How has the Amish lasted this long?

Gayle

They are a cult. A closed society. Limit their children's education to 8th grade. Have extreme shunning. Their teens are allowed to go out into the world (the English), almost enouraged to do so,, they are not prepared at all for life outside,, kids get totally wild, even drugs etc. and yet a documentary stated about 80% still go back or stay. Their life is hard work, farming, no modern conveniences. Their little world still gives them a sense of security and community. It is a puzzlement to me.

blondie

https://www.visionvideo.com/detail.taf?_function=detail&a_product_id=33210

Amish: How They Survive -- The Amish live far outside the cultural mainstream. During the last century, they grew from 5,000, inhabiting a handful of states, to 200,000 souls living in 25 states and one Canadian province.

Preferring community to technology, the Amish live their lives in close fellowship with each other. Within their religious communities, everyone agrees on what technologies to adopt, what clothes to wear and what horse-powered transportation to drive.

A decade ago, approximately 90% of Amish earned their incomes from farming operations. Today, in some communities, less than 5% do so. Learn how the Amish have successfully responded to a tightening agricultural economy. See how their strict adherence to community values contributes to their doubling in size every 20 years.

This documentary takes you on an intimate journey into Ohio Amish life and culture. You will discover how rapid growth and economic pressures threaten their community. You will also meet a people who, as a result of creative disengagement with the culture around them, thrive.

Burton Buller documents the lives of the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites. His programs have appeared on PBS, Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, Hallmark Channel, ABC TV and NBC TV. Sixty years ago, the Amish were consigned to disappear, swallowed by modernity. Today they are thriving as never before, spiritually and sociologically. The film brilliantly documents that process. - Dr. Al Keim, Professor Emeritus of History, Eastern Mennonite University DVD Features: Subtitles: Optional English
Chapter Selections
Widescreen Amish: A People Of Preservation -- An award-winning PBS documentary, the Amish keep surprising their technology-programmed neighbors by keeping alive ways and beliefs that many modern Americans wish they could recapture. In this colorful, updated documentary, Mennonite historian John Ruth takes us sympathetically into the Amish mindset. Dr. John A. Hostetler, author of Amish society, comments on the survival of an alternative to the kind of world we have made. As the Amish increase in numbers, some of them migrate from homesteads in Pennsylvania toward more open farmland. Those staying where the land is too crowded to farm have developed an amazing variety of cottage industries. But all such changes are made very carefully, in order not to sacrifice spiritual covenant and community for the sake of convenience.

jamiebowers

There is a huge Amish population close to where I live. These people thrive, because they believe in hard work and family. Most of them in this area build houses or do some type of wood working. The girls clean houses until they get married. There are many others who rely on tourism to make a living. My dad drives for a home building crew, and even in this poor ecoomy, they're still going strong.

I got to know one young couple pretty well, and this group doesn't seem to be in the shunning business. They were pregnant before they got married, which I've been told happens quite frequently. The couple has to ask for their church's forgiveness for engaging in premarital sex, and the members vote on it. I've been told that there has never been a no vote in this congregation, whether or not a marriage takes place.

The group that I know usually uses cell phones and/or a landline in a shed built especially for it. They use air tanks to operate their indoor plumbing. They also use appliances and power tools for work. They also use gas powered appliances at home and are permitted to use electricity for a year if moving into a house that's wired for it. Everyone I've ever spoken to seems very friendly and open to discussion about their lifestyle.The young man I got to know was especially interested in what information about the Amish was on the Internet. He wasn't quite sure what the Internet is, but he knew it is the information super highway.

They've never heard of Rumspringa here. I've known of three cases where people have left the group. All of them were men. One who left many years ago is completely shunned. The other two are shunned by the community but not their families. From what I've learned about the Amish here, they don't want to leave, because they're happy with their lives. By staying, they get social and financial help from their families. And from what I've seen, they have lots of contact with the outside world, both for business and pleasure.

A few very surprising things I've learned about this particular group:

1. The wife handles the money, even if the husband is a business owner. She is completely in charge of the home and makes all of the rules.

2. The men treat their horses like the English (worldly) men treat their sport cars. One Amish guy even asked my b- i-l, who is a photographer, to do professional portraits of his horses.

3. They only have weddings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

4. When frequenting bars or staying at hotels, they watch television.

5. Smoking and drinking aren't prohibited.

6. They listen to the radio while in a motor vehicle.

7. At weddings, whether a woman is a bridesmaid, a cook or server at the reception, they all wear he same color.

8. Married men must wear beards, and single men must be clean shaven.

9. Once chidren graduate from the eighth grade, both boys and girls go to work. They give their paychecks to their mothers and get an allowance. Once they get married the parents assist with the purchase of horses and a home.

10. Ice cream trucks make a killing in Amish country.

Although they are a closed community, at least this sect doesn't seem as stringent as jws in any respect.

wobble

We had an interesting film, last year sometime, on British T. V which followed a young Amish guy and his wife as they tried to leave over faith issues. He read the Bible with an open mind, discovered the truth about Jesus ,and the freedom there is in Christ, published his own tract, and then went through the terrific pain of being dis-fellowshipped, and leaving his farm, life, family etc.

The parallels were plain to see with the Amish and the Dubs, I think his stand was more courageous than what many of us have done, I would love to know how he, and his lovely wife and family are doing now, he wont have a JWD/N to support him !

Love

Wobble

Mad Dawg

They have survived because they breed like rabbits.

There are about 30 or 40 sects of Amish/Mennonites. Each has their own set of rules. Some allow only black buggies, others only gray buggies, others cars, others only black cars, and still others that only allow black cars with all chrome painted black.

ninja

I've joined the scottish sect....the hamish

Black Sheep

The family Wobble talks about is here http://www.troubleinamishparadise.com/

The video is available as a torrent.

Caedes

I've joined the scottish sect....the hamish

LOL

thomas15

We live in NE Pennsylvania. My wife and I personally know a family who are Amish in Lancaster. In fact my wife visited them on Sunday past. Their parents (our friends) left the group when our friend was pre-teen so our friend could re-join with no questions asked if he so desired. There is no comparison between the JWs and the Amish-none. They are very nice people and when someone leaves, it is a spiritual shunning, not social or family upheaval like the JWs.

There are different orders of Amish. Some are stricter than others. However, they are not a cult.

wobble

Thanks Thomas,

That is the impression I got, I said there were parallels, not real similarities, but I did feel that the spiritual shunning was perhaps as painfull for that young family, as is Witness DF'ing, and because they felt the need to leave the community and live outside, they would be very cut-off socially as well. I take your point that they are NOT a Cult.

I do hope that family find peace and happiness, as is my hope for all leaving the W.T

Love

Wobble

How has the Amish lasted this long?

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