Crossing Over

Ruth Irene Garrett with Rick Farrant

    Garrett describes her choice to leave her Old Order Amish community to marry Ottie, a man with a lively personality who was twice her age.  She knew him through his work as a driver for the Amish and a patient of her mother, a reflexologist.
    Garrett describes her fond memories, such as playing "horse and buggy" as a child, serving as a teacher, and love for her mother, as well as some of the problems within the Amish community.  The Amish, who consider themselves Christian, trace their roots to the Anabaptist movement and the teachings of Jacob Ammann.  Some of the doctrinal issues include absence of the assurance of salvation, omission of the Great Commission, a focus on tradition and man-made rules such as the Ordnung, and a reliance on works to be saved, rather than the grace of God through the work of Christ Jesus.  Garrett mentions that if many Amish are asked whether they will go to heaven, they will reply, "That's God's choice."  She also describes how Amish are discouraged from reading the Bible and conduct church services and pray in German, even comparing this to the practices of the pre-Reformation Catholic Church.  On a more personal level, she relates her experiences with a father who ridiculed and raged at his wife and children, at times physically punishing them out of unmerited anger.
     Overall, it appears to me that Garrett found sounder doctrine after leaving the Amish.  She refutes each of the points of false doctrine listed above.  As well as the aid of a Lutheran church, a key reason for this knowledge is her dedicated study of the Bible.  I do think, however, that Jeremiah 48:10, "A curse upon him who is lax in doing the Lord's work!  A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!" deserves more context when Garrett uses it as a proof passage against pacification.  The prophet speaks about God's judgment upon unbelieving Moab through the swords of the unbelieving Babylonians.  While this passage may be related to the topic, I believe there are clearer passages in the Bible, such as commands to the Israelites to fight wars, which directly address the topic of Christians serving as soldiers.  Her use of 1 John 3:16 on the same topic is beautiful, an encouragement for all our current military members and veterans.
     She does, however, describe how she rationalized sleeping with Ottie before marrying him, as well as arguing that divorce is better than living together and hating one another.  I believe this helped me understand how confusing it must be to know that a church has false doctrine, but then not know what to throw out and what to keep.  In addition, Ottie had been married 3 times before, and she describes her new Lutheran pastor's reaction to this only as one of acceptance, mentioning that the sin of divorce is not unforgivable.  While this is certainly true, in the spirit of Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, I hope that the pastor also discussed the importance of marriage, the fact that divorce is a sin, and possibly repentance.
     One part that struck me was on page 123:  "With the Amish, it was the Amish first.  With the Lutherans, it was God first.  Faith to the Lutherans was a relationship with God, not with an institution."  For those of us in the WELS, I think this is a good reminder.  While this could appear to border on the side of not caring about doctrine and saying all Christians should just be one big happy family, she shows in the book that she cares about doctrine.  It is true that we are loyal to God and the Bible first, not our denomination.  Would she have this impression in the WELS?