Every chapter of Why Be Plain? begins with a fictitious conversation between two young Plain men, cousins Dan and Steve, who have decided not to join their parents’ Plain churches. Their conversations always include typical reasons used by Plain people who leave Plain churches, which Weaver and Zimmerman then address in the remainder of each chapter.
The final chapter of Why Be Plain? contains another fictitious conversation between Dan and Steve, but this time it is 50 years later. Now they are both elderly men who look back with regret at the decisions they made as young men not to be Plain. They both admit that the real reason they left their Plain lives was because they wanted cars, cell phones and electricity (pp. 200, 206). And the results have been disastrous. Weaver and Zimmerman weave a story about Dan and Steve’s post-Plain lives in which everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong. From church splits, family strife, divorce, wayward children, to a tragic death and an adulterous remarriage, Dan and Steve have been through it all. If they had remained Plain, presumably none of those negative things would have happened.
Their story, of course, is entirely fictitious, and it only serves to affirm all the previous chapters. Weaver and Zimmerman continue to write about “guidelines,” the “world’s possessions,” and Plain “nonconformity,” reminding readers that only Plain churches are “Scriptural” and “Biblical.” The whole chapter is designed, as is the entire book, to persuade Plain people to remain Plain. If they don’t, they will end up like Dan and Steve.
Of course, anyone can write a fictitious story, but real stories are more persuasive. I personally know many people who have left Plain churches to follow Jesus, and they are enjoying all the blessings of those who follow Jesus. Their marriages, families, careers and businesses are blessed. They are raising their children to follow Christ, but without hundreds of man-made rules and fence laws. Their adult children have followed their example and are raising their grandchildren in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). They are letting their lights shine and are influencing others to become Christ’s followers. And that is the life I’ve been enjoying for decades. I wouldn’t trade it for anything except heaven!
Since Weaver and Zimmerman finish their book with a fictitious story, I’ve decided to write one too. I hope you enjoy it.
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Dan was surprised to hear the sound of an automobile pull up in front of his house that Saturday morning. “Who could it be?” he wondered to himself. He walked into the kitchen where his wife of 42 years, Fannie, was just getting the coffee pot brewing over her wood-burning stove. Dan pulled back the white curtain hanging at the kitchen window to look outside. Stepping out of a white SUV was a nicely dressed, gray-haired man who, after briefly looking over a few of the large trees in the front yard, walked towards the house.
Dan made it to the front door and opened it just as the stranger was about to knock, which caught the visitor by surprise. But when his eyes met Dan’s, he smiled and said, “Bishop Dan! So good to see you!” This time Dan was caught by surprise. “How do you know who I am?” he asked.
“Well,” the stranger replied, “I’ve only known you for 63 years! Maybe you don’t remember the times we went fishing at your grandfather’s pond, or when I helped you do your chores, or when we both had our eyes on a girl named Fannie?”
Dan was stunned. Could it be his closest childhood friend, Steve Byler? His eyes opened wider and his jaw dropped in shock. “Steve?” he asked. “Stevie Byler?”
“You got it!” Steve replied with a laugh. “I’ll bet you never thought you’d see me again. I was in the area for the first time in a long time, and thought I’d take a chance and see if you and Fannie still lived in the same old house. And here you are!”
“Yes, we’ve lived in this house now for a little over 40 years. Raised all seven children here.”
“Wow! Do you have time to visit for a little while?”
“Sure! I can’t allow you inside of course,” Dan replied with a knowing look, “but we can visit out on the porch.”
“That would be great,” Steve replied.
“Take that rocking chair, and I’ll be right back after I tell Fannie to bring us both a cup of coffee.”
As Dan went inside, Steve took his seat and looked out over the property. Nothing had changed since the last time he’d been there decades ago, except that the oak trees were much taller and the barn siding was quite weathered. Steve overheard some tense conversation coming from the kitchen, but he couldn’t make out the words. After a few minutes, Dan came out with two cups of coffee.
“Do you still drink yours black?” Dan asked.
“I do,” Steve replied. “You and I had many early-morning cups of coffee riding together all over this county when we worked together on Jake’s carpentry crew. That was a long time ago.”
