Actually besides a few of mans modern inventions they are living in the 18 hundreds and are doing a fine job at it. That in itself are milestones and they have funny outlooks to medical procedures like going to Mexico for example but other than that they do pretty well.
Looks like this is a very old thread that got bumped.
It's a curious thing, Americans' fascination with the Amish. Even leftist secularists give them a pass when normally they're very critical of Christians. I appreciate that Amish are peaceable and keep to themselves, are hard-working and industrious. But believe me, they are not the best examples of perfect Christians. In fact they are far from it.
Amish are highly legalistic. Highly, HIGHLY legalistic. They are in fact much like the Pharisees of old. They have rules for "godliness" that are peculiar to say the least.
Buttons. Musical instruments. Hair.
Electricity. Dolls with faces. Colors and are acceptable and unacceptable.
None of these things are in the Bible of course; they're all what we call "extra-Biblical", and they're all highly regulated by the "patriarchal" establishment in the church. But worse, so much worse, if you refuse to tow that extra-Biblical line, you are "shunned". And by shunned, I mean shunned. You are cut off from your family and community--the only one you have ever known.
So when I think of the Amish, I really do not think of JUST peaceable and industrious people living quietly. I also think of highly oppressed and regulated people living under the thumbs of dictatorial religious leaders who make their own rules up "as they go". And enforce them with "shunnings".
My grandfather left the Amish and joined the Conservative Conference Mennonites as a young man precisely because he saw the corruption among the young who looked righteous on the outside but were not redeemed on the inside. That means I have Amish relatives and if you put me in the right clothes I would fit in. Yes, they are very disciplined, and very Germanic in their enterprises. That means when they build something, it's built well. They are legalistic, but they do really try to live by the code they preach.