Customer Reviews

Forgiveness/Version Out of Print

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At first glace, this book appears as though it is going to be a recap of the horrific events that took place in an Amish community in Pennsylvania. One quickly realizes that this book is so much more. Almost in one chapter the book can sum up what happened on October 2nd, 2006, and the rest of the time is spent on numerous other topics, all of which relate to the concept of forgiveness.

It seems pretty obvious that if a member of your community went to your child's school and point blank shot them to death because he felt he was wronged earlier in life, you would want that guy either dead, in jail, or at least to pay dearly for the loss he caused you. You would also probably never ever want to see him or have contact with him, unless it was to be in a court room watching him be sentenced for his crime. John L. Ruth shows us how the media is absolutely shocked to find that the families of the deceased children invite the killer's wife to the funerals, and tell her that she is welcome to stay living in the community, and that they forgive her husband for what he did. If the Amish did not want media attention before this odd behavior, they only made it worse by going against everything our culture tells us is acceptable to feel for someone who has wronged us.

John L. Ruth takes us back to when the Amish first became what they are, how they developed their beliefs, what they had to go through to get to where they are, etc. This helps us to try and understand where they are coming from and how it is that they can have peace of mind and no ill feelings towards such an evil, disturbed man. They accept that they are here on earth for both good events to take place, and for tragedies to take place. They know Jesus suffered for all of us, so it is only appropriate to sometimes do the same.

The end of this book really had you thinking about our culture and the ideas that are ingrained into our heads at such a young age. Should we all be as forgiving as the Amish are? Should we just accept that life is full of tragedies; that life is all about how you deal with them and move on? I have to say that I came pretty close to being convinced that life would be much easier if we did not dwell on the hardships in life and think of it as events that were obviously meant to happen; it was god's will, and the man with the gun was just carrying out god's wish. Unfortunately I have had it pounded into my head so much that seeking revenge and vengeance is the proper thing to do when someone wrongs you so horribly, that I do not think I could swallow that and forgive. It makes you wonder how good of a society we really are.

John Ruth begins with the Amish community's tremendous act of forgiveness for the man and his family who killed and wounded their children. Then he explores the roots of such love in their community life and theological outlook and their faithfulness to the bible and especially the sermon on the mount. This book is well written and highlights the great need for this forgiving love in our society.
Dr. Ruth is a Mennonite pastor with a Harvard PHD in English literature who has written many books and articles about the Anabaptist tradition. He has also written film scripts and produced numerous video's about this traditions contributions to all of us.

This book showed up at our house, I think from a garage sale. Anyways, I started reading it just to learn more about what the Amish did that day and how they moved past it. The New Hope School is up and they are right spot on about forgiveness. Forgiveness is the only way we move on, otherwise we would be stuck forever in a dark place that no one wants. I am about halfway through the book, the beginning was heart wrenching. The middle is more filled with facts about the Amish Anabaptist past which I find pretty hard to read, but I can get through it. It's not too advanced is what I am saying. But everything that day was in God's hands and everyone should know that. It's a shame something couldn't have been done beforehand, but we could have said the same about 9/11, etc. These things just happen out of no where. It says in teh book that this was the Amish people's own 9/11 which I find very true. It just happened out of no where and made such a huge impact in the world. I was in 9th grade when 9/11 happened and they turned the TV on, etc. Same thing when this day happened it was all over the news. Either way I find this book includes tragedy, forgiveness, and comfort. It's a good read, and I am not much of a reader.

This book is very interesting, and gives a lot of information about the Amish way of life.

This book is awesome and anyone from any faith can stand to learn from this book. Forgiveness: A Legacy of the West Nickel Mines Amish School

If you are looking for a detailed book about the unfortunate crime which took place in the Lancaster, PA area, you will be very disappointed. The book doesn't even give names of the murdered or anything. All you get is a bunch of bible quotes and lyrics from hymns. It is all interesting if you want to learn the religious ways of the Amish, but this book shouldn't come off as a "true crime" book.