They were likely rebelling... The girls smoking would not be tolerated in daily life at an Amish home. I see no evidence of "permission" granted in rumspringa. It is no different than non-Amish families giving an 16-18 yr old the liberty to get his own style haircut or choosing his own music. It is an acknowledgement that they are becoming adults and are making some of their own choices. If I had a seventeen yr old that was into headbanging, hard rock, it would not mean I gave permission to it.
Unless these Amish girls are church members the church has no control over them. The parents could boot them out (and they often do, depending on the case) but that may lesson the chances they will ultimately choose to join the church.
Now the guys may get away with smoking... but that is a different subject.
Also, most Amish view the men smoking as a OP would view caffine addiction, not good - but also not forbidden.
During rumspringa, they are allowed to drink, party, and drive cars. According to Wikipedia:
Quote:
As is the case in many societies, Amish adolescents may engage in rebellious behavior, resisting or defying parental norms. In many cultures, enforcement may be relaxed, and misbehavior tolerated or overlooked to a degree. A view of rumspringa has emerged in popular culture that this divergence from custom is an accepted part of adolescence or a rite of passage for Amish youth. Among the Amish who use this term, however, rumspringa simply refers to adolescence. During that time a certain amount of misbehavior is unsurprising and is not so severely condemned (for instance, by Meidung or shunning). Adults who have made a permanent and public commitment to the faith would be held to the higher standards of behavior defined in part by the Schleitheim and Dordrecht confessions[4]. In a narrow sense the young are not bound by the Ordnung because they have not taken adult membership in the church. Amish adolescents do remain however under the strict authority of parents who are bound to Ordnung, and there is no period when adolescents are formally "released" from these rules.[5][6][7]
A minority of Amish youth do diverge from established customs.[8] Some may be found:[9]
* Wearing non-traditional clothing and hair styles
* Driving vehicles instead of horse drawn buggies (for communities that eschew vehicles)
* Not attending home prayer
* Drinking, smoking, and/or drug use
They consider this 'rebellion' as a typical way of life during this age, so they allow it.
Strangely enough, most of them make the commitment to be baptised in the church and no longer partake of those things after making that decision.
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During rumspringa, they are allowed to drink, party, and drive cars. According to Wikipedia:
They consider this 'rebellion' as a typical way of life during this age, so they allow it.
Strangely enough, most of them make the commitment to be baptised in the church and no longer partake of those things after making that decision.
I just don't see that anywhere in the article you quoted. Supposing they would DISallow these things, how would they enforce it on the young adults?
It says some things are "tolerated or overlooked to a degree" but the reason is not permissiveness but lack of authority to control these wayward young adults.
The fact that they are "not so severely condemned (for instance, by Meidung or shunning)" speaks for it'self. Only wayward church members are shunned. IF, as occurs on occaision, a young person joins the Church at 15 or sixteen he/she is not given any additional liberties AT ALL during their rumspringa years, and is held to the same standards as the other church members.
__________________ "It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity." Dave Barry 2005
I am a firm believer in the Old Paths
Articles on such subjects as "The New Birth," will be accepted, whether they teach that the new birth takes place before baptism in water and Spirit, or that the new birth consists of baptism of water and Spirit. - THE PENTECOSTAL HERALD Dec. 1945
"It is doubtful if any Trinitarian Pentecostals have ever professed to believe in three gods, and Oneness Pentecostals should not claim that they do." - Daniel Segraves
I just don't see that anywhere in the article you quoted. Supposing they would DISallow these things, how would they enforce it on the young adults?
It says some things are "tolerated or overlooked to a degree" but the reason is not permissiveness but lack of authority to control these wayward young adults.
The fact that they are "not so severely condemned (for instance, by Meidung or shunning)" speaks for it'self. Only wayward church members are shunned. IF, as occurs on occaision, a young person joins the Church at 15 or sixteen he/she is not given any additional liberties AT ALL during their rumspringa years, and is held to the same standards as the other church members.
Brother, if you overlook or tolerate something your children are doing, you are allowing them to do whatever they are doing.
