How Come ?

More times than I could ever count people have asked me "How come you do that ?" or in some instances now, the question might be phrased in past tense, or perhaps some might be asking about "plain" people as a whole. Our lives have changed over the past few years and we no longer live a "plain life" by outward appearance. It is still a deep personal struggle for me to know what I should be doing.
Many of you have emailed me with the same questions.

There are many things in life people do without even knowing the reasoning behind it. A perfect example is eye shadow. Long ago people noticed that when a woman is shall we say, feeling amorous, her eyelids darken same as lips become darker. So, to make them appear as if they were "in the mood" they painted their eyes and lips, the darker the more "whatever". It does make me giggle a bit to see women heading off to church services with eyelids and lips painted, I just know they have no idea of what it signifies : )

Same as shaving the body, what group of humans have no body hair, that's right, children ! That is just where it started, to look like a child. Now its an accepted practice without even giving it much thought as to why that might be attractive.

There are definite reasons for the way Conservative Mennonite and Amish do things, they are not done without understanding.

Now back to the " How come you do that ?" line of questioning that one receives in regard to plain living. How about the fact that plain Mennonite and the Amish don't use insurance of any kind. Not health, life, home owners (unless they have to by a mortgage company, which they even try to avoid, by not borrowing from an unbeliever). Someone has commented over and over about how irresponsible it is for people to be uninsured. Not so in the Amish and Mennonite world, everyone in the community helps pay the bills. You get sick, need an operation and its paid for by the brethren. Simple as that. If its a huge bill, they will go outside of their community to another one to ask for additional help. Your house burns down, same thing, everyone chips and then get together to rebuild. Insurance is seen as a gamble, and it is, because you are planning on an "if" event. Amish and conservative Mennonite don't pay into social security either. Family takes care of you when you are no longer able to work. Simple. There is no automatic age when you can say, "time for me to not work", if you are healthy and able you work and if not than your children will look after all your needs.

It works well. I love it when our children lovingly bicker on who is going to look after Emery and I in our aged years. Sure makes you feel well loved.

The big question is always about the clothes.... The March issue of "The Pilgrim Witness" a publication of the Pilgrim Mennonite Conference, has a wonderful explanation of why dressing "plain" is practiced within the church. Some of the reasons given are..."

(a) If one person expresses separation from the world on one item of clothing, and others each choose their peculiar symbols of the doctrine, the witness of the group is no nearly so strong as if there is a shared symbol.

(b) A church standard makes for a more radical break from the world. The judgement of the group tends to be more adequate and full than the private opinions of various individuals.

(c) A church standard simplifies the choice of one's clothing. the person who is wearing the garb prescribed by the church knows beforehand, when a purchase is made, what cut of clothing is desired. He is not involved in a continual struggle to keep up with the latest fads.

My note here.....I agree with this one 100%, my life was never so easy as when we dressed plain !

(d) A church standard helps to foster a group consciousness; the members have a sense of being different, of not belonging to the world.

~John Christian Wegner ~

2 Corinthians 6:17 tells us not to be like the world and so separation from the world has become the foundation for many of the Amish and conservative Mennonite beliefs

I am just explaining here and this post is not intended to incite defensive comments.

Headcovering is another big question and one has only to understand that if one takes the bible as literal, than a woman would cover her hair according to 1 Corinthians 11:4-16 and then look at history. In the Roman Catholic Church, Headcovering for Mass was removed from it from Canon law in 1983. John Knox and John Calvin both called for women to cover their heads and Martin Luther's wife wore a covering.

Women up until the early 1960's covered their heads in church. So its relatively new that headcovering for spiritual reasons is considered "weird". Orthodox Jewish women cover their heads as do many Islamic women.

Hope that answers some of your questions.