By Thy Words

[Josh]

So the one discouraging a girl to be a nurse, what were the reasons given? I've heard this talk and generally its linked to historical experience of ladies who become nurses end up liberal or abandoning their faith.
On the flip side, a beachy group offers free training to only young ladies for nursing.

Something around 94% or 96% of evangelical Christians who attend college end up fornicating. That's a pretty bad statistic, particularly considering the Bible makes it clear that fornicators won't be in heaven, and also that a background of fornication leads to bad marriages and divorce.

More broadly, most colleges are a hostile place for the Christian, and are designed to talk a Christian out of their faith and replace it with worldliness. Why would someone want to go to an anti-Christian indoctrination camp?

What I'm getting at is maybe some of these idea's presented seem weird or even horrible to the onlooker but actually make sense in terms of spiritual focused people. Generally, college has not done well for the Conservative Mennonites and there are far more failure stories then success. In my experience of more time at college then the majority of posters (not by degree mind you), college is not to our spiritual benefit.

I would broaden that to it's not doing well for Christians in general.

We read a nationwide publication once that talked about the obedience to the church leaders and used the examples of the young men who carried away Ananias and Sapphira. The way it was wrote was downright hysterical but I think the author was completely oblivious to the implications that young men should obey the church leaders in anything without question.

Try to find a Conservative Mennonite work place in Medical that allows male nurses... Thats even harder then becoming a nurse as a female.

Conservative Mennonites who want to employ their own Conservative Mennonite people with advanced degrees engage in one of the worst forms of hypocrisy. I would note that is mostly those on the more liberal end who do this. More conservative or Old Order groups will just employ a worldly person if they need someone with an advanced degree they wouldn't feel comfortable getting themselves.

[ABC 123]

The jab that gets thrown at Conservatives is that the best way to keep them is to keep them ignorant. I am gathering some of you believe this to be true.

I personally believe that God created the human mind to learn all sorts of things. It is crucial to be discerning who you allow to do the teaching, though. (One of the many reasons we choose to homeschool.)

[steve-in-kville]

Is our faith strong enough to engage in warfare?

Apparently so. I survive this place every day

[Soloist]

Of the things mentioned, you could conscientiously not partake of and thus have an argument to not encourage your child to pursue.

But you go to the doctor.

Let me broaden this then. I could not with good faith encourage anyone to go into medicine. It would require compromise that is not apparent to non-medical.

The jab that gets thrown at Conservatives is that the best way to keep them is to keep them ignorant. I am gathering some of you believe this to be true.

I personally believe that God created the human mind to learn all sorts of things. It is crucial to be discerning who you allow to do the teaching, though. (One of the many reasons we choose to homeschool.)

I was homeschooled all my life. I've been in college. I'm more educated then anyone in my church and if you think this is about keeping someone ignorant, you are missing the point and intentionally distorting what I said. This is what you have accused others of doing interestingly enough.

Tell me, who would you trust to teach your children world views? Clearly you have said yourself, but what college would teach what you believe and encourage your views of faith and practice?

[steve-in-kville]

Conservative Mennonites who want to employ their own Conservative Mennonite people with advanced degrees engage in one of the worst forms of hypocrisy. I would note that is mostly those on the more liberal end who do this.

A while back I interviewed with another company, just out of curiosity. Everyone there except two were from a conservative church. There was one lady in the office that didn't wear a covering and the one manager had a wedding band. During the interview I got the impression he was a hired gun of sorts... basically to do what the Mennonite owners didn't want to get their hands dirty.

[ABC 123]

Following the medical line... I went to a conservative church where some of the people believed you could rid the impurities out of your food by spinning the plate a certain way. And they thought repositioning an amputated limb would alleviate pain in the person who lost it.

I knew a lady who thought getting an ultrasound would make her unborn child deaf. I knew another person who thought suddenly switching to eating a solitary diet of carrots (or some such) would cure their advanced cancer.

And let's just mention the brack doctors who ground themselves with wires in order to administer "healing touches".

Am I making this up? No, I am not. Am I mocking them for mentioning it? No, I am not.

If these people would know anything about real medicine, they would know all these things are false.

Maybe instead of focusing on "college will lead my children to hell", we should focus on being more factual in what we are learning and teaching our children so that when they meet up with the actual truth they don't suddenly realize too many of the things they grew up believing weren't true. Then they doubt the whole package.

[Soloist]

Following the medical line... I went to a conservative church where some of the people believed you could rid the impurities out of your food by spinning the plate a certain way. And they thought repositioning an amputated limb would alleviate pain in the person who lost it.

I knew a lady who thought getting an ultrasound would make her unborn child deaf. I knew another person who thought suddenly switching to eating a solitary diet of carrots (or some such) would cure their advanced cancer.

And let's just mention the brack doctors who ground themselves with wires in order to administer "healing touches".

Am I making this up? No, I am not. Am I mocking them for mentioning it? No, I am not.

If these people would know anything about real medicine, they would know all these things are false.

Maybe instead of focusing on "college will lead my children to hell", we should focus on being more factual in what we are learning and teaching our children so that when they meet up with the actual truth they don't suddenly realize too many of the things they grew up believing weren't true. Then they doubt the whole package.

Okay... so college educated doctors and nurses don't believe this stuff. Right...

You seriously don't know what is being taught as medicine in school these days. I went through nursing school and the alternative medicine was a highlight focus and several budding nurses as well as faculty believed this stuff. A doctor I know believes in it, my coworkers believe in harnessing the "power" Its not just a poor conservative ignorant Mennonite who gets caught up in hogwash.

[ABC 123]

Okay... so college educated doctors and nurses don't believe this stuff. Right...

In my head I am reading that with a sneer.

At any rate, I have my perspective and it isn't my job to make you see it my way.

[Soloist]

Okay... so college educated doctors and nurses don't believe this stuff. Right...

In my head I am reading that with a sneer.

At any rate, I have my perspective and it isn't my job to make you see it my way.

sneer? no. Sarcasm yes. Read my edit as I provided support for my opinion.

[Ken]

Following the medical line... I went to a conservative church where some of the people believed you could rid the impurities out of your food by spinning the plate a certain way. And they thought repositioning an amputated limb would alleviate pain in the person who lost it.

I knew a lady who thought getting an ultrasound would make her unborn child deaf. I knew another person who thought suddenly switching to eating a solitary diet of carrots (or some such) would cure their advanced cancer.

And let's just mention the brack doctors who ground themselves with wires in order to administer "healing touches".

Am I making this up? No, I am not. Am I mocking them for mentioning it? No, I am not.

If these people would know anything about real medicine, they would know all these things are false.

Maybe instead of focusing on "college will lead my children to hell", we should focus on being more factual in what we are learning and teaching our children so that when they meet up with the actual truth they don't suddenly realize too many of the things they grew up believing weren't true. Then they doubt the whole package.

This anti-education and anti-medicine sentiment that you are describing seems particularly strong in some branches of the CA community. Yet most conservative Mennos don't reject modern medicine. So I guess they would rather be treated by nurses and doctors who don't share their faith?

I find it interesting that conservative Muslims do not seem to share this same anti-education sentiment. Every year I have conservative Muslim students in my classes wearing head scarves, conservative dress and such who are competing for top academic honors and competing for admissions into Ivy League schools and places like Stanford. They are coming from environments that are every bit as religiously conservative as the CA churches you are talking about. The fear is not that they will lose their faith. Instead there is a sense of obligation that they return to serve their community. It is a different mentality. And they have support groups and role models to rely on such as faculty, student groups, and so forth, all the way through the process. Something that CA churches do none of.