Do the Amish have something right?

[98cwitr]

Where do you draw the line between following Christ's commands (John 15) and legalism? I was watching a PBS documentary about the Amish and I could not help revering their dedication and loyalty to their beliefs. They seem to take the Bible and what it says literally and to heart. In contemporary, capitalist, liberal Christendom I have a admiration for folks who give up themselves for others, and dismiss individuality for the sake of the Church. Such wholesome and almost selflessness seems what Christ called for. What are your thoughts on Amish culture and religion?

 

[Avid]

... What are your thoughts on Amish culture and religion?

Don't know all they believe, and would likely take exception to SOME of that, but the lifestyle, in general, has many benefits. In certain aspects, they save themselves many troubles and temptations by being separate, and living simply. On the other hand, there may be some requirements of Jesus that are circumvented.

Crucifixion of the flesh occurs, NOT when we are alone, but when we are out in the world, and must stand on the scriptures and abandon EGO. (This world put John Bunyan in jail for 12 years for preaching without a license - killed others in America for the same.) If we are TOTALLY separate from worldly society, we are not tested and tried in the ways God has stated we will be!

I Peter 1
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
​

We should learn from them, but beware of any scriptural or doctrinal error they may have.

.

 

[bbbbbbb]

Of course, the Amish have many things right but, like all of us, they have missed the mark on many other things.

 

[1watchman]

True, bbb! I think the Amish and all similar Mennonites who form a clan, are often more loyal to the clan than Scripture ---though they seem devoted to God. All of us can get in that state if we fail to see our individual responsibility before our God. We must be individually loyal to the Lord and hold fast His Word ---right?

 

[MrJim]

Having been around them for a bit the novelty has worn off...they are an ethnic culture more than anything.

 

[JM]

Having been around them for a bit the novelty has worn off...they are an ethnic culture more than anything.

That's my assessment as well. Similar to Greek Orthodox (Greeks are the true orthodox!) and paedobaptist Reformed (Dutch only, thank you) enclaves.

 

[JM]

...just to add, sin is an issue of the heart. We can become a monk, become Amish, etc. and remain the same sinful person.

 

[98cwitr]

...just to add, sin is an issue of the heart. We can become a monk, become Amish, etc. and remain the same sinful person.

Very good point.

 

[JM]

Jesus explains in the NT and revealed several times in the OT that we cannot change the sinfulness of our hearts, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." The motivation for sinful behavior is found in the heart, "That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart."

Some Christians are pietists (Amish) believing that their actions will make them holier than other Christians. Some are legalists (could be Amish) and seek to add to the finished work of Christ for their salvation with their actions. What we find consistently revealed in scripture is the inability of man to effect any change in himself and the need for the redeeming blood of Christ.

The former covenants, in many ways, teach us that we cannot fulfill the obligations contained within them. It is only by Jesus Christ and Him alone that anyone is ever saved. Why is that? He fulfilled our covenant obligations for us and we receive His active obedience through imputation. Our sin was imputed to Him and He died in our place to fulfill the debit we could not pay.

The new covenant is described in Jer. 31.31, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” That is the only thing that matters...a new heart.

This new covenant of grace is marked by the Law being written on the heart and heart circumcision. This heart circumcision was typified in Mosaic covenant with physical male circumcision and has been replace in total with a better covenant. (Heb. 8) The very heart of the Gospel is salvation by Christ alone...through faith. That includes sanctification as well as justification. I always frame the Gospel in this manner to place emphasis on the efficacy of Christ's covenantal work and His surety-ship on our behalf. This is the ontological order by which a sinner is saved even though modern evangelicalism often places the emphasis on faith first and the work of Christ second.

I'm rambling now...

It doesn't matter if you are Jewish or Amish, whatever...it's the new birth that matters.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[twin1954]

It is tempting to look at those who seem to be more devoted and more separate than we are and wish we could be like them. Been there done that. The problem is that when we do so we are looking at the outward appearance . When it comes to spiritual things our natural thinking is always wrong. The question isn't are they more devoted than we but to what are they devoted? In reality they are devoted to the practice of religion instead of the foundation on which all true religion is built, Christ Jesus the Lord. Instead of worrying about how we ought to act or live we must simply rest in Christ alone. The practice of religion is bondage and slavery. It is a yoke that no one can bear unless they are blind to their sin and self-righteous. The problem isn't that the world tempts us but that we love our sin. Every sin that goes on in the world is in the heart of every Amish, Baptist, Presby, Pentecostal or whatever group you want to name. Religion, under whatever banner it marches, always points to you and things.

If a person ever finds out what it means to believe on Christ and rest in Him he will find that freedom from the bondage of religion and sin. Until he does he will never be free. Freedom in Christ does not look on personal sin with a blind eye as though it doesn't exist but lives in the freedom of resting in the truth that Christ has already taken care of it. We would avoid sin if we could, sadly everything we do is mixed with sin, but are free to seek the honor and glory of the Savior instead of trying to live up to a code of conduct.

You will never be free to do good works until you find that Christ Jesus is all that God requires of you and that He is enough. If you ever truly find out that God never deals with His people according to their sin but according to their Savior you will begin to know what it is to be free in Christ.

 

[Bluelion]

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. They are like any other group with there problems just different. They reject there own children if they want to be part of the world, if they don't agree with them they cut them off completely. In essences they condemn them. not right, that is not loving everyone as yourself, that is loving everyone who is like you.

Thing is food will never defile us right. ok so technology can not defile us either. Jesus said it was what comes from the heart that defiles us. Technology is just a tool, with out a person the tech is useless it depends on the person how it is used, whether Good or evil. Can it be bad for you, sure but so can food, drinking to much wine is bad, but a glass is ok most the time. The problem lays with the heart of the person.

No they do have some good fellowship going on in there group which mirrors the way the church was when it first started. People are crying out for Love, everyone wants fellowship. Thing is the bigger the group the easier it is to run a ground. Love needs to be prefect in Jesus in order for any group to have Heaven on earth.

Peace and love
blu

 

[PrincetonGuy]

I watched the documentary twice, and felt very sad for those people. They are victims of a culture that is very far removed from what the Bible teaches. If they would simply pray to God and sincerely ask that His will be done in and through their lives, they would find themselves freed from such heart-wrenching bondage to men rather that to God.

 

[MWood]

True, bbb! I think the Amish and all similar Mennonites who form a clan, are often more loyal to the clan than Scripture ---though they seem devoted to God. All of us can get in that state if we fail to see our individual responsibility before our God. We must be individually loyal to the Lord and hold fast His Word ---right?

I'm wanting to understand your comment, "individual responsibility before our God." What is our "responsibility?"

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

I think the Amish and all similar Mennonites who form a clan, are often more loyal to the clan than Scripture ---though they seem devoted to God. All of us can get in that state if we fail to see our individual responsibility before our God.

To put it another way, clan-based religions, as you call them, are groups that hold each other so tightly accountable that their religiousity stems from the drive to impress each other, rather than God. Instead of living to please God, they live to please the other members of their community. It sounds reminiscent of how Jesus described the pharisees, doesn't it?