This particular OO Amish group is somewhat unique- I've mentioned before- (they require mustaches AND beards)Josh wrote:Progressive Amish groups like the people in Maine who are open to outsiders - and outside ideas - often absorb modern eschatology. For example, one of the families up there simply has the same eschatological beliefs they had before they became Amish. The Amish generally speaking aren't focused on purity of beliefs about things that don't impact actual practice. As they become more fundamentalist and progressive, they will tend to focus a lot more on purity of belief whilst relaxing actual practice.
However, they're very strict on the reading material one reads- they will make you get rid of books that bring in these ideas that don't line up with OO foundational belief/practice- almost like the burning of the occult books in Acts for new converts-
That does not 'limit' conversations about Scriptures- the reason there are so many views on this topic is because eschatology is difficult anyways- I had read, that the book of Revelations was somewhat avoided in the early days of the Church (of course it was written decadces after the Church had begun and spread) but it was so difficult & controversial, it was not read in the Church like the other Gospels and epistles.-
That being said, when you try to tie in all the OT Prophesies with the NT Prophesies (or Jesus statements and the Apostles, regarding the end times) - we have the situation where there is not ONE voice on these interpretations-
A lot of OO Amish, did not used to read the Bible as a whole, and try to interpret for themselves- in fact one of the reasons MAP was started was because reading the Bible was discouraged- Bible studies among the brethren, was discouraged-
They did not want any members misinterpreting the Scriptures, or reinterpreting according to their own thinking and drawing their own conclusions- this is very much the same reason Catholics used to be discouraged from reading the Scriptures on their own (at least that's what I've been told) but they began having Bible Studies as well-
I don't know if there is an "End Times" type of teaching or books among the Anabaptists-
I know there are books by for example the Orthodox- and I find their interpretations about eschatology quite different than the Pentecostals of the day, which led more and more to my distrust of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement- you can kind of see where they took certain Scriptures and were led astray- not to mention Darby, and Scofield who reinterpreted ALL the Bible to fit their eschatology and those beliefs spread like wildfire throughout Christendom and Scofield Bibles flew off the shelf and are still used in todays Evangelical groups- and Pentecostal groups-
But even still, to me personally, I find that Jesus gave us signs and seasons and the Apostles told us what to watch for as well so WE would be watchful- but as an Orthodox priest said to me- we have been watching for 2000 years and tend not to assume this or that happening, means we are at the end- but from what I understand- even they now believe we are very close- as country by country is falling away from the Christianity they once had- and turning from, and twisting the truth.