My fascination with the Amish dates back to my teenage years. Like most tourists, I was intrigued by the romanticism of a pre-modern lifestyle expressed through their dress, barns, and carriages. I love to spot quilts drying on a clothesline, but the people in my community do not own such artifacts. The passage of time has served only to grow my curiosity of Amish life, but my reasons are entirely different now.

I’ll only take a moment to mention the strongest reason for my current interest, and that is this: The Amish merge their daily lives with their spirituality, and there is no defining line where one ends and the other begins. I wish I could say the same of the larger Reformed community, but as a general rule, we are strong on theology and weak on practice. I only mention this critique (1) because it is obvious and (2) because it applies to me. The quickest explanation for why this might be is pretty clear: It is easier to wrestle the doctrine of Particular Atonement to the ground than it is to wrestle my sin nature into submission.

One of the things I learned while reading The Riddle of the Amish Culture is that the Amish rejection of modernity has more to do with careful consideration on the impact it has on community life than it does with the common, hasty assumption of “legalism.” The Amish chose or reject a thing for deeper reasons than we presume. Forget about the conclusions for a moment—which might lead us to different places for different reasons– and consider the beginning. Before we buy our iPods, do we even ask, Why is this good for me?

While I’d argue that the answers are important, it is impossible to answer questions that are not being asked. For myself, I’m learning to ask the questions. Doing something about the answers is the next step.

*****

From The Amish in Their Own Words,

We dress differently and our lifestyle is different, but is that the only difference between the Amish and other churches?

Well, let me tell you a story. Some years ago a group of 52 people chartered a bus and came to Holmes County to see the Amish. They had arranged to have an Amishman meet them and answer some of their questions. The first question was, “What does it mean to be Amish?”

The Amishman thought a bit and then he asked a question of his own. “How many of you have TV in your homes” Fifty-two hands went up. “Now, how many of you feel that perhaps you would be better off without TV in your homes?” Again, fifty-two hands went up. “All right. Now, how many of you are going to go home and get rid of your TV?” Not one hand went up!

Now that is what it means to be Amish. As a church, if we see or experience something that is not good for us spiritually, we will discipline ourselves to do without. The world in general does not know what it is to do without!
(Monroe L. Beachy)

Chad Degenhart discusses a situation where two men who work together finally discover that the other is a Christian. He reflects on this by saying,

“…the Amish stand out in the Christian world as having brought their Christian ethics with them into the business world. While we non-Amish may disagree with some of those principles, we can’t deny that they have religious principles which influence the way they conduct themselves in business. People know that they are Amish - you would never, for example, hear two Amish people saying to each other “I didn’t realize you were Amish!?”

Amish businesses also generally garner respect and their products and services are considered by the general public to be superior in many respects to those of their secular and Christian counterparts. “Amish-built” brings to mind a certain style and quality, while there is no corresponding mental picture for anything which is “Christian-made”, “Baptist-built”, or “Presbyterian-crafted”.