The Amish have a distinctive culture. Do their beliefs and values lead to a better way of life than our own?"
Amish assessment
"The Amish have a distinctive culture. Do their beliefs and values lead to a
better way of life than our own?"
Did you know that the Amish when they are in a relationship would
bundle? This means to sleep with your clothes on (strange, I know). In
this essay I will be trying to find out if the Amish way of life leads
to a better way of life than our own.
The Amish can trace their religious heritage back to the Swiss
Anabaptists during 16^th century Europe. During this time Europe as a
continent was undergoing a major religious change, which eventually
lead to a change (division) in the church. Before the division in the
church in the 16^th century the Catholic Church was the only Christian
faith practised in Western Europe. One of the reasons for this was
because of the religion of the monarchy at the time. This began to
change when Martin Luther lead a revolt against the Catholic Church
and Henry VIII tried to enforce Protestantism over England, this was
commonly known as the Church of England. The revolt lead by Martin
Luther caused a reformation of the Protestant religion, this caused
Protestantism to be a new branch of Christianity.
Within the Protestant religion there were a group of Swiss Protestant
pastors who were unhappy because they were to much like the original
Catholic Church, especially the continuation of baptising infants. The
reason they disagreed with baptising infants was because they believed
that it was wrong to baptise someone who wasn't mature enough to make
the decision themselves. In 1525 they left the main Protestant groups
and formed the Anabaptists. The Anabaptists would go to people's
houses and rebaptise them. This is where the name Anabaptists comes
from (re-baptisers). The Anabaptist movement spread throughout Europe,
especially in Germany and Holland, but they were persecuted for their
beliefs.
The leader of the Anabaptists in Alsace founded the Amish, his name
was Jacob Amman. The reason the Amish split from the Anabaptists was
because excommunicated members were only cast out of the church, but
Jacob Amman wanted them to be cast out of social life as well. They
split from the Anabaptists in 1693, the Amish were continually
persecuted for their beliefs so they were forced to move to North
America in search of a new home.
The Amish have a very distinctive culture, this can be seen by looking
at the many different aspects of their culture one of these includes
the way they dress. The Amish retained their dress styles that were
common during the 16^th and 18^th centuries. There has been a gradual
dress change, so that dress varies in religions, but they have not
adopted the dress styles and fashion of American society. The Amish
aim to be plain and their clothing shows this very clearly. The ...
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America in search of a new home.
The Amish have a very distinctive culture, this can be seen by looking
at the many different aspects of their culture one of these includes
the way they dress. The Amish retained their dress styles that were
common during the 16^th and 18^th centuries. There has been a gradual
dress change, so that dress varies in religions, but they have not
adopted the dress styles and fashion of American society. The Amish
aim to be plain and their clothing shows this very clearly. The reason
the Amish aim to be plain can be traced back to the bible, the Sermon
on the Mount. "Happy are those who are humble, they will receive what
god has promised" Matthew 5 v5. The men within the Amish culture wear
a suit with black being the predominate colour, even children have to
wear this, the women wear dresses or blouses and a black bonnet. The
Amish have dressed this way since Jacob Amman founded the Amish in
1693. In some ways the clothing they wear can be related to the Gender
roles they are a custom to.
As the Amish heritage can be traced back to the 16^th century so can
their language. The Amish are a multi-cultural race and have a
multi-cultural language, at present the Amish speak Pennsylvania
Dutch, High German and English, but when they were first formed they
spoke a mixture of French, Italian, German and Dutch. The Amish
refrain from using colloquialism (slang), anyone heard using this
would be accused of blasphemy. As they do not use anyone modern
appliances they do not know any modern words.
The Amish have been persecuted for their beliefs throughout their
history, this caused them to move to North America. Even to this day
they are persecuted for what they believe but they choose to ignore it
as this is what God wants, "Happy are those who are persecuted because
they do what god requires; the kingdom of heaven belongs to them"
Matthew 5 v10. When someone from an Amish community travels to a
modern city they will normally become subject to some form of
religious racism, but they are pacifists and are not allowed to
retaliate in any way even if the situation becomes physical they will
simply take the abuse. "Happy are you when people insult you and
persecute you and tell you all sorts of evil lies against you because
you are my followers" Matthew 5v11. If a member of the Amish society
were to retaliate in any way they would be shunned from the church and
community as they would be considered a lost soul, ("thou shall not
kill") sentenced to a life of misery and torture in the burning pits
of hell. "I you, then, that you will be able to enter the kingdom of
heaven only if you are more faithful than the teachers of the law and
the Pharisees in doing what god requires" Matthew5 v20
Within Amish society there are separate gender roles. The men will do
all the hard labour and farm labour, the women will do most of the
house work and will generally slave around after the men. During their
time of need the Amish as a community will pull together and assist
each other so they become more efficient, whilst then men carry out
the task the women will provide beverages and food. The roots of this
behaviour can be traced back to the bible, genesis book -the fall.
