Probably not, since the scope of what they learn German for is limited to being able to read a Lutherbibel. In particular, I doubt most OO / Old Colonist type of people would understand the rather expansive lexicon of idioms that are common in modern standard German.MennoSimons1998 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 4:19 pm Hello John, I still got two simple questions:
Old Orders learn standard German to read their Luther Bibles, but well, even when its words are written with a more 19th century German spelling, the Luther Bible still feels quite archaic when compared to modern German texts, would they be able to comprehend basic newspaper reports from modern Germany?, asking since I have been reading the Neues Leben Bibel (example: https://www.bibleserver.com/NLB/Johannes1) as a part of me learning standard German.JohnH wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 3:18 pm Old Orders generally don't speak Plat so you'd have to find Old Colonists for an answer to that, but my impression of most Old Colonists is that they prefer using standard German as a written language. There isn't really anybody who speaks and reads Low German but somehow can't read Spanish, English, or standard German. It just doesn't happen.
Well, "easy to read standard German" is kind of a tautology here... they learn to read German so they can read the old German Bibles, so it's easy enough to read. There's no need to bother with anything else.I like Bibles written in any language that are written with a modern and easy-to-read style that can be comprehended by all ages, but still preserve important doctrines, and are not paraphrases that heavily alter and stretch the original source texts, could a easy-to-read standard German translation like the Neues Leben Bibel be acceptable to be used in the personal Bible study of younger OO Amish and Mennonites?
Typically they would have very little interest in German newspapers, although a PA Dutch speaker who is reasonably educated and can read standard German can usually communicate with a German tourist no problem.I already know that most Mennonites in Paraguay in Bolivia can read standard German newspapers just fine, and they can also communicate with non-Anabaptist German immigrant groups normally (and til this day outsiders and tourists think that they are just weird Germans), I guess that the language problem starts with the modern technological and cultural terms in 21st-century German that Anabaptists have no idea of what they mean.
Old Orders don't participate in the evangelical views of "fully inspired scripture" and the various mental gymnastics that go along with that. They just view it as "the Bible", believe it to be true, and don't struggle at all with worrying that the apocryphal books might be a problem.This has been probably been discussed to death on the forum before, but do OO Anabaptists view the Apocrypha as fully inspired scripture as much as Genesis, similar to the view of Roman Catholics and Eastern & Oriental Orthodox, or do they hold to something similar to the classical Protestant view of the Apocrypha (which was originally included in the KJV), wherein it is treated as useful wisdom and tradition, but should not be the basis of doctrine? (I am already aware that the Amish hold Tobit in high regard and recite it in their wedding ceremonies).
Once OOs become influenced by / start to begin to change to being evangelicals, they will drop the books, read only the 66 books, and start to think / behave like American evangelicals do.
