Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 2
Michael said he always believed “the Amish were right,” and the main question was “which church was the right church”; how did that assumption shape his view of God and salvation, and where did it begin to crack as he read Anabaptist history and early church sources?
Another way to ask: Michael assumed the Amish were right and the only question was which Amish church was the right one. How did that shape what he thought about God and being saved, and what started to change when he read early church and Anabaptist history?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
His assumption turned faith into a search for the correct Amish group and its rules, leaving salvation unclear and uncertain. It began to crack when he saw early Anabaptists aiming to follow Scripture rather than “commandments of man,” and when he encountered teaching that sins can truly be forgiven and known.
- Michael says, “I always still believed that the Amish were right…just…which church was the right church.”
- He grew up with the idea that “we could not really know if we were saved or not,” and he didn’t know “how I knew when and for sure.”
- Reading Anabaptist history (Ben Blank) started as curiosity about “where we came from,” not a critique of Amish culture.
- Andrew St. Marie’s material and David Brousseau’s books challenged him, seeing early believers “used the Bible for their guidelines…not just the commandments of man.”
- *Walking in the Resurrection* and its scriptural backing convicted him about excommunication and pushed him toward deeper biblical categories.