Is there any Amish folks on here?

I have had fairly long, cordial conversations with some Mennonites in my area, but usually come away thinking they didn't tell me anything even vaguely personal. The details of practice vary regionally, and also bishop to bishop and community to community. Things that seem small also sometimes seem to become big sticking points.

Each community has a set of rules that are basically set in concrete. This is called the Ordnung.

And yes, it is hard to understand their ways.

When we moved into the center of an Amish community we learned quickly that the chasm between us and them is deep and wide. We frequent their businesses around us, stop and talk to them whenever they stop by our homestead and respect their beliefs.

Around us, they can drive tractors to bale hay, but cannot own them. BUT we have seen them use an old tractor motor to power something on their farms. They can use power tools if they belong to the person who hires them but they cannot own them. The list goes on and frankly I have given up trying to understand their rules. We just respect them the way we respect anyone who's beliefs are different than ours and all honesty, I sometimes think they are just as clueless about us as we are about them. Once my husband and I were talking to a young Amish man who lives in our neighborhood on Memorial day. DH mentioned that in our culture it was a holiday. The young man obviously didn't know that so my husband explained what Memorial day was all about and ended it with "Today we stop to pay tribute to all the men and women who died in service to our country so you would be free to be Amish and we are free to follow our own beliefs." I remember the young man just blinked at us obviously completely baffled by this news.

Personally, when I deal with the women in the community, have something I want to give as a gift for a new baby for example, I ask, is this proper for you or is it on the forbidden list? Most are more than willing to explain things to you if the need arises.

On a comical note, my father was born and raised Pennsylvania Dutch. I grew up hearing words and phrases of their language spoken in every day life. One day, our next door Amish neighbor was at the house and the dogs were barking at him. I unconsciously said 'THAT'S ENOUGH!' in Pennsylvania Dutch, a term I grew up hearing my dad bellow whenever my brother and I got out of hand. The neighbor's jaw dropped " You speak our language!" he said. I told him I knew enough to get myself in trouble. From that point on I think he was a little more careful not to speak it around me.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

The thing with the difference between having electric in the house, and having it in the milk house, is that with plug ins in the house, its easier to think, why not buy an electric whatever and use it rather than the way im doing now

I can understand them allowing and likely encouraging their members to read books. Its much harder to buy a book about porn, than it is to find it on the puter. I think that putters in that sense are just like TV. They can easily allow smut into homes, AND with putters, it can be tailor made to our likes and senses.

Around here the Amish or Minno farmers and ranchers all own their own tractors. I when I first came here in 81 used to occasionally see horse and black buggies. I never see them on the road now, but occasionally I do see them at the Amish sale I go to once a month.

Whow! This has been so enlightening! So much so that I went back and reread all the replies! There seems to be so much that I don't know,that I don't know!
Thank you all for sharing.I'm starting to understand more about why Alvin reacts to certain things the way he does.
If there is anyone else that feels they have something to say,please do. I'm eager to learn more.
Thanks again.

Wade

Vanity is big with them, they try to avoid all things that give the impression of being vain, that's part of the reason for no pictures, and the way they dress. Also I have been told that they cling to ways that depend on the community working together and helping each other, it is a form of "insurance" for them. "English" farmers can be independent and do most things by themselves from the cab of the tractor, with the Amish the community gets together to thresh, bale, pick corn, they depend on each other and that helps bond them and their beliefs together. Not all bad when you think of it, I talk to old timers who have fond memories of the neighborhood getting together to thresh, or raise a barn, the Amish still do it.

At least half of our neighborhood is Amish, but in the ten years we have lived here I have never gotten to know any of them well enough to ask many questions about their religion/lifestyle. What I usually do is just ask one of our "English" neighbors who has known the Amish for many, many years. I can usually get information that way.

Around here, there is quite a lot of interaction between the English and the Amish. A lot of the Amish guys, especially the young men, work for some of the English farmers, or they help with construction work around the neighborhood.

The Amish families attend loads of garage sales, so we see them around when we are out 'saling. It is interesting to see what they buy. Lots of books! My sister in law had a sale one year and some Amish women bought some thongs! (the underwear type). SIL asked if the women knew what they were buying, and were assured that they did, lol.

