Growing Up Mennonite

[ILG]

Interesting Amish interview:

http://www.ptm.org/amish/default.htm

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by ILG

I thought Mennonites did not shun. Isn't that supposed to be the difference between Amish and Mennonites?

My extended Catholic family are wonderful people. They always felt sorry for me when I was in the UPC.

So, when you say conservative, you mean covering and car driving.

I did not say shunning... Official excommunication of the church though, is no small thing whether accomapied by shunning or not.

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by ILG

I read this last night and didn't respond until today. I lay in bed last night thinking about it....and it is very emotional for me. Yes, I was almost persuaded. UPC is as close as I got. I remember back when I was becoming more and more conservative.....believing in it all the way, wanting to please God and be as consistent as possible. It seems like a dream in some ways. A dream that was shattered. I did consider becoming plain but not seriously because they don't believe in baptism in Jesus' name or speaking in tongues. I didn't believe they were truly "Christian". Ironic now that I believe that they can be plain and also Christian, that I still can't go that way because I think it is wrong. I contemplated that for a good while last night. Why does it have to be wrong? My dream....But I felt today that my dream is not dead, it has simply shifted. I loved the standards for 16 years. They were my living expression of my faith. But I never saw the negative side until much later after living them.

There is so much to say....forgive me if I ramble a bit. I don't post long posts often anymore but this is in my heart...

When I became UPC, how I wanted to express my faith in a living way!! How I wanted to be different than the world! How happy I was that there was a different way!!

SheltieDad and I were in the same neck of the woods. Indeed TV was taboo for a looooong time. Maybe still is there. You did not have videos either. Some did, but there was a staunch bunch against it. I even heard internet being preached against. I knew a pastor's wife that brought a needle and thread to church to sew up slits.

My husband and I had a house in the country. I love self-sufficiency and gardening, staying at home and being a housewife.

The UPC is not family centered though. I learned what I learned about family from the plain. I was raised in an alcoholic home. I wanted some stability. The UPC is all about church, church and more church and condemn you if you get divorced. The plain expect you to spend time with your family. Family life is not overthrown in the name of "evangelism".

I would have done ANYTHING, ANYTHING, that I thought God wanted me do. One day, early on in my walk with God, I purposed to leave the UPC and become plain. I felt that God strongly warned me not to. And so I never have.

If only the dream about separating from the world by standards were real. If only you could separate from the world and have a little slice of heaven that would be great. It might work in some measure for people who have their whole families in it etc. For those of us coming in from the outside (and as SheltieDad would testify, I think...those also inside) the inconsistencies and more so, the preaching that if you DON'T do things THIS WAY, you are going to hell.....the legalism, the FEAR!!! My God, the fear I lived under. I am not being overly dramatic. Some will never understand the horrible, horrible fear I lived under in the UPC. God has not given us the spirit of fear....but of love, power and a sound mind. I lived in a living depression hell for 10 years. Yes, I know saying this will make some people mad. I don't care. It's what I lived through. It's my reality.
I put on the Amish garb the other night and said "Oh that my dream were real". Because the Amish focused on family as well as standards. Then, I didn't join up with the plain because of the lack of tongues etc. Today, I don't join up because I can't in good conscience try and make religion more important than the grace of God.

But my heart still yearns for the principles that it all stands for. And I know the truth that standards can be lived rightly or wrongly but that God reads the hearts of all men and we are saved by faith and not the wearing of a skirt and long hair.

I still want that house in the country again, the garden, the self-sufficiency. I would still like a loving church family (something I have seen very little of). But without all the legalism. I want the dream to still come true.

Thanks for reading.

Wow! ILG, That is a very personal post. I can relate on several levels, but, I cannot relate at all to the bolded part. I reject any such legalism as a current UPCer.

Originally Posted by ILG

If only the dream about separating from the world by standards were real. If only you could separate from the world and have a little slice of heaven that would be great. It might work in some measure for people who have their whole families in it etc. For those of us coming in from the outside (and as SheltieDad would testify, I think...those also inside) the inconsistencies and more so,the preaching that if you DON'T do things THIS WAY, you are going to hell.....the legalism, the FEAR!!!My God, the fear I lived under. I am not being overly dramatic. Some will never understand the horrible, horrible fear I lived under in the UPC. God has not given us the spirit of fear....but of love, power and a sound mind. I lived in a living depression hell for 10 years. Yes, I know saying this will make some people mad. I don't care. It's what I lived through. It's my reality.

Great post... and I do agree with what you said above. The attitude that a lot of people probably sense from me here is based on the bolded portion above... I am determined to show everyone who will listen that I no longer have that fear and I will speak out against it anytime I see it. I want to show others that they do not have to live their lives under this fear either. I want to be a living witness that everyone who rejects the "teachings" does not end up living in the gutter as a drunk or a druggie like we were taught would happen over and over.

What really bothers me is that some people I know would be friends with me in real life probably think I am a horrible person because of what they see me write in this forum. I get along great with what I refer to as "older" people (people in their 60's, 70's, 80's, etc.)... in fact, probably better than most people my age. I am actually more comfortable in a room of grandparents than I am with people my own age.

In real life, those people would never see this side of me, because I would be more likely to just leave the room, rather than get into in-depth disagreements with people from those generations. I believe I have become more vocal also, since all of my own grandparents have passed away, because now I don't have to worry about hurting their feelings by having my own opinions.

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by ILG

Interesting Amish interview:

http://www.ptm.org/amish/default.htm

Listening to the interview... picking up on some bias I think. He speaks of being saved and going back to the Amish. Then says "the Amish have no real relationship with the Lord..." hmmmm... I think it calls his own experience into question.

At any rate, legalism is something the Amish struggle with, but they are not alone in this.

[Hoovie]

The brother who left the Amish... felt that he had been taught to leave was to "write out your own ticket to hell" I know both ex-Amish and ex-Old Order Mennonites (including myself) who would disagree.

Originally Posted by Stephen Hoover

The brother who left the Amish... felt that he had been taught to leave was to "write out your own ticket to hell" I know both ex-Amish and ex-Old Order Mennonites (including myself) who would disagree.

Yeah, people who sat in the same revivals that I sat in over the years have a completely different perception also... it's like we were watching two different shows. lol.

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by Sheltiedad

Yeah, people who sat in the same revivals that I sat in over the years have a completely different perception also... it's like we were watching two different shows. lol.

But in my case we are all EXers.

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by Thad

Hoover,

just a couple of Questions


I heard that when Mennonites baptize, they take a pitcher of water and pour it over the candidate's head 3x - is that true ?


also, do they allow internet in their homes? If so, It would be neat to know if they had their own discussion forums!!! I'd sure like to check it out if so!

Pouring is the prefered method and some do pour three times (about a spoonful) in rapid succession while the minister proclaims the authority of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, immersion is acceptable, and I know of some cases where it was requested and granted.

I don't know that any Old Orders allow the internet, and most do not allow the computer....

BUT!!!! They do have telephone chat lines that operate very much like this very forum, and are run by moderaters complete with threads, news, even some "gossip", AND banning by way of blocking phone numbers. YES I have the pin numbers and NO I ain't sharing them!

[Trouvere]

Stephen Hoover post those numbers now so we can dial up the prayer line brotha.I want to hear the latest news out of milk country.How many eggs did farmer Browns hens lay today?