with the buggies and no electricity. Every little group of Amish and even many groups of Mennonites have their own local church "ordnung" which is the community standard of rules that they have arrived at through trial and error. Some groups can't have tops on the buggies, and some have black or gray or yellow tops; some the women wear black caps and some wear white, and the styles of caps vary tremendously; some allow rubber tires on tractors in the fields, some no tractors, some metal wheels only, and so on. A good source of information on the Amish is the book AMISH SOCIETY, but it's a bit scholarly and hefty and maybe dated. All of their rules are geared toward reinforcing family and community bonds. Must work. A typical wedding has 3-400 guests and they do all the cooking, no catering! Same for the barnraisings.

[Mel-]

this site is a faq about the amish :

http://padutch.com/atafaq.shtml

[Oilpatch197]

exactly how is Rubber Vs. STeel Tires going to affect your Religion or Spiritual Beilefs?