The ones around us are generally very nice, and pleasant when we do see them. Hubby and I are kind of shy, so we don't socialize much, but I think I remember attending a get together at a neighbor's house a few years ago which one of the Amish families also attended. One neighbor says about our neighborhood Amish, that "they like to be Amish on Sunday, and English the rest of the week", lol.

Thanks for posting this.

Some local Mennonites I visit with have computers but only use them "in house" meaning they do not permit the internet. They resemble Wesleyan Methods in the way they dress.

I have had discussions with one Mennonite man concerning what the Amish believe.... his response was ... you must know the Lord... and he expresses his concerns that the Amish acknowledge God by obeying ordinances but that they do not generally know God through a personal relationship.

.... I will be back later ... I have a lot more to say

I have had close relationships with two Amish families near by for 6 years now. Some of the statements on this thread match my experience, others not at all. My friends definitely read the Bible, and we have discussed what it says together. They sure know it better than I do.

One neighbor has a tractor that he runs the baler with, and pulls the baler to the field, but brings the hay to the baler with horses. I asked him why, he said "don't even try to understand our rules. I don't even understand them." Now, I am pretty sure he is one of the ones who make the rules. I read somewhere hat they can't work fields with tractors so one man does not get a big advantage over another. That might have been the original intent, but I know rich and poor Amish guys. They seem to grasp capitalism better than us.

I do see that the guys around me hate monthly payments. Most everything is bought cash, including farms, hospital bills, even a Life Flight ride for a kid. That adds to their desire to skip phones, cable, and electric. Also, they don't want the phone in the home disrupting family time. Of course, the neighbor's nieces and nephews have no trouble disrupting my family, calling and hanging up if I answer instead of the Amish kids.

I spend enough time with Amish folks, that they seem more normal to me than some of the city people I meet during the week.

[QUOTE=Gravytrain;7359962]I've been around the Amish all my life. I have worked with them and have often had them work for me. They are just like any other group of people...some are good, honest and reliable and some are not. Around here, the young Amish are pretty wild and do things that are not permitted in their religion (booze, dope, technology, etc.). By the time they g

Amish are "old order" Mennonites. In the late 1600s a group of Mennonites decided that the order wasn't practicing strict enough separation from the outside world and a separate order was creat
The Amish that I know don't have a problem discussing their beliefs as long as they know that they are not being ridiculed about them.[/QUOTE
Th

That statement is not quite correct. Old order mennonites are OO Mennonites. OO Amish are different. Yes you are correct in that they split off of Mennos but the bishop of that group was Jacob Amon.He was not ever the bishop of the OO Mennos.
They didn't form until later when they were in America.

The carnie barks there is a sucker born every minute. Why will you work for less than half and accept more responsibility? Tell em no.

Back when Jacob Ammann split, they were all considered Anabaptists. The followers of Ammann were called Amish. Mennonites got their name from Menno Simons an early Anabaptist writer. Many Mennonites refer to Amish as "Old Order Mennonites", though you are correct, there are some differences.

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'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.

Friedrich August von Hayek

Well,it's not exactly the way you made it sound. I was working for him for a few years just whenever he needed help. When he started baling square bales he had to get help handling them. The local high school kids wouldn't work for anything less than $10 but he couldn't get any work out of them. It was really bad. Mark(about 50) and myself(60) at the time could put in more hay together than 5 kids he hired.
Next cutting he was looking for help 'cause none of them were worth keeping. He had probably 1500 bales on the ground so he went to the amish 'cause rain was in the forecast and they wouldn't work for less than $15.
After we got the hay in he told me that was it. No more small bales 'cause he just lost money on that cutting because the labor was too high.
People think because you move a couple hundred ton of hay a year you can afford to pay good money but his profit margin was so small that he has now ended all of his outside contracts including our farm and has gone to running a postal route for a living!

Well are you of Christian Faith?

You probably already understand a good bit of his religion.

What you lack is his or his flocks interpretation of it.

They take the Word as Literal and accept the spiritual leaders account as actual.

Much as any other religion.

I can think of at least two christian based faiths that share a few things with your friends.

Both are ridiculed and held at odds by other Christian sects.

Of coarse Catholicism holds all out side of it the same.

Study your theology and religion of all.

you will then gain a Understanding.

Don't get me started on the blatant hypocrisy of the Amish!!!!!

