http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish
http://www.religioustolerance.org/amish.htm
http://www.800padutch.com/amish.shtml
Faber, Doris, and Michael E. Erkel. The Amish. New York: Doubleday, 1991. Print.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
3 Bibical Passages
Matthew 28:19 says "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"
We have to go out and make disciples for Christ, not make our own communities and stay within them. Though being seperated from the world is important to we still need to go out and preach to those who don't know God and what he can do for us.
Matthew 6:25 says "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"
There are so many others things to worry about then what we have to wear to church and what we wear on our heads. This is a popular thing in both the Christian and Amish faith but more so in the Amish community. In our communities we try to make it so you can wear whatever in church were as the Amish have a strict dress code. If a church or community has a strict dress code it's harder to have others join who can't get that speicific dress code.
Ephesians 2:5"It is by grace you have been saved."
We are saved only through grace and not by works or any other thing. God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to save us and it is by his grace that we can keep living and have hope of a better life after this one.
We have to go out and make disciples for Christ, not make our own communities and stay within them. Though being seperated from the world is important to we still need to go out and preach to those who don't know God and what he can do for us.
Matthew 6:25 says "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"
There are so many others things to worry about then what we have to wear to church and what we wear on our heads. This is a popular thing in both the Christian and Amish faith but more so in the Amish community. In our communities we try to make it so you can wear whatever in church were as the Amish have a strict dress code. If a church or community has a strict dress code it's harder to have others join who can't get that speicific dress code.
Ephesians 2:5"It is by grace you have been saved."
We are saved only through grace and not by works or any other thing. God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to save us and it is by his grace that we can keep living and have hope of a better life after this one.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Quotes and Explanations
Because the Ordnung doesn't translate completely into English I have a few quotes from The Riddle of Amish Culture. Which is an important book also to the Amish and to those who want to learn about them.
"The Amish blueprint for expected behavior, called the Ordnung, regulates private, public, and ceremonial life. Ordnung does not translate readily into English. Sometimes rendered as ordnance or discipline, the Ordnung is best thought of as an ordering of the whole way of life … a code of conduct which the church maintains by tradition rather than by systematic or explicit rules. A member noted: The order is not written down. The people just know it, that's all. Rather than a packet or rules to memorize, the Ordnung is the understood behavior by which the Amish are expected to live. In the same way that the rules of grammar are learned by children, so the Ordnung, the grammar of order, is learned by Amish youth. The Ordnung evolved gradually over the decades as the church sought to strike a delicate balance between tradition and change. Specific details of the Ordnung vary across church districts and settlements."
— Donald B. Kraybill , The Riddle of Amish Culture
This quote is about the Ordnung and it's important to the Amish because it helps a person understand what the Ordnung really is and how it helps the Amish stay on the right path.
A respected Ordnung generates peace, love, contentment, equality, and unity. It creates a desire for togetherness and fellowship. It binds marriages, it strengthens family ties to live together, to work together, to worship together and to commune secluded from the world.
— Donald B. Kraybill , The Riddle of Amish Culture, p.98
This is related because it helps us to understand what the people have to do to work together as a community.
Examples of Practices Prescribed by the Ordnung:
color and style of clothing
hat styles for men
order of worship service
kneeling for prayer in worship
marriage within the church
use of horses for fieldwork
use of Pennsylvania German
steel wheels on machinery
Examples of Practices Prohibited by the Ordnung:
air transportation
central heating in houses
divorce
electricity from public power lines
entering military service
filing a lawsuit
jewelry, including wedding rings and wrist watches
joining worldly (public) organizations
owning computers, televisions, radios
owning and operating an automobile
pipeline milking equipment
using tractors for fieldwork
wall-to-wall carpeting
— Donald B. Kraybill , The Riddle of Amish Culture, Revised Edition p.115
These are just a few of the rules that the Amish have to go through to not get shunned. There are many more which they must follow.
"The Amish blueprint for expected behavior, called the Ordnung, regulates private, public, and ceremonial life. Ordnung does not translate readily into English. Sometimes rendered as ordnance or discipline, the Ordnung is best thought of as an ordering of the whole way of life … a code of conduct which the church maintains by tradition rather than by systematic or explicit rules. A member noted: The order is not written down. The people just know it, that's all. Rather than a packet or rules to memorize, the Ordnung is the understood behavior by which the Amish are expected to live. In the same way that the rules of grammar are learned by children, so the Ordnung, the grammar of order, is learned by Amish youth. The Ordnung evolved gradually over the decades as the church sought to strike a delicate balance between tradition and change. Specific details of the Ordnung vary across church districts and settlements."
— Donald B. Kraybill , The Riddle of Amish Culture
This quote is about the Ordnung and it's important to the Amish because it helps a person understand what the Ordnung really is and how it helps the Amish stay on the right path.