I have teenagers. Teenagers have mouths, and smart ones at that. I tolerate it and therefore allow it to a certain degree, but once they are of age, I will no longer tolerate nor allow it.
You have small children. I'm sure they whine, or did at some point. You tolerated it from them to a certain degree because that's what small children do, but there comes a time when whining isn't allowed nor tolerated, right?
It's the same with the Amish. I know you have a certain background considering your raising, but I also live in a large Amish community and have found out a lot about them since living here.
One thing I've learned is that if they buy a home that already has electricity, they can use it for up to three years, but then they have to turn it off. I'm not sure why that is.....LOL!
A couple years ago, I was shocked to find a TV, vacuum, and other electronics being sold at a garage sale at an Amish family home. I didn't have the guts to ask how they got all that stuff, but asked a friend who had Amish people for neighbors and she told me the above. She said it's funny when Amish families buy a new house because the lights stay on ALL THE TIME...except when the big guys are around, then they all go off, as to not offend them......LOL!
Did you read the article who's link I posted? More interesting info there. They state that 12% of all pregnancies happen during rumspringa. I found that shocking.
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I just don't see that anywhere in the article you quoted. Supposing they would DISallow these things, how would they enforce it on the young adults?
I didn't address the above in my previous post. Sorry.
They do disallow those things after a certain time when the decision to be baptized into the Amish church or to 'join the English' is to be made. Once they are baptized, shunning would occur if they partake of those things again. And by that age, they already know what shunning is, I'm sure. That's a big deterrent. Amazingly enough, most decide to be baptized and stay with their roots.
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I've gone and done it now! I'm on Facebook!!!
Brother, if you overlook or tolerate something your children are doing, you are allowing them to do whatever they are doing.
I have teenagers. Teenagers have mouths, and smart ones at that. I tolerate it and therefore allow it to a certain degree, but once they are of age, I will no longer tolerate nor allow it.
You have small children. I'm sure they whine, or did at some point. You tolerated it from them to a certain degree because that's what small children do, but there comes a time when whining isn't allowed nor tolerated, right?
It's the same with the Amish. I know you have a certain background considering your raising, but I also live in a large Amish community and have found out a lot about them since living here.
One thing I've learned is that if they buy a home that already has electricity, they can use it for up to three years, but then they have to turn it off. I'm not sure why that is.....LOL!
A couple years ago, I was shocked to find a TV, vacuum, and other electronics being sold at a garage sale at an Amish family home. I didn't have the guts to ask how they got all that stuff, but asked a friend who had Amish people for neighbors and she told me the above. She said it's funny when Amish families buy a new house because the lights stay on ALL THE TIME...except when the big guys are around, then they all go off, as to not offend them......LOL!
Did you read the article who's link I posted? More interesting info there. They state that 12% of all pregnancies happen during rumspringa. I found that shocking.
We lived in an Amish community and one of the houses when you went by the downstairs front room was lit up bright as day. They used gas lighting which was okay. The grocery stores and hardware stores where we lived even had hitching posts for the Amish to park their horses.
We lived in an Amish community and one of the houses when you went by the downstairs front room was lit up bright as day. They used gas lighting which was okay. The grocery stores and hardware stores where we lived even had hitching posts for the Amish to park their horses.
The local WalMart has two hitching posts for the horses.....LOL! And they also go to garage sales and such, parking where they can to avoid the cars in the way!
If they run a business, it has to be done outside the home, but can be on their property. They can have electricity for the business as well as a phone, but the phone cannot be in their home. They can have one in the garage, however, if that's where their business is.
They also have to have lights on their buggies for nighttime lighting. This is electricity with a battery, which is ok for them to have.
It's pretty funny the rules they live by and the ways in which technology allows them to loop around those rules.
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I've gone and done it now! I'm on Facebook!!!
Appeals court rules Texas acted improperly in seizing FLDS children
“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard ever his enemy from oppression”
~Thomas Pain, Disertation on the First Principles of Governent
Is Texas appealing? And if not, are the children going to be sent back?
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If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 KJV
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