As the Amish prefer to be separated from modern life they tend to live
in small communities closed away from the modern way of life. The only
way you are able to take a look at an Amish community is to go on a
guided tour. Just because the Amish allow tourists to come into their
community it doesn't necessarily mean they agree with it. When a tour
takes place the Amish always ask prefer it if cameras and similar
appliances can be kept away, the reason for this is because when their
photo is taken they feel like a part of their soul is being taken away
from them. As the Amish don't have any modern appliances their way of
living is very simple, they wont use any modern farming equipment so
jobs on a farm can be very strenuous and tiring. Their transport is
also a visible sign of their reluctance to use modern technology, they
will usually travel by horse and cart. The reason they do not use
modern technology can also be traced from the Bible, The Sermon on the
Mount "Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what god has
promised" Matthew 5v5. Another reason the Amish don't use any modern
equipment is because god always intended for man to carry out his own
work, not to get machines to do it for him.
Marriage is considered a sacred ceremony and means a lot to the Amish.
Before a member of the Amish society may get married he must first get
to know the women of his choice. He will normally attend some sort of
class with his fiancée, before he goes to this class a member of his
family will help make him look smart and well dressed. Eventually the
man will go to the women's house and get her attention, once the women
lets the man in they will talk in the living room, then they will
proceed to the bedroom where they will 'Bundle' Bundling means to
sleep with someone whilst you have your clothes on. Once they are
ready they will be married by one of the Elders in the community,
Elders are the old aged and wisest members of the community they are
highly respected throughout the society. Marriage is considered highly
important amongst the Amish.
Great Britain's culture is extremely different from the Amish. Great
Britain has become more secular, for instance going to church on a
Sunday is now considered only done by true believers in the Christian
faith, and it isn't the norm anymore. Throughout our history we have
been invaded by many different cultures like the Romans and the
Vikings. These invaders have helped to shape what religion we believe
in, but because we have had so many different beliefs imposed on us
through out our history we are now a multi-cultural race. Within Great
Britain there are no Amish settlements, this is because they have no
ancestors or past settlements here. The reason you will not find any
Amish here is mainly because of our use of modern technology and our
thirst for money and material objects. We are constantly trying to
over power each other by accumulating more wealth and land than our
rivals, God did not intend for this to be what drives us on through
life. Also if we cannot get what we want we use brute force to get
what we want, "Happy are those who are merciful to others; god will be
merciful to them!" Matthew5 v7. The division of labour in the modern
world is a lot different to the Amish. Man and women are now roughly
equal, although within the household the women is usually the
predominate housekeeper. Also the 'Law' governs our lives, the law is
meant to enforce us and to protect us but in all honesty it is
basically keeping us from showing the world what we feel. Another sign
of Great Britain becoming more secular is our belief that the pope is
the major religious figure in the world, when in actual fact his was
not sent by god to perform his teachings he has basically blind folded
the world from the actual truth. "Happy are those who know they are
spiritually poor; the kingdom of heaven belongs to them!" Matthew 5v3.
Generally the way we dress is influenced by what is 'cool' at the
time. Our friends, relatives and also Television influence the clothes
that we wear. Our friends judge us and cause us to change what we wear
through peer pressure, our relatives are seen simply to be helping us
make the right choice and television plays a major role in deciding
what clothes will be the next 'cool' thing to wear. For example if
Sarah Michelle gellar were to wear a short blue and pink top and then
Jennifer Anniston was to wear the same, people would see that as the
cool thing to be seen wearing.
There are more differences between our culture and the Amish culture
than similarities, this can be seen in the way we dress, work, live
and generally work with one another. Great Britain and the rest of the
world is becoming more secular every day, we are beginning to only
believe what we can prove is true and what we cant prove is simply a
lie, we are starting to lose faith within ourselves.
Another difference is our will to stay alive, without this we would
all probably be dead, but the Amish don't mind if they die, they will
see it as if they are going to heaven, Gods kingdom. Our lives also
evolves around making money and becoming well known and famous, whilst
the Amish devote their life to god and his beliefs.
I am unable to answer the question of do the Amish beliefs
lead to a better way of life than my own as I have been raised in a
world with rules and boundaries and a family which has nearly thrown
out religion entirely. I cannot possibly say which way of life is
better as I will always be biased towards my own, But what I can say
is that each way o life has it's on advantages and disadvantages.
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