So these people seem pretty awesome. They’re off in their own world. I think they must be really great but I have no experience with them.
If they live without cars and smartphones and Internet, they’re smart. No vaccines, no social security. They live simple. And they’re Christians am I right?
Read the Bible, build barns together, grow nice food, live as a family.
What’s not to like?
I grew up about fifteen minutes from Amish Country and we had Amish neighbors. My Grandparents would drive the Amish to places and when my Grandparents passed (a week apart), there were about fifty Amish at each of their funerals. And so much food. The Amish are very caring.
Yes, the Amish and the Mennonites are Christians. The Mennonites came first. The founder of the Mennonites, Menno Simons, was actually a Catholic Priest prior to converting to Anabaptism.
I have a book on the history of how each of these sects came to be. Prior to reading this book, I assumed, like most, that the Amish were first and too strict, so the Mennonites broke off from them. But that is not what happened at all.
Jakob Ammann was the founder of the Amish and he was a Mennonite who later led a schism within the Community. The two factions had disagreements about shunning and how much to be in the world, but not of the world.
Because my Grandma hauled the Amish, she got to attend one of their Church services one time. It was in a barn and the women sat on one side and the men sat on the other. And then they sat my Southern Baptist Grandma in the middle 
She was taken aback when the men would greet each other by kissing each other on the lips!
When everyone got in the van afterwards, my Grandma very bluntly asked with her southern accent, “Why do you do thaat?!” Do what? “Kiss each other on the lips!” They explained to her that it is called the “brotherly kiss” and it is in the Bible (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26).
Living as Family unless you question their way of life. There was a young Amish couple who my Grandma got to now pretty well and they were shunned by their family. They reached out to my Grandma, because they had no one. They eventually moved down South and I believe they joined the Mennonite Church.
My Grandma told me another story about how one of the young Amish men asking if my Grandma would develop a roll of film (that he wasn’t supposed to have). She said absolutely, I’ll do that for you. When she picked up the developed picture every picture was completely black except picture 1 of the man proudly holding up a 12-point buck he has shot while hunting : ) They take pride very seriously in the Amish community, so photographs are viewed as graven images and therefore contraband.
In which my Grandma shared another story about an older Amish gentleman who asked my Grandma if she wanted to see something, but she had to promise she would not tell a soul. He took his straw hat off and removed from the inside flap a photo from about forty years ago of his Wife when they met. It was the only photo he has of her. Contraband!
One more story. My Brother worked for Verizon back when flip-phones were the thing. Some Amish communities in our area were allowed to get cell-phones as long as they did not have a camera on them. Other communities would share one cell-phone between them. They had built a phone booth out of wood actually and they locked the phone a lock-box and each member of the community were given a key. Actually, my Cousin (Catholic) is a Franciscan Friar and they all share one iPhone as a community. So if I text him, it takes a while for him to respond. Anyway, back to my story. My brother said eventually it got to the point where all, but one flip-phone had cameras and he had to tell them that in a few months that model would be phased out and all phones would have cameras. They asked what they would do then. He suggested putting a piece of black electrical tape over the camera and trust that others in their community have the self-control not to use the camera.
Sorry, one more story : ) When I would go visit my Brother at his old house, I would walk up to the only gas station in his small town and there would be three Amish buggies with horses tied to posts at 2 AM in the morning. As I approached the buggies, I could hear the bass of rap music coming from one of the buggies. These Amish kids had installed a sound system in their buggy and they were free-style rapping as I walked by. “He’s walkin’ with a bag of chips! He’s walkin’ with a bag of chips!” Yep, I’m walkin’ with a bag of chips After I got halfway down the alley, the three Amish buggies peeled off, one nearly on two wheels as they turned out of the gas station parking lot! Maybe they were on Rumspringa, which not all Amish Churches practice (in fact, most Amish communities do not practice this tradition of a period where Amish youth get to explore the outside world).
[/quote]
The Amish are very nice people. Not very affectionate though. My Mom tried to give our neighbor a hug and she gave my Mom the cold shoulder. They would have my Mom print patterns off the computer for them and they would bake us fresh bread. So good!
If you ever visit Amish Country, you have to visit a chees factory and sample the hundreds of different cheeses and if you visit an Amish restaurant/bakery, you have to try the Oatmeal Amish Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream on top! My Wife (not Amish) makes it for me for my Birthday every year : )
Thanks for the stories, Cade.
You’re welcome. Happy to share : )
I can’t do the kissing of guys thing. Yuck
I knew a girl that lived with Amish I think she was homeless and they let her live with them and she cleaned up from drugs. She said living with Amish was the best but she didn’t stick with Amish came back to ordinary life
I’ve noticed in Orthodox Jews they use flip phones. I’d like to go back to just a simple flip phone.