Modern Amish Seem to Replicate Biblical Times

One of my interests lately has been people who leave what we commonly call "religious cults." That term does not necessarily have a universal definition but using it describes behavior that is extreme. A young man who, with his wife, left the cult with no name, often referred to as "2 X 2", now interviews other people who have left controlling cults. His own former cult, "2x2", is hard to explain because it is so very different from anything we normally encounter in Christianity. But he is now interviewing some former members of a group we all know of, the Amish. 

Within the last few days, he has posted two long interviews with a young couple who have been shunned by their Amish group in Northern Missouri. The couple explained the inside of life within their Amish group. They have a store which is patronized by tourists and local non Amish so they are remaining in the same house and community where they are under a sentence of shunning. Their former Amish friends and neighbors no long sell them locally grown produce and handicrafts nor do the shop in their store. 

The Bible includes lots of absurd rules about food and clothing. It has rules of behavior in community and marriage. We learn the faithful are not to eat the meat of certain animals, women are to wear their hair according to rules and fabrics cannot be made from threads of mixed yarns. History is made up to suit the power of the storyteller. The control of the powerful fits perfectly life in the link Amish community.

The Amish dry their laundry outside. What better way of controlling the underwear members are wearing. A different link mentions an incident where a busy body noticed aa unapproved color of clothing hanging on a clothesline. An elder was secretly notified and there was a visit. The former Amish fellow said traveling by buggy allows busy bodies a long slow look at clotheslines. 

The young woman told of a man with some authority who complained about the distance between pleats in her skirt. They were to be between 1/2" and 1". He told her several had noted her skirts and were certain some were over 1". She later measured and found nothing greater the 1 1/8th inch. Several women had pleats this large but the man in charge wanted to harass here. He came to her house three times within a few days to demand she correct the size of these pleats. The man then began to complain about the size of her blouse collar. It turned out she was in compliance.

The couple remains very religious but has abandoned that of the Amish sect. It is sad to think that thousands of people still live under the thumb of this nonsense.