FORGIVENESS: The Possibility of AN ALTERNATIVE PARADIGM TO VENGEANCE

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FORGIVENESS (The Possibility of) AN ALTERNATIVE
PARADIGM TO VENGEANCE
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A Lexis-Nexis search (three weeks after the
school shooting on the morning of Oct. 2, 2006 at
the West Nickle Mines School, in Lancaster County
Pennsylvania) uncovered 2,900 news stories
worldwide with the phrase Amish forgiveness.
The phrase also appeared on 534,000 web sites.
Why?
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• The Amish response to the death of their children
  included expressions of forgiveness to the family
  of the shooter. This reaction directly
  contradicts a core element of our culture.
  Individualism and more specifically individual
  rights. The Amish response is baffling to so
  many, in part, because it is so counter cultural.

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• THREE IMAGES Dirk Willems Anabaptist Martyr,
  Earl Miller Living Room Drawing of Favorite
  Place, Amish School
• Three forces are at work in the Amish case a
  religious tradition, family and community.

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The Anabaptists and their descendents have been a
counter cultural force since the 16th Century
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• But now, this is what the Lord says
• he who created you, 0 Jacob,
• he who formed you, 0 Israel
• "Fear not, for I have redeemed you
• I have called you by name you are mine.
• When you pass through the waters,
• I will be with you
• and when you pass through rivers,
• they will not sweep over you.
• When you walk through the fire,
• you will not be burned
• the flames will not set you ablaze.
• For I am the Lord, your God,
• the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."
• -Isaiah 431-3a (NIV)

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Earl Millers Favorite Place in the World The
Living Room at Home
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Amish Origins

• A. 1525 Anabaptist Movement in Europe
• B. Amish Division of 1693 Jacob Ammann
• C. Began to come to N. America in 18th century

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2007

• 370 Distinct Amish Settlements in 27 States in
  the US and Ontario
• 220,000 Amish
• 90 of Amish Children remain in the church as
  adults

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The Essentials of the Amish Worldview

• 1. Gelassenheit/humility
• 2. Symbolic separation
• 3. Gemee agent of social control and grace
• 4. Tradition

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• Gelassenheit to submit to the will of the
  community, to give up ones individuality for a
  greater good
• All of life reflects this basic tenet The way
  one talks, enters a building with others, plays a
  game, or responds to violence

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2. Symbolic separation

• Two Kingdoms
• Peculiar people royal priesthood who are not to
  be unequally yoked together with unbelievers,
  must live separate from the blind, perverted
  world to be in the world and not of it
• World/English and the Amish
• Boundary between the two is what is critical

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3. Gemee agent of social control and grace

• Church District provides spiritual and physical
  sustenance
• gives the church a great deal of power
• means that church is supposed to be the primary
  source of aid, not an institution like an
  insurance company

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4. Tradition

• Stability and gradual change are preferred to
  change and rapid progress
• The way we have always done things does not
  need to be explained
• The past is revered and the future is uncertain

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Child Development
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• Infancy, Early Childhood
• Training for Gelassenheit begins at a very early
  age
• Scholars
• Child enters an environment that has a very
  different set of values than a public school
• The discourse of silence
• Child learns most by observing

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Amish Schools

• A response to the consolidation of public schools
• Series of bitter legal battles, resulting the
  Supreme Court Case Yoder v. Wisconsin, 1971

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• Chief Justice Warren Berger- almost 300 years of
  consistent practice, and strong evidence of a
  sustained faith pervading and regulating
  respondents entire mode of life support the
  claim that enforcement of the States requirement
  of compulsory education after the eighth grade
  would endanger if not destroy the free exercise
  of respondents religious beliefs.

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How is an Amish School different than a public
school?

• Organization
• Size
• Intentional teaching of a particular set of
  values

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Objections to Public Schools

• Amish schools keep children in the Kingdom of
  God
• Public schools teach much more than basic skills
• individualism,nationalism,critical thinking,and
  fitting into a hierarchical (bureaucratic)
  organization
• Public schools are distant and may provide an
  uncontrolled lure by non-Amish peers

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• Public schools do not adjust to the rhythm of
  community life weddings, funerals, special
  holidays
• Believe in separation of church and state but
  values should be taught in school

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What do parents expect?

• Children will learn English
• Consistency with home
• No taboo subjects
• A neat, tidy, ordered environment

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• Schools reinforce what is taught in the home.
• The child who will not argue during recess about
  who was out at 2nd base, is also observing
  parents who do not retaliate when they are
  harassed.

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Amish children are keen observers of the world
around them 6th and 7th grade sisters,
independent drawings of their home
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• It is possible to teach children an alternative
  strategy (than fight or flight) for reconciling
  differences with others.