Would you like to share something with us? Seems I detect a "cautionary" note that needs to be revealed!


Wade

There are many different Parishs of Amish in Michigan. What they can and cannot do is decided by the Bishop. Some are fairly modern, others quite strict.
I knew an Amish guy in Ohio that had a Natural gas well on his property, and was able to tap into it, because it was on his land, but couldn't tap into the electricity. He ran a dairy and the milk cooler ran off an air motor. He ran a diesel powered air compressor to supply air for the motor on the bulk tank. Ran a line under the road for his son's machine shop. Everything air powered.
But the strict ones I see, put up hay loose, no air/rubber tires, no shoes on the children most of the time. The slower pace, lots of walking and labor is healthy. They generally take a nap after lunch.
In Indiana, many work building trailers, campers, modular homes, etc. They can use power tools at work, drive fork lift, etc. I think there are times the Amish get a non-Amish to start up a business in name only so they can use power tools.

But it is hard to hold the line on the simple life. But much can be explained by not being vein and depending on each other. This builds strong families and strong communities.
One guy that belongs to a strict group, runs a saw mill with a team of horses, a diesel engine out of a Dodge and two teenagers. They buy the logs and sell lumber. Every board is hand carried and stickered up as it is cut. Rough sawn oak lumber is 40 cents a board foot. I asked about the single lamp on their buggies and no reflectors on the back. I figured it was foolish to put yourself at risk when out after dark. He said it is a strong incentive to be home with your family after dark. Steel wheeled wagons and machinery keeps you close to home, too.

But as was mentioned earlier, they can be close with their money. If they can hire you with a tractor for $7. and charge you $14. for teenagers stacking hay, it'll happen. But honestly, I doubt you'll have any hay help show up for less. They don't drive cars, but sure enjoy a ride in a car. Don't want to be photographed at all.

Trying to be unconnected with modern world leads to some strange solutions. Like no phone in the house, but a phone out in a shed or a pay phone across the street. The sawmill guy would borrow a customer's cell phone to call other customers to tell them their boards were ready. Sharpens the saw mill blade with a special grinder on a flex shaft that runs off a Briggs and Stratton engine.

Some are good with horses, some good furniture makers, some good cooks, but they are humans and there are bad ones, too. If you buy food from one, consider they have limited hot water and no refrigeration.

I've known a few that went on to Nursing College, but most don't get much of an education. They don't talk a lot. Often, they are unable to give directions to a place just a few miles away, " Over by that one church" isn't much help. While they have big close families, they don't do the niece, cousin thing. After knowing an extended family, I was talking to one girl about the new baby next door, " So, you have a new niece." She didn't know who I was talking about. In spite of that, they have, in recent years, tried to bring in Amish from other areas to broaden the gene pool.

Don't believe anything on TV about Amish.

You are correct here ... back on my post #18 I said the original anabaptist movement was called Amish and the split formed the Mennonite Church .... I was wrong. I havent studied this lately and the facts get a little muddled.

As for the OP's friend, it may be that he doesn't really have a whole lot of a "religious experience" going on inside of him, at least not the way many outsiders might see it.

It's very possible that he has little knowledge of Biblical things and perhaps not much interest.

When you ask him "why", he may not really know why himself but rather he may be living his life according to what he's been told since he was old enough to understand the language used to tell him how he has to behave and what he can and cannot do. He was probably never told "why" on a lot of things but was more likely in the group that would hear, "because I said so" if they did ask, which they were probably not encouraged to do in the first place.

If you are a personal friend, I doubt three's much you'd do to offend him without knowing you offended, especially if you are truly not wanting to offend. Most people understand that others don't always get what we believe or why but those who know us don't offend intentionally, even if they happen to put out some kind of blunder that might indeed offend someone who had no relationship.

Just a couple of thoughts that may or may not be the case but figured I'd throw out the thoughts.

Not true in all districts. I have an online friend that goes to an Amish bible study on occasion.

some districts allow propane refrigerators, just not electric ones.

Speaking of, an interesting read written by a former Amish:
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Lily-Adve...dp/B008B9HJWE/

Lily thought it was pretty cool that her English neighbor had a light inside her fridge. I think some district near us allows propane fridges, the guy around the corner from me sells them.