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Ask The Amish is a section of the Remnant’s Walk with reprint articles and letters from the Amish community from a publication called “Family Life”, which started back in 1967. Some original authors are listed in the publication, some are not. If there is an author listed, they would be listed at the end of the article with an original publishing date. Some Amish chose not to put their names on articles they write.

Machinery, Family and Community

Today there are many things to consider in deciding whether a piece of machinery is acceptable to our way of living. Most of the plain churches feel they want to stay with horsepower as much as they can. They can have ample reason to shy away from modern machinery that seems to lead down a one-way street, on a road we don’t want to travel.

It’s the responsibility of the congregation to decide if something is detrimental to the congregation. If we feel it is, we must take our stand against it the same as we do against such things as TV. The problem is that it’s not always such a clear-cut matter. Circumstances can vary in different communities. Also, our understanding is not perfect: some people and some churches consider a certain thing harmful, while others don’t see it as a threat.

We ought to take a critical look before accepting every new invention that comes along. In the long run, how will it affect the family farm? Will it help to make more use of horsepower and family labor on the farm? Will it encourage working together as a family unit and as a community to help each-other? Or will we have so much money invested in expensive equipment that it may become necessary to take a job off the farm to pay for it?

These things ought to be taken into careful consideration as to whether they are practical to our way of living. This should be of more importance than just the dollar signs. After all, riches are fleeting and elusive, and running after them can take us into territory where we have no business being. (D. Wagler, 6-90)

Travelling Time

Shallow reasoning has been used by people who decided it didn’t make sense to spend an hour going to town in a buggy, when they could go the same distance by car in ten minutes. “Why,” such people have reasoned, “if we had a car, we wouldn’t spend nearly as much time on the road, and could be at home with the family more.”

By taking one single trip to town and figuring how much longer it would take by buggy, the above conclusion sounds reasonable. But that matter isn’t that simple. Instead of spending less time on the road, people who switch to motorized transportation soon realize they are on the road more than before. Since it’s easier to go to town, they tend to go more often and for smaller needs. They soon begin to shop and visit places farther than home. It’s just as easy to drive fifty miles, as it used to be to drive five, and that’s exactly what they do. So, they end up spending more time on the road than before. (“Views and Values”, E. Stoll.)

Telephones: The Choice of Two Evils

“I wonder which is the worst, anyway?” Fred Hostetler muttered to himself as he sat down at the supper table.

“Worst of what?” his wife, Saloma, asked as she stirred a pinch of salt into the soup.

“I mean, which way would be the worst, to have a phone of our own, or to be continually pestering our neighbors to use theirs?”

“Surely you don’t think we should get telephones?” Saloma asked as a frown crossed her face. “Our people have never had them, you wouldn’t want to change the Ordnung now, would you?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Fred answered firmly. “But just the same, I still can’t help wondering sometimes which would be the worst. Did you know that they allowed telephones over in the Concordia settlement?”

“You mean where Atlee Kauffman moved? I knew they were more liberal in some things, but I never thought they would allow telephones.”

“They figured it would be a better light to the world to have telephones, than to be bothering their neighbors to use theirs.”

“But couldn’t they explain why we don’t have telephones?”

“I guess so, but I’ve found it’s harder to explain that to someone than it is to explain why we don’t have cars or radios or something like that”, Fred said. “Atlee wrote that the phones are to be allowed strictly for business and emergency only, no gossiping or unnecessary calling.”

About five years later, Fred Hostetler was planning a trip to visit close relatives in Missouri. “Why don’t we stop at Concordia and visit Atlee Kauffman?” Fred asked

The Kauffmans were glad to see their old neighbors and welcomed them warmly. “You just come in and sit down. You can visit until dinner is ready,” Ruby said.

Fred went out to see Atlee, who was remodeling the cow stable. As the men walked from the barn to the pasture, a shrill voice came from the house, “Dad-dy! Telephone!”

When Atlee returned, he grumbled, “Those seed-corn agents can sure be a nuisance. I told him the other day I’d let him know if I wanted to order anything from him, but he insists on calling me every few days.” After showing Fred around the farm a bit, Atlee said, “We may just as well go in. Dinner should be ready in an hour.”

They washed up and went to sit down in the living room. Fred thought he heard a conversation going on, and then saw Ruby was talking on the telephone. As the men came in the room, she was saying, “Well, I’ll have to go now. We’ve got company for dinner. Thanks for calling. I’ll call you back later.”

They sat down to visit, and Atlee started telling them how his team of horses ran away the summer before. “We let them stand in the hay field, and they got scared of the baler. Up the lane they went toward home as fast as they could go, until they got to that tree in the lane. Then one horse went around one side of the tree, and the other one went on the other side, and the wagon—”

“Rrrrrrrr!” The ring of the phone interrupted the story. Atlee came back and took up the conversation where he had left off. After some time, the phone rang again. Atlee answered it: “Yes, yes. Who? Minerva? Yes, she’s here.”

