Trouble in Amish Paradise (1 of 6)

just a few hours drive from the noisy streets of Philadelphia and New York there is another world it's a world frozen in time home to a people whose way of life has barely changed since their forefathers settled here almost 300 years ago these are the Amish they're bound by a code of strict rules that govern every aspect of their lives rules that keep the modern world out they're not allowed to use mains electricity or drive cars and they're not allowed to be filmed but from early spring until late autumn to remarkable men let us into their lives they question the very rules that make them Amish the consequence is excommunication and total rejection by their own people I've said it this way and I'll say it again it would be much easier for everybody they would have just killed us but a family tragedy will turn their lives upside down this is the story of their agonizing struggle to decide whether to leave the only world they've ever known it's probably the hardest decision that Amish people have to make it is a life-changing decision 300 years ago a handful of devout German and Swiss Protestants arrived here in North America to escape religious persecution the world has changed a lot since then but they haven't they came to farm the land and to live plain and simple lives they live side by side with modern Americans but they keep themselves apart with a strict set of rules these rules are what bind the Amish together those who break them are shunned cut off from their friends and family over the years this harsh punishment has caused many to split away and form new and more liberal churches at the very first Armas Church in the United States is the one here in Lancaster Pennsylvania the Old Order Amish have the strictest set of rules few dare to challenge them but Ephraim Stoltzfus is not your average Amish man he lives an Amish life but he has a big problem with the Amish rules Ephraim runs a dairy farm where he lives with his wife Amanda and their four children six-year-old Samuel and eh3 Christopher who's one and a half and their five-year-old daughter Marie I never not be Elstad Amish and I feel privileged to have grown up Amish my parents taught me how to work with that in itself is a wonderful blessing if I see something that needs to be done I've been taught to do it mommy she's just following a set of rules you just decide to live a simple lifestyle and and get ready to work like crazy as well as the farm Ephraim has a workshop where he makes harnesses for racehorses the children work alongside their parents from a very early age this is where they learn how to be Amish Georgia help they can feel involved when they're a few months old by just having you carry them along while you're working through and are now pushing uh did you set up and after a while they get to be a big help one love is to feed them and Murray job is to get eggs with over 40 cows to milk and no modern machinery the traditional Amish life is one of relentless back-breaking work from dawn until dark every day my cows are my pets before yoga cows gives you a disciplined life you have to get up in the morning you have to do man it-- you can't sleep in for two hours man to say why Ronnie now get on now let's tie the back legs Samuel go get the burner bring me your tags Marie Sam you hold this please one great thing about the farm Ed's uh there's work for the whole family as you can see but they won't just do it on their own unless you teach him it takes a bit of training there was a time in our life where it was faster due to ourselves but we have learned that we take the time to teach our children it actually speeds the process later bring the ear tags Murray growing up Amish means they always know what they're supposed to do even if they don't always know why they do it why did it Amish people wear a beard like this ah I don't have the answer you're supposed to have it long here you're not supposed to you're not really supposed to shave it much and you're not supposed to wear mustache so you have beards anywheres they all wear their beards different depends on what their father did you see says oh you put your dishes away please really still we kind of strayed in the front and then down around that was to me this is just the way that we always did it ah just like the Amish rules their distinctive language has also been passed down from one generation to the next no no - continue - it it still still it sounds like German but it's not it's known as Pennsylvania Dutch we speak Pennsylvania Dutch at home and they learn English when they go to school Pennsylvania Dutch comes easiest for me because that's what we spoke at home that is my first language and when I speak English I need to translate everything in my mind which do you like to speak which is easier Pennsylvania Dutch or English probably a mission okay Oh done although more and more Amish do now speak English they still believe strongly that they should do exactly as their forefathers did which is why they use the same Bible their ancestors brought with them from Europe hundreds of years ago the problem is it's written in antiquated German a language the Amish no longer understand as a result many of them don't realize that the Amish rules they live by are not in fact in the Bible at all some people like 36 year-old Jesse Stoltz loose and his wife Lillian believe this is a fundamental problem which undermines the whole our mesh way of life most of our forefathers have read the Bible in German and they've stuck to it but over the years we have become a more of an english-speaking culture we do our business in English our schools are in English a lot of people reading their Bibles in German don't understand what they read they can read it but they don't understand it the Amish people are beginning to read the Bibles in English it's a language they understand and as they understand that they look at and say I didn't know it means this having always been taught to obey their church leaders without question some of the Amish are now asking if it's their leaders they should be following or the Bible these people have been told by the Peters to go home don't dig so deep into the scripture don't ask these questions just live by the rules of the church and do what we tell you and you'll be okay good let's move to the next one the rules to me are not the issue I'll follow the rules I don't have problem following the rules that's not the issue it's when church makes a decision that goes against the Word of God and you get questioned on it you have to stand for truth Church or laws of the land if they go against the Word of God you have to follow the Word of God

Channel: John Daniel

Views: 703,553

Rating: 4.7741799 out of 5

Keywords: christ, christianity, religion, america

Id: Lhoz_nLqMlI

Length: 10min 23sec (623 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 03 2009