“It sure was,” Dan replied with a sigh. “So what have been up to since you ran away from us? I heard you moved to Kentucky.”
“Yes, we did relocate to Kentucky, and we’re still there. But just for the record, we didn’t run away.” Steve paused for a moment and stared at the porch floor as he thought about his next words. “You may recall that a fellow named Bishop Dan excommunicated us. After that, we didn’t feel very welcome around these parts, so we headed to Kentucky where Mary had some relatives who had also been excommunicated.”
Steve then looked over at Dan, whom he noticed was now himself looking at the porch floor. “And we started our lives over. Mary and I have never heard from anyone here again, including our parents and most of our siblings. But God has taken good care of us. We’ve raised five wonderful children who have given us eighteen grandchildren so far. We live on ten acres outside of Lexington.”
Both men sat in awkward silence for a minute, until Dan finally responded with a deep sigh. “Steve, that was a horrible time, and God knows how difficult it was for all of us. I never dreamed I would have to excommunicate my closest childhood friend. I don’t think I slept for weeks. But we had to do it. We did what we had to do. I kept hoping you and Mary would come back to the church and confess. When I heard that you had moved to Kentucky, I felt a terrible ache in my heart. To be honest, that ache has never left me. But there have been so many others who’ve left since then. Now it’s layers of aches in my heart. I often wish God hadn’t called me to be a bishop.” Dan paused, sighing again while still staring at the porch floor. “But we have to do what the Lord expects of us. We can’t allow disharmony in the church.”
The two men again sat in silence.
Finally, Steve spoke up. “I’ll admit, I was stubborn. But I just couldn’t see the sense in not being permitted to use power tools on my carpentry jobs. We had to compete with the English crews, and we could only lower our wages so much. I told the boys on our crew to keep quiet about the power tools we were buying. When you found out and confronted me, I was sorry. But when I searched the Bible to find something that would lead to me to think power tools were worldly, I couldn’t find anything. That’s when I dug my heels in. I just wanted to make a living to support my family.”
“Believe me, I remember every detail like it was yesterday,” Dan replied. “I even tried to rally some support to change the ordnung, but none of the other bishops would budge.”
Steve nodded his head to show his understanding. “Can I ask a question?”
“Of course.”
“Nowadays, are carpenters in the community allowed to use power tools?”
“Yes. It’s been that way for at least fifteen years.”
Steve sighed. “I see. I guess I was just born too soon.”
The two men again sat in silence, until Dan spun his rocking chair to face Steve and look directly at him. “I’m so sorry. I wish it had never happened.”
“Me too. Mary and I left crushed. Our hearts were broken. But there’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, and to be honest, that’s one reason I came to see you today.”
“What is it?”
“God redeemed what happened, and when I look back now, I thank God for it all. Our excommunication started a journey that I wouldn’t trade the world for. In our deep disillusionment of losing all our family members and friends, Mary and I drew close to one another, and together, we drew close to God. We started reading our Bible together, and we discovered truths that changed our lives. The biggest truth was that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us, and He promised if we would believe in Him, we would experience new life and eternal life.” Steve paused to look at Dan to assess his interest.
“When we believed, we were born again. It radically altered our lives. We got involved in a wonderful church in Lexington where the Bible is faithfully preached and that is full of other born-again believers who love the Lord. We’ve raised our children to serve Him, and now they are raising our grandchildren to serve the Lord as well. We all live within 20 minutes of each other. Our lives are full of joy. And it all started when you excommunicated us. So, my old friend, although this is going to sound strange to you, thank you.”
Dan desperately tried to process what he’d just heard. Steve must be deceived. He’s worldly. He’s driving a car. He isn’t wearing Plain clothing. He has a phone that he’s placed on the porch railing. Dan suddenly found himself blurting out, “But you broke your vows to the church!”
Steve put his hands together and brought them up to his chin. “That’s not the worst thing I’ve done, and you, Bishop Dan, are certainly aware of that. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, you were right with me many times when we did things we both knew were against the ordnung and the Bible. I’ve sinned many times. That is why I needed a Savior. And when I made Jesus my Lord, believing in Him, He not only forgave me for everything I’ve done, He also came to live in me by His Holy Spirit. He freed me from my slavery to sin. He empowered me to obey His commandments. And He taught me that man-made rules are only needed for people who don’t love Him, because He said that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments.
