Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The People of Amish and Mennonite Country

Ohio Amish Country is a 3-5 county area of Ohio where approximately 
40,000 Amish people live and work.  It consists of Holmes County,
 where nearly half the county's residents are Amish, plus 
Tuscarawas Coshocton, and Wayne Counties. 




Amish or Amish Mennonite are a very traditional sect                                                                                               or a subgroup of the Mennonite Church. Founder of this sect was                                                                         Jakob Amman and his followers came to be known Amish.




 Mennonites are a Christian group of Anabaptists                                                                                      following the  teachings of their swiss founders. 






The name Mennonites is drawn from Frisian Menno Simons                                                               
   who through his works  articulated the teachings                                                                                              of the original peaceful Anabaptists.



Anabaptists literally means “again Baptists” believe                                                                                                that the meaningful baptism of an individual                                                                                                       into the faith can only happen once the individual                                                                                                 is old enough to take an informed decision about                                                                                                  the future of his life.



 It is only then that an individual can truly commit to lead
 his life as per the lord’s teachings.Both Amish Mennonites
 and Mennonites are  Anabaptists.                                                                                                                Apart from this they are very different.



Where the Amish Mennonites have come to observe                                                                                              very strict and traditional practices the Mennonites have                                                                                established a reputation of being very strict followers                                                                                                    of non violence. Mennonites are also known as the peace church.










The main distinguishing feature of Amish from the Mennonites is                                                                              the Amish resistance to embrace modern technology. Amish make                                                                         very little use of technology and generally maintain very little                                                                              contact with the outside world, no more than necessary.    




        They dress up in very traditional outfits and live in very small
 tight knit communities. The Mennonites                                                                                                                  on the other hand dress up                                                                                                                              in plain clothes but generally would not be distinguishable                                                                                       from anyone else by their clothes. They neither have any                                                                       problems using technology and nor maintain                                                                                                     a separation from the outside world. 



Amish Mennonite communities generally hold                                                                                                 services in private homes of the members.                                                                                                      Besides their strong commitment to lead a simple                                                                                                life by minimum use of technology the Amish                                                                                                        are also firm believers in Nonresistance.  






              They seldom defend themselves in court for
 the same reason. Members not following the                                                                                               church rules are often excommunicated but given
a chance to correct their behavior and                                                                                                                 return to the church.




 The Mennonites have their own  churches but do 
not live in separate communities.                                                                                                  
 They live amongst the normal population. 




Although practicing a plain and simple lifestyle                                                                                                          they are much more  moderate towards the use of modern                                                                                                                  technology and do not abstain from it.



I always enjoy spending time here
There are times that I wish I could stay
and live a simpler life



2 comments:

  1. That was interesting!! My husband always sais he would like to live like the Amish...He thinks it would be kind of nice to get away from all the hustle and the bustle of today's world!! I think I would like to "try" it too...not sure how long it would last...but hey...think of ALL the stuff we could learn from their way of living!!

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  2. I just showed a couple of Amish buggies on my post yesterday! They were Wisconsin Amish, and we have plenty of Amish here in Indiana too.

    I especially love your picture of the man on the horse drawn plow.

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