You really have to know and listen to many Amish and former Amish- usually only the formers will share how difficult it is.Josh wrote:I'm pretty confused. The Amish hold to the Schleitheim Confession, which starts off with:
That's exactly what Amish affirm when they are baptised, including the part about "their sins are taken away by Christ" and that they now "walk in the resurrection of Jesus Christ".Baptism shall be given to all those who have learned repentance and amendment of life, and who believe truly that their sins are taken away by Christ, and to all those who walk in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and wish to be buried with Him in death, so that they may be resurrected with Him and to all those who with this significance request it (baptism) of us and demand it for themselves.
I have yet to meet any Amish or Amish-esque people who do not believe in salvation by grace, and usually their testimony involves knowing they were a sinner and that they needed to repent, and then they sought baptism and publicly accepting Christ when they joined the Amish church. Of course, I'm sure there are some who don't, and I don't spend much time around low Amish like Swartzentrubers, but those are not at all the majority of Old Order Amish.
So this whole story is just puzzling / baffling to me.
By 'faith alone' to many of these OO or Swartzentruber Amish- that means they don't have to follow the endless rules that are 'added to the faith' (Often they quote Matthew 15:9 : King James Bible
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.) in order to be a good Amish person when they pass. Many of them don't know how to have a real relationship with Christ but are so focused on the rules, even the prayer books and not even knowing how to pray on their own. I've head & read countless testimonies- but his testimony really touched my heart.
I love how now the entire family- including all 12 children are serving the Lord as missionaries in Niceragua- something they could not have done while they were Amish-