"Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today." —Mark Twain
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According to this article,
Though the Amish generally do not accept help from outside their community, King [of Mennonite Disaster Service] quoted an Amish bishop as saying, "We are not asking for funds. In fact, it's wrong for us to ask. But we will accept them with humility."[Hat-tip to Raven]
posted by Always On Watch @ 10/09/2006 08:52:00 AM
24 comments
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24 Comments:
"it is G-d's will" that is what their community is saying. we will learn much about grace through this tragedy.
G-d is still good even though my heart is breaking for their families.
Amen, Nanc. The Amish have retainned that grace in spite of the pressures of this world. G*D will have a special mercy and comfort for them. I'm glad the non-Amish community has risen to support and protect them, especially from that leech phelps and his sick crew!
tmw
I'll take them at their word and refrain from offering any outside help. They've gotten enough of that recently.
>>
Are we not allowed to type the word "GOD" anymore?
Just try to stop me.
GOD BLESS those little girls who were murdered and the family and friends they leave behind....
....its' a "commandment thing" free... self-imposed. But your right. Prayers can't hurt.
ahh ok, gotcha
Cheers,
FP
Nanc is right..sigh...this tragedy just reminds us how vulnerable we all are..thanks for posting AOW.
This was a home grown act of terrorism on a taget known as gentle and quiet and most of all a community known not to be armed.
Its one of the saddest storyies of our life time.
The bastard that murdered those girls picked his target because he was a coward.
So rarely do the Amish accept help, it would be good of those who can to provide them with some.
Even more tragic is the Westboro "Baptist Church", who were set to twist the knife by protesting outside of the girls' funerals.
These guys are truly sick.
I'm glad that the local, PA radio talk show hostess donated the 1 hour, she did it to relieve the pressure of phelps and crew. She is a very generous person to try to protect the Amish community this way! she was going to make that cult sign a paper saying because they had an hour of radio time they would not show up at any of the funerals, and apparently there will be a 6th, one little girl was removed from life support and sent home to die with her family around her!
tmw
we never know what will befall one our babies when they're away from us - this may have seemed the norm at a big city public school until day after tomorrow when another may happen.
every time i depart from my children, i say, "go with G-d." and they repeat it back to me. i don't know what i'd do if my children did not have the Lord in their lives. the tears we've all been fighting back this week for this community will not go unnoticed by Him.
there are some great tributes out there today for these little ones.
The Amish do not carry medical insurance. Of course, this tragedy has resulted in HUGE medical bills. The outsider came in and brought with him death and medical bills.
The Amish themselves will, of course, take care of building another schoolhouse, if they decide that they don't want to use the building tainted with the blood of their children. I've heard that they may tear down or burn the building, but I don't believe a final decision on that has been made.
I hope that the SOB who did this is getting his flesh rended down in hell right now.
The photos of that sad funeral procession was so moving. These are such quiet, peaceful people. It's heartbreaking to see such evil visited upon them.
God bless them all.
I heard that they were collecting money for the family of the cowardly yet cold blooded killer.
Oh man. This story really messed me up.
the amish would not have us visit the sins of the killer on his family - there is a different lesson in this for all of us. i hope we learn it well.
the amish will take this horrid man's family and make them their own if allowed. how awfully painful it must be to fight back hatred when it is screaming to emerge.
i just know i would not be so forgiving. G-d help me and G-d help us all.
The Amish are right to not visit the sins of the man on his wife and innocent children! His family are victims too, they lost their husband, father, breadwinner and their name has been held up for everyone to spit on. What did they do? Yet they will pay the price for his sikness. The Amish recognize this, because they haven't cluttered their hearts and minds with hatred. A lesson for all of us, hate the Evil but don't hate the person, it poisons your own life! I learned that lesson the hard way many years ago, that root of bitterness is very hard to uproot. And when you do uproot it, you destroy everything that was planted or built over where it grew! It's a place best avoided!
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!
tmw
The Amish are able to forgive, "in their hearts." Is it easy for them to forgive, especially in an atrocity such as this one? Of course not, though it might look that way to us outsiders.