“And this one is going to shock you, Dan, but one of the things God forgave me of was for making vows to any church or ordnung. You won’t find anyone doing that in the Bible or any apostle advocating it. It’s just a man-made tradition. When I made Jesus my Lord, I made a vow in my heart to follow Him alone. So I tore down the biggest idol in my life, the thing that controlled my life up until that point—the ordnung.”
Feeling awkward, Dan looked away as he shifted his rocking chair back to its original position. He took a long drink from his half-empty coffee cup. “Well, I’m glad you’ve found something that makes you happy. I’m quite content with what I’ve got, and as bishop, my job is to keep harmony and unity in the church.”
“But what about all those people who’ve left, and all those whom you’ve excommunicated over the past decades? All the families, like ours, that have been shattered? That doesn’t sound like harmony. What about your own children? Are all seven still living nearby?”
“Actually, no,” Dan hesitantly replied. “Only one is in the area about thirty minutes from here. She and her husband are in a different church district. We get to see them and their three children fairly often.”
“What about the other six?”
“Well, they’re scattered about. You know how restless we Amish are. Two are in Missouri, one is in Pennsylvania, and one is in Indiana.”
Steve did some quick mental math. That was four, not six. “Are they all still Old Order?”
Again, Dan paused before he answered. “No, the two in Missouri are Mennonite, and the one in Pennsylvania is part of what he calls a ‘house church.’ He goes on mission trips to Africa every year and thinks he’s more spiritual than we are. All of them broke their vows to the church, and all of them drive cars. Out of love, we’re shunning them in hopes they will be shamed and repent.”
“What about the one in Indiana?”
“She and her husband attend a Baptist church. They wrote telling us that they attend two church services and one Bible study every week, but I’m afraid they are also in the world. We’re praying for them.”
“But what about the other two? You haven’t mentioned where they live.”
“We don’t know where they live. We haven’t seen or heard from either in years.”
“What happened?”
“They are our two youngest sons. Both were rebellious as children. They always wanted the world’s possessions. They both left home when they turned 18. We’re praying for them too. And we’ve mailed all six of our wayward children copies of a book titled Why Be Plain? It explains the scriptural basis for all that we believe and why we do what we do.”
Steve bit his lip as he wondered what he should say next. Then he found the inner courage to proceed. “Dan, you and Fannie are estranged from most of your children only because of Plain culture that is regulated by the ordnung. Most of my and Mary’s family members are shunning us because of the ordnung. You can’t invite me inside your house because of the ordnung. Your wife, Fannie, whom I haven’t seen in years, seems to be remaining inside because of the ordnung. You are violating the ordnung by talking to me about spiritual matters, and I’ll bet you’ve already been worrying about someone seeing us have this conversation. Yet you say the ordnung helps to keep unity and harmony in the church. Does it seem like that is what is happening?”
Dan decided it was time to change the subject. “Are you still doing carpentry work?”
“No,” Steve replied. After we moved to Kentucky, I got my GED and then starting taking evening classes at the local community college while I worked daytime doing carpentry. I eventually became a pediatric nurse. Now I work part-time in a Lexington hospital and part-time in a rural clinic right in the heart of a large Amish community. That gives me an opportunity to serve our people and to let my light shine.”
“That’s interesting,” Dan replied. So, you have a lot of patients who are Amish children?”
“I certainly do. I know you are aware of the special issues among our people since they all descend from about 200 families. We see children with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, snip 1, Troyer syndrome, Mast syndrome, hemochromatosis, Yoder’s dystonia, propionic acidemia, oral facial clefting, thyroid dishormonogenesis, coenzyme Q10 deficiency, spastic ataxia, cystic fibrosis, cartilage hair hypoplasia, galactosemia, mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, primary microcephaly 6, and statin induced myopathy. You may have heard of some of those. Most of our people carry genes for two to six of those disorders. But they are mostly recessive genes rather than dominant ones, so you have to have two copies—one from the father and one from the mother—to affect the children. But they are occurring with increased frequency.”
“Yes, I know we sometimes can’t understand God’s will, can we? We just have to accept it.”
