by OnTheWayOut 40 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
It is funny you mention that OTWO. I had a similar conversation with a GF of mine after leaving the JWs. We were dicussing politics, and she asked me who I voted for. When I told her I had never voted, she got mad at me. I explained to here that JWs couldn't ote and she didn't beleive me.
I explained to her that growing up a Witness was very much like being Amish. There are so many things that are forbidden.
zed
I recall a program about "rumspringa" the teen rite of passage thing the Amish do. Something about the Devil - oh, yeah, Devil's Playground. It really brought home to me how very alike they are to JWs. But I recall there were girls doing the wild oats thing, too. Or maybe they were just among those who got shunned.
A few years ago I worked with the Amish in a restaurant. Every night after our shift someone would need to volunteer to take home a couple of sisters that were Amish and I always was happy to do it. On our ride home one night we engaged in conversation about shunning. The girls had a brother that had left the Amish and he was shunned, by the parents, but they said that they didn't follow that rule and talked to him anyway. In fact the older sister was wanting to go to college because they only go to grade 8. She jumped those hoops and did it. Actually? She was the young girl on the TV series not that long ago. I have to agree they are alot like the JW's, but I really enjoyed working with them. (I did worked for a JW once and hated it!) So.......wow.......maybe this is an Amish success story?
HB48
Some of our customers are Amish, old order, modern, ect. When it comes to the excommunication they are marched up the middle of their church, made to sit at the front and then the elder will inform the congregation from the platform what he has done.BUT, he is still allowed to have contact with his relatives (which is almost the entire congregation because they marry first cousins and up). The rest of the congregation who are not family are forewarned to be wise and not associate with this person unless it's business. He told us the JW's are worse than them for shunning. They don't rip families apart. He said he could never be one of us.
Some orders are allowed to have medical insurance some not. If they die then it was meant to be because the lord wanted it that way.One sect is not allowed to have visa or mastercards yet another will say ok. Some have flower dresses and some no pattern. The men get beards once their married. Before they get married they are to leave home and sow their oatsfor one year. They are not allowed to have a telephone in the house but half way down the drive way they can have a telephone installed. Then there's others who have cell phones. Some are allowed hooks on their pants and no zippers allowed. Alot of them are not allowed to take pictures or have cameras. No internet. Funny thing I was asked if I could see if there are apostate websites on the Amish. Some sects are allowed rubber tires while others have to have the steel tires on their buggies.
Alot of them make their own booze and summersausage in their barns. What ticks people off here is as long as they say the summersausage is made for their families then they don't need any inspection yet you'll see them at the markets selling their meats. Someone gets sick they point their fingers at the next guy. That's why unpasturized cook cheese has been outlawed because of salmonela.
The woman aren't allowed to cut their hair and when they wear the black bonnets it's to be a protection while they are out in the gloomy world. When they get home they can wear their white bonnets. They say this is how they stand out amongst the world. They also feel they are keeping their lives simple.
Only the elder is allowed to have the book and it is not a bible. This is the Dave Martin mennonites. Others use the King James. The Dave Martin women are not allowed to have the bible. I told one why is Esther and Ruth in the bible then. I do have to admit they dont rely on the outside if they can help it but they do ALOT of charity relief work. They will go into all the hotels and pick up soap, shampoos, comforters, sheets, shower caps ect and send it to the third world countries. We have the mennonite relief sales raiseing money and awareness to the third world countries. They have missionaries and they do adopt alot of children from orphanages.
Also, if a barn burns the whole mennonite community comes together and will have another barn put up at the end of the month. I know we've had tornados rip through here and noone even bothered to call to see if we were ok. The witnesses lose by a long shot on that one. I can't say we've ever seen the kind of united brotherly love you see amongst the mennonites here in the organisation. When someones sick they get meals for three months but in the JWs nothing. Only their precious elders and ms's get the attention.
But the mennonites are not allowed to question their beliefs or they also get a judicial committee at their doors, Twice a year they hit the big cities with tracts and hand them out mostly in prostitute districts. One mennonite was asked if he were a jw. The women are not allowed to go. Education up to grade eight and then they farm but there are some mennonite school teachers but don't know what their crudentials are.
There is quite abit of incest that does go on. We witnessed that first hand with two of our neighbors. One got sent to jail for three months and the other is dead but he raped his daughter and she had the child who has a rare blood disorder along with having to wear a catherder for life. She stands four feet at the most and is about twelve. Really cute little girl but with major kidney and other disorders. Has had upteen surgeries as well.
One other thing if you want to make comparisons and that is they might not get an education but they work their butts off and could show all of us a thing or two. The men have their sawmills and welding shops, the women sew, bake. garden and preserves. They run huge greenhouses as wel. They also run butcher shops, process and have slaughter houses. They do alot of horseshoe and leather harnessing. make furniture ect.... show me a witness who works part time, no education, lives off his parents and doesn't pioneer. Guys the mennonites have most beat by along shot when it comes to farming. In the end I would rather have this kind of tool of the trade where we will possibly have to barter one day with our neighbors. What will we have to offer?
I knew of a few bros.who pioneered full time and had no qualms about taking the dole money supplied by the Govt.They were supposed to be genuinely looking for work,of course they never found it .
smiddy
Return of Parakeet, if what you say is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, then the Amish do not properly prepare the boys for any real opportunity to experience life outside the fold and hinder their success, and do not do anything for the girls. That makes them more like WTS.
Aunt Fancy, I am glad your comparisons helped you realize the truth.
Hey, one thing I do is collect t-shirts from various fire departments. I was in Amish country in 2012 and drove through an area and I had to stop and get the t-shirt because I was in Blue Ball, Pennsylvania. I now own a "Blue Ball Fire Company" t-shirt.
Zed, good point on voting. I don't know what Amish rules say, but we know they don't watch all the political commercials on their televisions (that don't exist).
mamachan13, I will have to look up "rumspringa." Young people sowing wild oats? Turning their back on ridiculous puritan standards? Whodda thunk it?
haboob48, great story. Did you help them with the "wild oats" things? Just kidding.
Hey smiddy that reminds me our one mennonite study we use to have also stated that they are not allowed to collect welfare as well since they are not allowed to vote.
One of the major criticisms I had of the IFB's was that they seemed to espouse the Amish type of life. Meaning that they tended to favor the simple, plain, 19th century, Little House on the Prairie lifestyle. In fact, when I shared this with my other fellow former IFBers one of them said that they use to be called "those prairie kids" by their neighbors. The IFB's (much like the Amish) tended to view progress as something that came from the devil.
Isn't it strange that all these wierd little culty religions (IFBs, Mormoms, Amish, and JWs) all tend to want to favor the 19th century American culture as if the 19th century American culture is that perfect lifestyle especially blessed by God. I mean, if a certain type of culture were really so important to God then perhaps God would've preferred something closer to the culture of those who actually lived in Bible times. Wouldn't you think? The last time I checked, the ancient Israelites did not resemble in any way, shape, form, or fashion 19th century aggrerian America.
very much alike and different at the same time, while the JWs wont shun you for wearing your braces wrong way round, some of the more strict Amish will.
but take the religion out of them and i could live like that...including no electricity. It is a shame that we cant unplug from the system and need money. Even if we dont use the mains water we still have to pay for it, the Amish strictness keeps them off the grid i guess.
the funny thing with the amish though is that they have about 6 levels of amish bretheren and if one is to strict then move on to another.
they do worse to their young than JWs do as far as preparing them for real life, which i am sure is why they stay, to damn scared and clueless to go anywhere else. As seen on a couple of TV docs on the Amish, they have the same troubles we do.
oz