I know a bit about the Amish because my father was reared in the Church of the Brethren, an offshot from the Dunkards, an offshoot from the Mennonites. The Amish are, of course, the most closed of those groups and live apart from the world in a way conspicuous to us outsiders. I don't live that way, but the Amish take literally "Be in the world but not of the world"--right down to not using buttons on their clothes and to not having their photographs taken ("no graven images"). Every time I see a photo of the Amish, I think about their objection to those photos. For me, all those photographs adds another element to my personal sadness over this atrocity committed upon "the plain people." The faith and dignity with which they're facing this tragedy teaches all of us a lesson about spirituality.
Freecyprus asks: "Are we not allowed to type the name of God" anymore. It's also against the Jewis religion to type or write the entire name of God, that is why they write G*D or G-d.
The Amish show us what true forgiveness is all about and make me realize that I am lacking. I get so angry! But it is right for them not to visit the sins of this heartless and evil creep upon his family. I truly feel sorry for his wife and children and loved ones too. This has to be worse than horrible for them. God bless the Amish and especially the families of these poor innocent children who did absolutely nothing to deserve this.
I won't even write here what I feel about the Phelps family who wanted to picket their funerals and said that the girls deserved to be killed. They are as bad in their own way as the murderer!
Worse, Gayle, they seek to find any publicity. They are jackels and hyenas, always looking for the weak and distracted to devour! It's all about them,them, them, me,me,me. Childish behavior used to be disciplined out of a child before they went to school. Now the lack has become a pathology all it's own! To the detriment of society!
The girls are safe with their Creator, phelps and crew will not be, unless they repent.
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!
tmw
Thank goodness someone who wasn't Amish picked up a phone and called police.
KuhnKat,
If there is a Religion of Peace, these graceful people exemplify it!!
No doubt.
We have a small Mennonite population not too many miles from here. And one of my high-school friends reared as Roman Catholic converted to Mennonite and homeschooled her children. What attracted her to the Mennonites was their commitment to their faith and their "heart of a servant" attitude.
In general, the various Anabaptists are very quiet people and anachronisitic. But a kind of ananchronistic I can respect. We can take a lesson from them, as Gayle mentioned: The Amish show us what true forgiveness is all about and make me realize that I am lacking.
Few Anabaptists are as forgiving as the Amish, however. In my father's case (He was reared in an offshoot from the Mennonites), he'd forgive in his heart, but he'd also do shunning, after giving the required warning, of course. In fact, he shunned his own half-sister, but he went to her funeral to show that he'd forgiven her. Those outside our family who didn't understand my father's practice of his faith thought he was harsh. But as his daughter, I can tell you he wasn't. He was strict--mostly with himself. I can still remember Dad's insistence that he never violate the Sabbath. For example, he wouldn't cut or bale hay on Sunday, nor would he play baseball on the Sabbath. He didn't mind if others didn't follow his ways and passed no judgment, but kept the Sabbath according to his own conscience. And he didn't force ME to follow his strict keeping of the day, though I wasn't allowed to mow our lawn or harvest our garden as they were on our property. But he wouldn't stop me from going elsewhere to do tasks for others for pay (I don't recall doing that because I knew how Dad observed the Sabbath). He frowned upon doing homework on the Lord's Day, too; but he never told me, "Don't do that." He'd drive me to the Library of Congress to do research on a Sunday, but he wouldn't go inside. I know this two sets of rules sounds odd to outsiders, but it worked for our family.
BTW, I can recall several times when neighbors urged him to bale hay on Sunday because rain was in the forecast. He wouldn't allow the baling: "I don't bale on the Lord's day." And he never lost even one crop of hay. Not one! Keeping the Sabbath never "burned" him financially.
Gayle,
I won't even write here what I feel about the Phelps family who wanted to picket their funerals and said that the girls deserved to be killed. They are as bad in their own way as the murderer!
Agreed. I can't even imagine people sinking so low as to demonstrate at a FUNERAL. A funeral is not the time for outsiders to intrude. As TMW said, such lowlifes are jackels and hyenas.
Mr. Beamish,
I believe that the Amish allow for phones in outbuildings.
My paternal grandmother--not Amish, but similar--didn't like the telephone. She said, "It interferes with tending the sick." I suppose that she must have used the phone, but she wasn't fond of it. I can just imagine what she'd have said about blogging! ;)
Amen FreeCyprus...lovely post AOW...and yes we believers will continue praying ..even for our enemies..sigh.
WHT,
Funny thing about prayer...When one prays for one's enemies, one stops hating that enemy. We understand the depth of meaning in "Hate the sin but not the sinner" when our souls reach out to the Lord.
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