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| courtesy of National Geographic website |
I've always been fascinated with the Amish - their way of life, their community, etc. I've read fiction novels based on Amish. I loved that movie "Witness" with Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis.
Kelly plays a young Amish widow and is traveling by train with her 8 year old son Samuel to visit her sister. Samuel witnesses a murder in the train station restroom. Harrison is called in to investigate and ends up protecting the Amish family back on their farm.
The National Geographic Channel has been running a new series called, "Amish - Out of Order". It is about Mose Gingerich, a man who left the Amish 9 years ago, and how he helps other young people who decide to leave. When one leaves the Amish, they are "shunned", never to be accepted back again to visit. (Unless they agree to come back to the Amish). Even their own family do not accept them back. This has to do with the family themselves being shunned from the congregation if they were to accept their family member back. The kids have to deal with never seeing their families again.
"Amish - Out of Order" is somewhat of a reality show - it follows Mose around as he helps individuals out. You get to meet some of the young people, get to know their story. You learns some of the rules of the Amish, their strict upbringing, some of their beliefs.
I found this series fascinating. And sad.
Every religion has pros and cons.
The Amish are very hard working people. They believe in family, and helping each other. They believe that if one were to leave the Amish, then that person will go straight to hell.
Click here to learn more about the Amish.
I highly recommend this series. It's an eye opener.
If you don't get the National Geographic Channel, then I'm sure this will come out on a DVD. Perhaps you can get it from your local library.
15 comments:
"Witness" is one of my favorite movies. We live not far from an Old Order Amish community. Fun to drive through and see how they farm but I wouldn't want to be one.
One cannot help but find parallels of others such as the Rev Moon's Unification Church.They center around a strong leader, live apart from other communities and take unexpected collective decisions. One even committed suicide en masse. Wonder if the Charles Manson/Sharon Tate group could also be one.
The Amish appear to be more organized, though!
Hank
this sounds like an informative view...I am gonna check it out. Thanks friend
I to have always found them fasinating , the fact that they haven't let the modern world change a lot of their ways . We also have a lot of Amish here and also a Amish friend . I follow a wonderful blog about the Amish http://www.amishstories.net/ . They are very kind friendly folk . Hope you are staying cool in this heat wave and have a great day !
Thanks for the info. I will try to watch it. It sounds interesting. Have a nice weekend.
Interesting.
oh wow...will have to check that out...my wife would love it...she loves all the beverly lewis books...
I saw the film, PatFor a while I too found the Amish fascinating. I once followed a blog written by an Amish lady which I thought was unusual. Maybe not, though.
'Don't know much about history...' ♪♫ Didn't you love that scene in 'Witness'!! I think Harrison Ford did a lot to boost interest in the Amish. :-) We have quite a large group of Amish here in Wisconsin around Cashton. It's always interesting to visit that area.
great post, pat! so interesting!
i've always been fascinated about the amish, too.
I love "Witness".
I have watched this show. Sometimes reality bites.
Pat--I, too, am fascinated by the Amish. This looks like a great series. Thanks for passing it on!
I too find the Amish fascinating. I am going to have to catch up with this show on DVD as I keep forgetting it's on and have missed most of the episodes.
I haven't seen those but one thing that seems sad about the Amish is they don't individually read the Bible. They rely on the priest of their community to tell them what God says - - - at least that is how it is portrayed in the Amish books. Their simple lifestyle is to be commended - - that they aren't dependent on electricity and conveniences - - but you can't depend on others to tell you about God. HE wants to speak to a person Himself - - - through HIS Word.
Jodi Picoult wrote a book that took place in an Amish community--I don't recall the title, but it was really good. I can't imagine living that way, but I admire their fortitude.
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