Eli Yoder left the Old Order Amish way of life when he was 18-years-old, after getting caught riding a bicycle.
He was soon to be baptized, but the elders and the bishop didn’t allow the ceremony to take place because he had broken the rule: no riding bikes.
Now 42, Yoder lives in Waynesfield, a village located 20 minutes southeast of Lima with his wife, Nicole, and 16-year-old son. He drives a truck for a living, but his passion is educating others on the Amish way of life through his channels on TikTok, YouTube and Facebook.
Yoder joined Ashland Source’s Dillon Carr and Joe Lyons, Ashland Source correspondent, on Dec. 12 to give context to the situation unfolding in Ashland County with some Amish people who have disregarded Ohio’s new buggy law.
To refresh, Ohio enacted a new law that requires all animal-drawn vehicles to have a yellow, flashing light fashioned to it. It became effective Aug. 31. In October, local law enforcement agencies in Ashland County began pulling over Amish buggies that did not have these flashing lights attached to them.
Since then, there have been around 30 Amish people, from the Swartzentruber community in Ashland County, who have been charged. And many of them have told the Ashland Municipal Court they will not pay the fines attached to the misdemeanor charges, which could lead to other issues down the road.
Readers are invited to watch the 30-minute interview, or read the questions and answers below.
Find more content from Yoder by following his Facebook page, YouTube channel and TikTok account.
Dillon: Can you give us a crash course on what the Old Order Amish believe and how that differs from the Swartzentruber community?
Eli: Well, the conservative groups like the Swartzentruber Old Order, they have an ordinance and they have voted on these rules in the ordinance. And they always stick with that whatever’s voted on, whatever’s agreed on by the church. They believe that is the true church of God. So those are God’s rules. So if they have voted on that and they agree on that, signed off on that, that won’t be changed until the next meeting, which they have those twice a year. If that buggy law says that we can’t have orange color, if it’s the triangle, if it’s a blinker, then that’s what they’re gonna stick with. It doesn’t really matter to them. If it’s a written law that went into effect, they believe that you must obey their rules and the ordinance, which is God’s church, God’s rules and they do not break those — but rather break the law if you have to for the sake of their own rules that they have voted on.
So it doesn’t really matter if there’s newer order Amish that have followed that law. The majority of Amish in Ohio have always had the “slow moving vehicle” sign and the orange triangle. But these conservative groups where I grew up in, they have never given in to that. They believe that you should suffer for your beliefs. And as a little child growing up, I always heard about this because in the early ’70s, my grandfather, along with about 30 others, were put in jail, and they did not give in (on the orange triangle issue) because they also didn’t pay their fines. So they end up in jail and the judge eventually just let them go because he realized that they were willing to literally die before they get into what they call a different belief. Uh, there’s a book that’s called a Martyrs Mirror. These are the anabaptist.
Before Amish and Mennonite existed, a lot of these people mentioned in this book … were martyred for their beliefs. And they really look up to these forefathers and they say, ‘We must stand firm in what we believe in.’ And no matter if other Amish deviate from that, you know, every Amish kind of have their own rules, their own ordinance. But the very old order conservative, the Swartzentrubers, are all on the same page when it comes to this to stand firm, no matter what laws are written in place to protect their beliefs.
Dillon: How long were you part of the Swartzentruber community?
Eli: They called us the Old Order Amish, but literally identical to the Swartzentruber. But I was in there until I was 18-years-old. I left at age 18, so I was there 18 years. I’ve been now out of that community for 24 years. This was in Hardin County, Kenton (Ohio).
Joe: When you said you left when you were 18-years-old, what was the straw that broke the camel’s back that caused you to leave?
Eli: Well, that’s, you know … the bicycle thing is another thing that a lot of Amish have. I rode one of those and it was considered too worldly in my community. So, because I rode a bicycle and, you know … but that was voted as a worldly item. So I was supposed to get baptized in 1998, and I was caught riding this bicycle two weeks before baptism. And they actually told me I do not qualify for baptism.
And I remember trying to reason with them. I said, you know, 20 minutes from our community was the Bell Central Ohio New Order Amish. And I tried to reason with them that, ‘hey, they say they can get to heaven — they have a bicycle, but now you’re telling me I can’t get baptized.’ And they reminded me, we stand firm in our beliefs and our ordinance. If the rules are in there and voted on, that’s what we must follow. So therefore, since you didn’t follow those rules, you can’t get baptized. And then shortly after that is when I left.
