A recent article caught my eye having to do with the Amish and technology wherein the author makes the provocative point that we can actually learn something from the Amish when it comes to technology use. Writing for Psyche, Alex Mayyasi outlines various Amish strategies for a more tech-savvy life. For example, picking up on Kevin Kelly’s book What Technology Wants he echoes Kelly’s conclusion that the Amish offer an “honorable alternative” to the tech-addicted culture of our day:
The foundation of this ‘honourable alternative’ is to not adopt every single new technology, or use cars, phones and social media as soon as they become the norm. Instead, the Amish make slow and deliberate decisions as a collective. Rather than rushing optimistically or blindly into the future, they move forward cautiously, open but sceptical.
The ‘caution’ and ‘skepticism’ with technology use is born out of a certain ethos the Amish work hard to cultivate: “the Amish ethos places prime value on family and neighbourly life. It also strives to maintain a separation from the world.” If there is a battle between technology and family/community then tech loses. And being always connected to technology makes it hard to be separate from the world. With an ethos like this it is easy to see how the Amish are not overrun with technology.
Perhaps the best strategy offered, however, was toward the end of the article when Mayyasi seems to step back and see that it’s not really about some practical “how-to” that gives the Amish freedom from the tyranny of tech. It’s something greater:
Above all, decide to be OK with seeming eccentric. The Amish’s unusual approach has allowed them to survive for centuries, even while other cooperatives and intentional communities fall by the wayside.
Eccentricity as a way of survival. That’s a bold claim, and one Christians would do well to embrace.
CHRISTIANS AS ECCENTRICS
Eccentric (used as a noun) refers to a person who is unconventional while holding views that are, and exhibiting behavior that is, deemed slightly strange. When we say something like, “He’s an engaging eccentric” we mean that he’s something of a curiosity even if likable. Christians of all people should be seen as eccentric. After all, we are happily unconventional and, if we’re honest, hold some strange (according to the world) beliefs and practices. Let’s consider several of each.
BELIEFS
We believe in a holy Creator-God—a divine being who created the heavens and the earth. More strange: we believe this one God exists in three persons. Indeed, Christians are a trinitarian people.
We believe the whole human race fell into sin through the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve. This “fall” makes the whole human race guilty before this holy God and in need of forgiveness for our corporate rebellion against him.
We believe the good news that God sent forth his Son, Jesus Christ, to fulfill God’s perfect law on our behalf and pay the penalty due our sin. We believe in the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ for sinners. We believe that after his death on the cross he rose bodily from the grave and ascended into heaven where he even now rules and reigns as the victorious King of all the earth. We believe that Jesus is coming again to consummate his kingdom, judge the world in righteousness, and usher in the new heavens and new earth.
We believe that this good news becomes good news for us through faith alone. Upon conversion we believe we’ve been given the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance with Christ through a true spiritual union with him.
We believe all of this (and much more) is included in the Bible, the inspired Word of God [read: God-breathed]. Because the Bible is ultimately a product of God’s Spirit (i.e., ‘inspired’), we believe it is inerrant, authoritative, clear, and sufficient.
PRACTICES
We gather at least once a week on Sunday in local churches and worship this God corporately. These meetings always include singing and praying and the exposition of a passage from the Bible.
We baptize people upon profession of faith by immersing them fully under water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.1
We come to the Lord’s Table often to eat bread and drink grape juice (or other fruit of the vine) in the grace-giving ordinance of remembering the Lord’s body broken and blood shed for us.
We set apart time in a day to read the Bible and pray alone and with our families.
Some of us even join small groups of people from our local church that meet regularly to further encourage and equip one another for godly living—the practice of putting to death sin in our lives while putting on the virtues of Christ.
These are just some of the beliefs and practices that make us eccentric. Indeed, the world should look at Christians and see an unconventional people.
SALT & LIGHT OR STICK-BUGS?
A stick-bug is an amazing insect. It has a natural camouflage allowing itself to go undetected by would-be predators or others. Like a leaf insect, stick-bugs blend into their surroundings such that they are almost unrecognizable from the stick or twig they’re crawling along.
Christians are not like stick-bugs. We are designed to stand out—to not blend in with our surroundings. We are to be detectible, remarkable, distinct like salt and explicit like light. Jesus intends for his followers to be obvious to a watching world,
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16).
The church is not called to a life of camouflage. Our natural instinct is to be known for Christ as we labor to bring the love of Christ to the world. The Apostle Paul picked up on the image of light to encourage the Philippians in their calling to stand out:
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:14-15).
‘Shining as lights’ in a ‘crooked and twisted generation’ will look eccentric. We will be out-of-step with the culture. We will be accused of having some very strange beliefs and practices. But could it be that our eccentricity will be our survival? And not only our survival, but the very means of the advance of the gospel in our day?
Pastors are called to be eccentrics even as they lead an eccentric people. Are you OK with being seen as eccentric? Or, are you far too comfortable simply blending in, going happily through life undetected not knowing that assimilation is of the devil?
Pastoral ministry does not require you to become a Luddite (or Amish), but it does require an unconventional life.
Calling all eccentrics to this glorious work.
My Presbyterian and Reformed brothers and sisters will have to make translations here.