When I Was Amish
This tract was created after interviews and conversations with people who have left the Amish community, as well as many who remain. Quotation marks in this paper indicate direct quotes from those interviewed.
- When I Was Amish I Was Afraid To Polish My Shoes
All that most Americans know about the Amish is what they see in movies and along the well traveled “tourist roads”. There are a few communities where the Amish men wear clean white shirts and the women wear starched white aprons and beautiful bonnets, but such things are declared “godless” in many Amish communities. One Amish man told me this: “My Elder says that the statement 'Cleanliness is Next to Godliness' is a false doctrine; bathing is always optional.” - In the Amish world “The Bishop is always right.”
It’s true, Many Amish believe that people who shine their shoes, put on makeup and wear colorful clothes - The English World - are under God’s condemnation.
- When I Was Amish I Was Afraid To Speak English
Most Americans think that it is simply a quaint custom that the Amish speak their own form of Pennsylvania Dutch. Most people think that they are merely holding on to a family and church tradition, but it is more serious than that. “When I was Amish I was taught that all English speaking churches were teaching false doctrine and therefore all of their members were lost and doomed to an eternal Hell”
Amish children are taught English in school because their parents know that it will be necessary for them to function in America, but they must never speak English at home
or at church gatherings. To the Amish “English is the language of the world, German is
the language of God's Church, and Dutch is the language of God’s people.”
Christians believe that God loves all people from every language. John 3:16 teaches us that God loves the world; not just those who speak a certain languages.
- When I Was Amish I Was Terrified of My Pastor
I was talking to a 16 year old Amish boy one day who asked me if he would be able to find a farm job in the “English World”. When I told him that he probably could and how much farm businesses were paying, he almost fainted.
It was 1985 and he was working in an Amish feed mill loading and unloading trucks. I asked him how much he was being paid. “Fifty cents and hour,” was his answer, “and daddy gets every penny of it.”
Why would Amish teens remain in such a situation? The answer is that their Bishops teach that salvation can only be found in the Amish Church. “When I was Amish I was taught that God would condemn anyone who was not Amish.” The Amish keep their young people in a state of fear. “I am afraid of my Bishop,” one young man told me, “because if I get thrown out of the church I will go to Hell.”
Christians teach that the Bible, not the Bishop, is the final word in all things. Christians serve a loving God who welcomes us freely into His family. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17
· When I Became a Christian I Learned That “God has not given a spirit of fear“
English readers of this tract will find what I have written hard to believe, but Amish readers will know that what I have said is the truth. The Amish do teach that people who use modern conveniences are calling the wrath of God down upon themselves. The Amish do teach that wearing dark clothing is part of what gets them into Heaven.
Christians, however, know that God loves men from every nation and every language. Christians know that God's Son, Jesus Christ, died for every race of people and that Salvation is not in what we do, but in what Jesus Christ has done for us. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5
If you are Amish and need advice or help, talk to the person who gave this paper to you or contact Mission To Amish People, Savanna, OH. The phone number for Mission To Amish People is: 419-962-1515
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