About this time the oldest daughter came flying into the room and grabbed the receiver. From the kitchen came the voice of Ruby as she lamented, “Minerva wouldn’t have to get so excited every time the phone rings. Now she went and spilled the corn starch all over the worktable. Those Worner girls have a bad habit of calling her anytime of the day.” Fred and Atlee got back into their conversation. At 11:30, Ruby came into the room picked up the receiver and started dialing. “Hello, Patty. This is me. I hate to bother you, but right now I just discovered we’re plum out of sugar. We forgot to get some the other day when we were in town. We need some to make the frosting on the cake.”

By the time dinner was ready, it was just past 12:00. Ruby had fixed a big meal and everyone was hungry. As the family sat down to the table, everyone bowed their heads to give thanks to the Almighty Father in heaven for His goodness in providing such a bounteous meal. Just as everyone folded their hands and silently bowed their heads, there was a loud noise. “Rrrrrrrr!” The phone was urgently ringing…

As the big greyhound bus pulled into the station, the Hostetlers hastily bade goodbye to their friends. Soon, they were on their last stretch of their journey heading home.

“Are you still wondering what it would be like to have a telephone in the house?” Saloma asked.

Fred almost had to smile as he answered. “Well, now I know what it could be like, but that’s not saying it would have to be like that. I don’t think everyone with a telephone has as much going on as the Kauffmans did.”

“That could be,” Saloma agreed. “But actually, you only saw half of it. In the afternoon when you and Atlee went over to visit old Sam Miller, the phone was as busy as ever. One time, Ruby called Allen Kauffman’s wife to ask how much soda she puts in her coconut cookies. Then, later in the afternoon she called her sister to ask what number thread she uses to sew that blue double-knit material for a dress. That time she talked for about a half hour…and Minerva, I think she called up her friends several times during the afternoon. She seems to have friends of all kinds. Are you still unable to answer your question?”

“It looks to me like that would be making a choice between two evils, and I don’t think it’s necessary to do either one. What I had in mind was the way they did it out in Missouri, but I don’t believe that’s the perfect answer either.”

“How do they do it there?”

“They ask the telephone company to put a phone at the schoolhouse. It’s not a large community there, and they can go to the schoolhouse to do their calling. Then they don’t have to bother their neighbors so much. They seem to think it’s working alright, and as far as not bothering their neighbors so much, apparently it is. But I’m afraid there’s another danger they may not realize.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m afraid they’re using the phone more than they have to,” Fred said. “By planning their business out ahead, they could often get along without using the phone as they do now. From what I saw in Missouri, I think they could have done a lot of their business by mail, such as ordering feed, and so on.”

“But wouldn’t it be handier to do it by phone?”

“Yes, it would be, and sometimes it is about the only way it can be done,” Fred agreed. “But a lot of other things would be handy, too. What I was wondering is, Will their children be able to see the danger in having these things, which are so handy, if the parents make use of them so much as they do?”

“I guess there’s a danger any way you do it,” Saloma said. “But do you mean to say that out there in Missouri, they never have to bother neighbors?”

“I never said that,” Fred answered. “There will still be emergencies, such as someone getting hurt, when they want to get help as soon as possible. I don’t think their neighbors object to using their phones at times like that. It’s the idea of bothering them continually and for things that don’t look necessary to them that’s what gets on their nerves.”

“I don’t think I’d appreciate that myself,” Saloma responded.

“I guess not,” Fred laughed. “Especially if they tracked their dirty boots over your nice clean floor right after you had done the Saturday cleaning!” (2-76)

Voting

I don’t feel Christians should take part in voting for those who seek government office. If we do vote for such persons, and help them get into office, we would also indirectly be responsible for their deeds, such as acts of war and so forth. We ought to obey Yahweh rather than man [Acts 5:29].

The Bible does teach us to pray for those who rule over us [1st Tim 2:1-2]. We shouldn’t take part in worldly affairs. This, I believe, can lead to the downfall of our plain churches.

One may perhaps argue that Christians who live in America or Canada, live in a democracy, a free country, and hence are duty-bound to take part in the voting process and otherwise support such a government system. Our government does indeed protect and defend our right to worship YHWH freely, and in whatever manner we wish. However, as good as any country may be to live in, both Canadian and American systems are still much part of this world. And in Jacob 1:27, we read, an undefiled religion, means to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Just because a great many Christians do participate in the voting process, doesn’t necessarily make it right. The Scriptures nowhere encourages one to take part in the governmental system that is part of the world. And in voting, one would in a small way be doing this. (“What Do You Think?”)