Do Amish People Drink Alcohol?
Today I am addressing the question, "Do the Amish drink alcohol?" As with a lot of questions regarding the Amish, there is not one cut-and-dry answer. The truth is that some Amish people drink alcohol and some don't. There are many differences in Amish groups.
Since the Amish try to abstain from the things of the world, it would make sense that they would not be allowed to drink alcohol. So you might have thought that the answer to this question would be "No, they don't drink alcohol."
However, I am here to give you the facts and answer the questions. I started my blog to give facts because I know that a lot of people have questions about the Amish people.
I grew up Amish and left the Amish, but I try to remain unbiased with the information that I share.
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Old Order Amish and Alcohol During Rumspringa
I'm sure that many of you are familiar with the term "Rumspringa". Beginning at the age of sixteen, there is a period of time when many of the Old Order Amish teenagers (who are not members of the church yet) are permitted to "sow their wild oats".
They are allowed (although not encouraged) to experience life outside of their strict Amish rules before they decide to settle down and join the church.
Many young men get a driver's license and buy a car. They can wear store-bought clothing, etc. Most of them still live at home during this time, but there's lots of drinking, partying with their friends, and dating.
Lots of Amish young people drink alcohol during this time. And sometimes it creates problems. But sooner or later they get tired of this lifestyle and give up their worldly freedoms. They have to be a member of the church if they want to get married as Amish. So most of them decide to settle down, join the church, and get married.
Do the Amish Youth Give up the Alcohol When They Join the Church?
Some of the Amish young people make a huge change when they decide to join the church, and they quit drinking alcohol, sell their cars, etc. They give it all up and become upstanding members of the church.
Others have a harder time giving it all up. And, even though drinking alcohol is discouraged in most Amish churches, many of them don't have a hard set rule against it.
Although, you won't typically see an Old Order Amish member of the church in a bar or drinking a can of beer. It's highly discouraged in most groups. So if they do drink (the majority of them don't), it's usually behind their closed doors.
Schwartzentruber Amish and Alcohol
I grew up in the heart of Amish country in Lancaster County, PA. The only Amish in that area were Old Order or New Order, and I never (in my 25 years of living there) saw a married Amish person leave a store with cases of beer.
But I live in Missouri now, and we are surrounded by Swartzentruber Amish. Obviously, they have no rules against drinking alcohol because it's very common to see Amish men leave the grocery store with several cases of beer in their cart.
I was pretty shocked the first time I saw this because I didn't know that any Amish church members would openly drink alcohol.
The Swartzentruber Amish are stricter on many things, such as having no indoor plumbing, no motors, etc. But sadly, it seems that the stricter the Amish are, the more darkness is in their community.
New Order Amish Are An Exception
Drinking alcohol is strictly forbidden in the New Order Amish churches.
One of the reasons that the New Order split off from the Old Order church was because they didn't want their young people to go through "Rumspringa". They didn't want anything to do with alcohol or tobacco, and both of these are forbidden in the New Order Amish groups.
The same is true for the Beachy Amish/conservative Mennonites as well. They also have rules against alcohol and tobacco use.
Can Amish Drink Alcohol?
I think many of us could agree that the world would be a better place without alcohol and drunkenness.
And because of their strict rules and trying to follow the Bible, it is surprising that any Amish churches allow alcohol consumption and tobacco use. But it's another one of their inconsistencies. The church leaders make the rules. And if the bishop likes to drink alcohol, he probably won't make a rule against it.
So in answer to the question concerning alcohol, "Yes, some of the Amish drink alcohol."
"Are the Amish allowed to drink alcohol?" Some of them are not allowed to. Others are strongly discouraged from drinking alcohol. But a few groups seem to have no problem with it.
So it all depends on the Amish community or even the individual. Some of your Amish neighbors might have a problem with alcohol, and others would be abhorred by the idea of drinking it.
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James
Great article. The folks who read most Amish novels are missing out on a lot of facts.
I had to research the alcohol question for my own novel recently, and learned they sometimes make their own beer and wine.
One thing is for sure about the Amish: everyone else could learn many positive aspects of how to live a grateful life.
Daniel Stolszfus
While visiting an old order couple the bedroom door was opened. There was a bottle of Jack Daniels on a dresser and a few other that looked like whiskey bottles.
Sol
Thank you for sharing this information. I admire the Amish-to remain apart from this world for so long says they have something very special going on and I think the Almighty protects them. They are an example to all of us.
Janice Fredericks
I don’t care if they drink or don’t use ambulances. I care about how they treat God’s creatures. Someday we will be held accountable Hebrews 4:13
God has compassion on all He has made ps145:9.
Ps 150:6 says to ‘let everything that has breath praise the Lord’
Will Schrock
My grandparents were Amish. At my grandmother’s funeral I remember some of her Amish family members drinking outside the home . It surprised me because it was never allowed by my family.