“Actually, you can also thank the ordnung for all those genetic disorders among our children. Because our people are only permitted to marry our people, the likelihood of genetic disorders increases substantially. And it’s not God’s will. If I thought it was, I wouldn’t be trying to help those children and their amazing parents. But what motivated me to become a pediatric nurse was the love that God put in my heart once I was born again. I love to serve people, especially children. Two of our children are following in my footsteps into the field of medicine. One is considering working at a medical clinic in a very poor part of rural Africa.”
Dan was again at a loss for words. Just then, a horse-drawn buggy drove by on the road connected to his driveway. Dan recognized the horse, and he instinctively dipped his head while reaching up to pull his hat down over his forehead, waiting for the sound of the horse’s hoofs to fade.
“See what I mean?” Steve gently said. “Do you realize that you could be reconciled with all of your children, their spouses, and your grandchildren if you would simply do what the Bible teaches instead of what the ordnung teaches? It sounds like five of your children are serving the Lord—maybe not according to the ordnung, but according to the Bible.”
Dan listened in silence. The thought of actually enjoying relationships with his children and grandchildren was almost overwhelming.
“And there is something else you should know. Your two youngest sons live in Lexington. When they left you, they tracked me and Mary down, and they lived with our family for several months until they got on their feet. They are both doing well. They are both married and have children. They both attend the same church as Mary and I do along with all our children and grandchildren. They both would love to have a relationship with their parents. They would love for their children to have a relationship with their grandparents. But they know that is not possible. They knew I would be visiting you today, and they both told me to tell you and Fannie that they love and miss you.”
With that, Dan broke. Leaning forward, he put his head in his hands and began crying. Soon he was sobbing uncontrollably, and he couldn’t stop no matter how hard he tried. Steve just watched in silence. It went on for ten minutes.
Finally, Dan looked up through his tears at Steve. “When you go back to Lexington, please tell my sons that I love them. Tell them I’m sorry. Tell them I know I did what the Bible warns fathers not to do. I just read it this morning in Colossians 3:21: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.” I expected too much of them. I’m so sorry. And I’m sorry for what we did to you and Mary.”
Steve did his best to comfort his childhood best friend. “I know that you’ve always tried to do what the Lord wanted you to do. But I’m afraid tradition trumped the truth. The good news is that God is the God of second chances. His mercy is so great. He can restore everything that you’ve lost. But you are going to have to put Him first in your life, before every man-made tradition. It’s actually really simple. You just have to focus on actually loving your neighbor as yourself. Of course, others won’t be happy about it. In the end, however, it doesn’t cost to serve God; it pays. Think about that, my friend. Okay?”
Dan nodded his head as he wiped a few more tears from his cheeks.
“I’ve got something I want to give you before I go,” Steve said as he rose from his seat. He then walked over to his car and returned holding a book. “All you really need is the Bible, because all the truth is in there. That is all our forefathers had. But I want to give you this book, as it might be of help as you search for truth. It is titled Why Be Plain? A Biblical Response.”
“We’ve been warned about that book,” Dan said as he looked out towards the road.
“I suggest that you read it inside your house.” With that, Steve extended the book to Dan. They both knew that the ordnung did not permit Dan to receive anything from the hand of someone who was excommunicated, much less a book that might challenge Plain teaching.
A few seconds passed. Dan took a deep breath. Finally, he reached out and accepted the book from Steve. “Thank you,” Dan quietly said. “And thank you for stopping by today.”
“My pleasure. I hope to see you again soon. You and Fannie are always welcome to visit us in Lexington. You’ve got five beautiful grandchildren there waiting to meet you.”
Steve returned to his car and drove down the driveway. When his car was out of sight, Dan just stood there, trying to process what had just happened. He then heard the front door open behind him and soon felt Fannie’s arms wrap around his waist from behind. When she pressed the side of her head against his back, he felt the dampness of tears through his shirt. “I listened to your entire conversation from inside. I think God just answered my prayers by sending your old friend Steve here today. You know we’ve been talking about these things for a long time. Let’s do something. Let’s turn away from our idolatry. Let’s follow Jesus. Let’s see our children again. Come inside. I’d like to read that book with you.”