A respected Ordnung generates peace, love, contentment, equality, and unity. It creates a desire for togetherness and fellowship. It binds marriages, it strengthens family ties to live together, to work together, to worship together and to commune secluded from the world.
— Donald B. Kraybill , The Riddle of Amish Culture, p.98
This is related because it helps us to understand what the people have to do to work together as a community.
Examples of Practices Prescribed by the Ordnung:
color and style of clothing
hat styles for men
order of worship service
kneeling for prayer in worship
marriage within the church
use of horses for fieldwork
use of Pennsylvania German
steel wheels on machinery
Examples of Practices Prohibited by the Ordnung:
air transportation
central heating in houses
divorce
electricity from public power lines
entering military service
filing a lawsuit
jewelry, including wedding rings and wrist watches
joining worldly (public) organizations
owning computers, televisions, radios
owning and operating an automobile
pipeline milking equipment
using tractors for fieldwork
wall-to-wall carpeting
— Donald B. Kraybill , The Riddle of Amish Culture, Revised Edition p.115
These are just a few of the rules that the Amish have to go through to not get shunned. There are many more which they must follow.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Comparison of Christianity and The Amish
1. What is the ultimate reality/Supreme Power?
Amish: God, we follow God's word and live the way we think the world should live. Living only for God and with no distractions of the world.
Christians:God, we also follow God's word but a bit more directly. Yes we still try to live apart from the world but we also believe that to be completely out of the world wouldn't serve God also because he calls us to go out and teach others how they should live.
2. What is the nature of the world? (Freedom vs. Destiny/Fate)?
Amish: That the world is not as it should be so we should refrain from what it does and believes. If we do this and live for God/follow his word then he will grant us to go to heaven.
Christians: The nature of the world is that we sin no matter what, there is no perfect person. Only Jesus was and always will be the only one. Because of our sin we shouldn't be going to heaven we definatly don't deserve it but God loves us enough to seal our destiny/fate with the ability to go to heaven.
3. Where do I/people fit in the universe?
Amish: We fit in with our communities apart from the world. We have to live for God and doing as the Ordnung or our priets says such as the way we act and the way we dress.
Christians: We fit in as God's creations and image bearers, therefore we should live for him because of it.
4. What is humanity's primary problem (and its solution)?
Amish: The problem with the world is the wrong that happens in it. We have to set ourselves apart from that to solve it. When we do set ourselves apart and follow all the laws of God and man then the problem will be completely solved.
Christains: Our problem is that we sin, it is the cause of all bad things. The solution to it is Jesus Christ, he came to save us from the sin we do and to make us whole again.
5. What happens after death?
Amish: We have everlasting life with God which is achived if we follow God's word and man made rules.
Christians: We go to live with our Lord and Saviour in heaven. He saved us so that we could do this though we don't deserve it. We should be forever greatful.
Amish: God, we follow God's word and live the way we think the world should live. Living only for God and with no distractions of the world.
Christians:God, we also follow God's word but a bit more directly. Yes we still try to live apart from the world but we also believe that to be completely out of the world wouldn't serve God also because he calls us to go out and teach others how they should live.
2. What is the nature of the world? (Freedom vs. Destiny/Fate)?
Amish: That the world is not as it should be so we should refrain from what it does and believes. If we do this and live for God/follow his word then he will grant us to go to heaven.
Christians: The nature of the world is that we sin no matter what, there is no perfect person. Only Jesus was and always will be the only one. Because of our sin we shouldn't be going to heaven we definatly don't deserve it but God loves us enough to seal our destiny/fate with the ability to go to heaven.
3. Where do I/people fit in the universe?
Amish: We fit in with our communities apart from the world. We have to live for God and doing as the Ordnung or our priets says such as the way we act and the way we dress.
Christians: We fit in as God's creations and image bearers, therefore we should live for him because of it.
4. What is humanity's primary problem (and its solution)?
Amish: The problem with the world is the wrong that happens in it. We have to set ourselves apart from that to solve it. When we do set ourselves apart and follow all the laws of God and man then the problem will be completely solved.
Christains: Our problem is that we sin, it is the cause of all bad things. The solution to it is Jesus Christ, he came to save us from the sin we do and to make us whole again.
5. What happens after death?
Amish: We have everlasting life with God which is achived if we follow God's word and man made rules.
Christians: We go to live with our Lord and Saviour in heaven. He saved us so that we could do this though we don't deserve it. We should be forever greatful.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
This is one of the ministers or pastors that lead the church. The Amish church though doesn't have just one leader, they have many. Each Sunday morning it is decided who will preach one of the two sermons. They will have a shorter sermon first then have a longer one later in the service. Both of these sermons are preached in high German.
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