Joe: You said they vote on it twice a year. Is there a chance that … they’ll vote to put on the flashing lights? Then would it be acceptable? Or do you think that they’ll stay with the original vote of not having the yellow lights?
Eli: When it comes to the yellow and orange color, they won’t deviate from that. They won’t give in. There’s little rules in the church that they give in, like a hand-held flashlight that has batteries in it. They have OK’d that years ago. But one thing that I can tell you, living in the community, they will not give into the orange triangle or any bright yellow.
For example, in my community, they’re just like Ashland County. They said, no, we are not going to put the blinker on, but we also won’t put the orange triangle. So they went ahead and put PVC pipe on with like a darker gray reflective tape around the PVC pipe. So the sheriff’s department was behind the buggy and said, you know, ‘It’s kind of flashy, you know, it kind of sticks out. But can you at least put the orange reflective tape on top of the buggy where the blinker’s supposed to be?’ And they still reject that orange tape just because of the color. They believe the color is way too bright, it’s a worldly color, and so therefore I don’t see them really ever giving into that, that color at all.
Dillon: Do you have any insight as to … what qualifies worldly and not worldly?
Eli: Yeah. When people ask me questions about what is considered worldly, it literally comes down to each individual Amish church. They will vote on it. If they have the votes that agree that this item or that item or that color or this color is worldly, then that is written into that ordinance letter, it’s signed off and it will remain that way until the following meeting. And it’s usually one in spring — about April. And the other one’s usually October, or early November.
And they will remain that way until that next meeting where they revisit those rules and they go over them. Sometimes there’s small adjustments here and there. In the conservative and Swartzentruber groups, most generally, they’re gonna get more strict. They’ll add more rules rather than eliminate rules or become more modern or lenient.
Dillon: Can you tell us what kind of technology the Swartzentruber community does use?
Eli: In my group, we didn’t have any technology. We weren’t allowed to have any technology at all. We couldn’t even have the flip phones, which some of the New Order Amish now have. When it came to construction work, we weren’t even allowed to use power tools … We couldn’t have even battery tools for business use. I’d say probably 90% of Amish in America use those for business use only. And some of ’em use air tools.
But these conservative groups, again, what we’re talking about, they will not even allow that. If you do construction, you’re supposed to stay within horse and buggy distance, first of all.
And then secondly, they always have it in the rules in the ordinance that you have to have your hand tools just like you would use on at home if you’re doing construction at home on your own projects, you have to use those hand saws, hand drills. Everything has to be the hand tools. That’s how these conservative groups work.
But as far as technology, I don’t know of any technology that’s even allowed, period. Especially in my group, the, the Swartzentruber style.
Dillon: What about washing machines? … I was reading Wikipedia just for sort of some facts and it said that some Swartzentruber community members use washing machines. Is that true?
Eli: Yeah. Yes. Yeah, there’s very few that still scrub on a hoard. The majority of them will now allow that little five-horsepower engine. It runs off the gas and they use this engine to pump the water out of the well to pump out the livestock tanks to water the animals.
And they use that same motor on a washing machine. It’s the old like Maytag washing machine with a lid and has the roller to rinse out. You gotta shove it through to rinse out the water from the clothing … it is operated with a belt around that little five horsepower motor. But they’re not allowed to have anything more fancy than that.
Joe: What about generators? I was told a few of ’em up there have generators. Is that out of the ordinary or is that a common thing?
Eli: The Old Orders where I’m from, they did not allow any generators. Most of the Swartzentrubers won’t either, but I do know … there’s a few, like Middlefield, Ohio. They gave in, they got generators and they’ll vote in their ordinance to allow that generator to maybe use only for certain things and then they’ll list what those things are.
And then if you’re caught using that for anything outside of that, you can get punished in the church. But I do know a lot of Amish that do have generators, but it’s just mainly those conservative groups that if they vote on it not to have it, like my group in Kenton, they wouldn’t allow any generators like that.
Dillon: Do you still have any family members that are part of the community?
