Amish Issues

A recent speaker I heard referred to what he called “Amish issues.”  What are “Amish issues”, you ask?  The Amish are a religious group known for retaining many old ways of doing things regardless of the advance of the society around them.  From an outsider’s point of view, some of their choices seem a bit odd.  The speaker illustrated his point by referencing something he saw during a visit to Pennsylvania.  An Amish farmer was using a new or nearly new John Deere corn planter.  This corn planter was a modern, state of the art corn planting implement, costing thousands of dollars.  But instead of using a modern tractor to pull the planter, the farmer was using a team of horses!

The purpose of this article is not to ridicule the Amish.  No doubt they have their own reasons for availing themselves of some modern technology and avoiding others and they don’t have to defend them to me.  They can pull modern corn planters with a team of horses if they want choose to, regardless of how odd it appears to someone else.

My purpose in thinking about “Amish issues” is to consider if I have any of my own.  It’s easier for me to point out what appears to be foolish traditions in someone else’s religion and casually overlook the traditions of my own religious practice that appear to be outdated and inconsistent to others.  Am I guilty of clinging so tightly to the traditions of my religious past that my witness for Christ has become irrelevant or obsolete in the present?  If I am honest, it’s likely that I have “Amish issues” as well.

While the core principles of the good news of Jesus are unchanging and valid in any culture, the methods for sharing it are more fluid and adaptable.  The motto of the apostle Paul is still applicable: “I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some” (I Corinthians 9:22).  I must be prepared to engage culture rather than retreat from it.

God loves you!

Mike