Our May/June 2006 cover story: "Living in an Amish Paradise?" inspired many comments. While the overwhelming majority of these comments were positive, a few felt we had misrepresented the Amish. Here is an example, along with our answer, as well as our good friend Joe Keim's. Joe is executive director of Mission to Amish People (MAP) whose audio interview is available on the previous page.

Go to the May/June 2006 Plain Truth article—Living in an Amish Paradise?

Living in an Amish Paradise?

I am disappointed with the factual content [in the May/June article about the Amish] and in particular your broadcast interview with Joe Keim. You have done exactly what you have accused others of doing—painting all of the Amish under one brush. There are many different types of “plain people,” from those who have machinery to those who don't; from the very legalistic to the cavalier.

The statement that Amish do not buy items at Wal-Mart is ridiculous. I have personally shopped with many different Amish families at Wal-Mart, buying all types of things. Amish do not necessarily connect the Ordnung (or their rules of living) with salvation—rather they see the Ordnung as the common basis for their culture, a means to control the world's encroachments on their lives. Furthermore, the Ordnung is interpreted differently by the different groups. The Amish decision to remove themselves from society is a cultural choice, not a biblical one.

Pastor,
Missouri

• We will send your comment to Joe Keim for his answers to your questions. Our perspective for both the article and the interview which was posted on our website is that salvation is by grace alone, faith alone and Christ alone. Given that biblical perspective, and knowing the history of Anabaptism and of the current Amish beliefs and lifestyle, we find that there are major inconsistencies between their rules/regulations/expectations and the gospel of Jesus Christ. —The Editors

From Joe Keim:

I understand the perspective of the writer. From time to time I receive harsh emails from people concerning our ministry. I have had people curse me for meddling with what they considered to be the greatest people group alive. Here are my thoughts about the writer's comments:
1) The writer may know a great deal about the Amish in his home area, but he was not born and raised in an Amish family.
2) What the writer says about the Amish not all being on the same level is true—there are probably 15-25 different denominations/orders that have exploded out of the original movement. For example, the Swartzentruber and Andy Yoder sects/orders are easily the most legalistic groups of all. From there you have the Old, Old Order, the King Order, the New Order and eventually you come to the Beechy Order or sometimes called the Sunday School Amish. The differences between most of these orders are great enough that they will not fellowship or inter-marry with each other.

But, they ALL have one thing in common and that is they follow an ordinance that spells out the dos and don'ts of their order. The Beechy Amish are considered to be the most liberal group of all, and yet even they follow their own man-made rule book (ordinance letter). For instance, they are allowed to drive cars, but their rule book says that they are not allowed to buy a car newer than two years old, and within six months they have to paint the car black, including the bumpers.

I have two letters that have circulated in the Amish communities for years. One represents itself as a letter from God about what will happen to those who break the Sabbath and another purports to be from a woman who married and left the Amish, but later in life she is tormented by her conscience. (Editor's note: Readers may read these two letters posted on our website at www.ptm.org/amish and if you have not already, you may wish to listen to our audio interview with Joe Keim).

God's grace.
Joe Keim
Ohio

Go to the May/June 2006 Plain Truth article—Living in an Amish Paradise?

Return to Joe Keim—Amish Interview Page