My grandpa rents some of his fields out to an amish guy who also rents a lot of other fields in the area. The amish in our area are known to be pretty loose with their rules so my grandpa wasn’t surprised when the guy showed up with combine harvester but he was kind of surprised with how new it was. My grandpa asked him how he could drive a combine when they weren’t allowed to drive cars. To which the amish guy responded, “Well, I don’t actually drive the combine; it drives itself. I just sit in it.”
The “rules” the Amish live by are determined by the Elders of that group. They can be quite strict or fairly loose. And can vary by a fair bit from colony to colony even as neighbors. Cell phones can be fine for one group and be forbidden for the next.
Like some much in life, the rules are open to interpretation.
But they’re people. People can revisit and reconsider the values they live by. They can change things despite the tradition they were born into or even the tradition they helped establish. That allows the society to progress and survive changing conditions. Let’s support it.
The Amish around where I live (Midwest) run a bunch of great little stores (which is most of the contact I have with them personally, but my partners mom has friends in their community who come to visit now and then.) The stores all take credit cards and have refrigerators for the cheeses/dairy, and many of them do use machinery for farm work. Some even use cell phones.
I haven’t noticed any jewelry (haven’t paid attention), but they really do seem to pick and choose which portions to adhere strongly to.
I don’t think jewelry wearing is compatible with the Amish conception of propriety and modesty but I’m not going to say it wouldn’t happen.
My grandpa rents some of his fields out to an amish guy who also rents a lot of other fields in the area. The amish in our area are known to be pretty loose with their rules so my grandpa wasn’t surprised when the guy showed up with combine harvester but he was kind of surprised with how new it was. My grandpa asked him how he could drive a combine when they weren’t allowed to drive cars. To which the amish guy responded, “Well, I don’t actually drive the combine; it drives itself. I just sit in it.”
Sounds like the Amish would be ok with a robotic vacuum as long as it charged itself from a solar panel.
Quite possibly. A lot of their electricity aversion stems from avoidance of relying on an electric grid owned and maintained by outsiders.
(Which to be fair is also pretty based)
The “rules” the Amish live by are determined by the Elders of that group. They can be quite strict or fairly loose. And can vary by a fair bit from colony to colony even as neighbors. Cell phones can be fine for one group and be forbidden for the next.
Like some much in life, the rules are open to interpretation.
Right I get that, but the underlying value that the prohibitions are designed around is promoting humility and preventing vanity.
But they’re people. People can revisit and reconsider the values they live by. They can change things despite the tradition they were born into or even the tradition they helped establish. That allows the society to progress and survive changing conditions. Let’s support it.
Maybe it depends on the branch of Amish. I’ve heard the ones in the Midwest are a little more relaxed than the ones in Pennsylvania.
The Amish around where I live (Midwest) run a bunch of great little stores (which is most of the contact I have with them personally, but my partners mom has friends in their community who come to visit now and then.) The stores all take credit cards and have refrigerators for the cheeses/dairy, and many of them do use machinery for farm work. Some even use cell phones.
I haven’t noticed any jewelry (haven’t paid attention), but they really do seem to pick and choose which portions to adhere strongly to.
My understanding is the faith has exclusions to the rules for when its necessary for work, so an Amish IT Administrator wouldn’t be impossible!