Encyclopedia of Opinion
Question
What do Christians believe?
Position‹7 of 7
Amish Christians
Argument‹7 of 7

Amish Holy books

The Holy Bible is the only religious text the Amish believe in.

The argument

The Bible is the divinely inspired and infallible word of God revealing God and his will. The Amish community is traditional and attempts to follow Jesus's examples in as many things in life as possible. For example, they introduced foot washing into the church services, following what Jesus did. They believe that one needs to dedicate to living a godly lifestyle.

Premises

[P1]The Amish hold the Bible to be the divinely inspired and infallible word of God, revealing God and his will. [P2] Their traditional community tries to follow Jesus's own example as closely as possible, even introducing foot washing into church services as he did. [P3] They believe a Christian must dedicate themselves to living a godly lifestyle. [C] Therefore, these beliefs about the Bible and godly living are part of what Amish Christians believe.

Counter-arguments

A framing objection notes that the beliefs described here — the Bible as the inspired, infallible word of God, and a commitment to godly living — are common to conservative Protestantism broadly and are not distinctively Amish. Foot-washing and imitating Jesus are shared across Anabaptist and several other traditions. On this view the entry, though accurate, describes general Christian belief rather than what actually sets the Amish apart: the Ordnung, the ethic of Gelassenheit (yieldedness), nonresistance, adult baptism and separation from the modern world. As an account of specifically Amish belief it is thin and under-specified.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Holding the Bible to be the inspired, infallible word of God is common to conservative Protestantism generally, not a distinctively Amish belief. [Rejecting P2] Foot-washing and imitating Jesus are shared across Anabaptist and other traditions; they don't capture what sets the Amish apart (the Ordnung, Gelassenheit, nonresistance, separation from the world). [Rejecting P3] 'Dedicating oneself to a godly lifestyle' is a general Christian aspiration, so the entry describes broad Christian belief rather than the specifics of Amish faith.