Eli: Yes. There’s only two of us that left. The rest of them are all still in there and it’s kind of hard to visit them. My mother always makes me wear my Amish clothing to come out and visit and I have to park my car next door. I can’t drive my “worldly car,” she says, onto her property. Even though her taxi drivers and everybody they do visits with, they drive their cars in there. But I … can’t do that.
So, I follow the rules just for the sake of visiting my mother, because she’s only gonna be here for so long. So I still follow her rules to come visit … That also changes from family to family. Some parents don’t have those strict rules.
But my mother was a daughter to a bishop. My grandfather — he was a bishop. So my mom always wanted to honor his wishes and how he handled things. So that’s why she’s always had more of the harsher rules and guidelines if I wanna come back out and visit.
Dillon: How’s it make you feel to know that … your mom sees you as being a worldly person?
Eli: Well, at first, for many years I just refused to go visit. Because I was like, ‘If you don’t accept me the way I am, then the heck with it, I’m not gonna bother even going out and visit.’ But … then later on, by 2017, when I got a hold of an English-written Bible, because they have the German Bible and nobody really understands it.
And so when I got ahold of the English-written Bible and I got saved by 2017, and when I received the love of Christ and started understanding their culture better and what the Bible actually says and how they got it so wrong — that is when I realized I almost love my mother no matter what the differences are. And just go out there and show her what love is.
And then I also share a lot of scripture with her just to try to get her eyes to be open. So that’s my main goal, is just to try to help her to realize that, you know, you’re following tradition rather than what’s actual truth.
Joe: What Bible do they exactly use? Because I’ve looked at some of the letters that they’ve given to the judge and I’m kind of wondering where they — is there a Bible just for the Amish or is it like a King’s James version, New World version? What version do they use?
Eli: The conservative groups that we’re talking about … force that you must use the 1522 Martin Luther German version, but German is a must they say. And now some of the conservative groups have given in to where they have a German and a translation of English right directly across, across from the page. You can flip over and go to it.
Now, I’ve seen that small change happening in quite a few Swartzentrubers as of the last two years as I go into these communities. But there are still some of them that will strictly — kind of like the blinker and the orange triangle. Some of them will still hang onto that very firmly, and they believe it’s a different belief to deviate away from the German Martin Luther Bible.
But that is the original text that they were using. They believe that is more accurate to the Greek text, so to speak, because of it being handed down. They very much want to keep the traditions that were handed down from their forefathers. So if their forefathers did that, they believe you must honor your father and your mother to the Ten Commandments.
And they believe that the only way to honor your father and your mother is to do exactly what your forefathers handed down to you. So they inherited a system that they believe you must sustain at all costs.
Joe: And that includes sitting in jail?
Eli: That is correct. They believe you — if their early forefathers, the anabaptists were able to die for some of the rules and beliefs that they had, then they believe that they must also do so. And I hope people understand, in a lot of these counties — not just in Ohio, but around the United States and Canada — that the Amish … I want them to understand the Amish thinking and their mindset because they look up to these forefathers and they have absolutely no problem at all to not pay the fine and then go to jail. And even death — if it takes death. They are willing … to go to death for what they believe in.
Dillon: I mean that kind of answered my next question. I want to get into the sort of philosophy behind their position. … So this disregarding this new buggy law — it’s sort of a symbol, right? I mean it’s like they’re willing to break it because there’s a higher power involved.
Eli: Yes. Yeah. They’re very zealous about it. They’re very stern in their beliefs. They wanna stand firm. They look at it as persecution.
And I want people to understand that they don’t know any better. They … really, they’re very innocent in this. They believe this is the right thing to do.
And when I visit my family, my mother and my oldest brother, they will sometimes — just to show you how serious they are — they will look at me and have tears rolling down. They’re crying because they view me and others that left their culture as basically condemned. They don’t feel like there’s any hope that I could now … get into heaven.
So I share that, just to make my point that they believe that that is the system that is correct. And they don’t know any different than that. That’s what they inherited. That’s what they believe in. That’s what they follow. And it’s really gonna be hard to ever undo that.
Dillon: So I’m curious … what you think the resolution is here? I mean, it’s all gonna come to a head it seems at some point. What do you see happening?
Eli: Well, I can tell you exactly what’s gonna happen. It’s gonna be up to each individual sheriff’s department, the law enforcement in each county.
In my county of Hardin County, they love to have a good relationship. And I love that, that when I have a good relationship, they also know that they are in that position to uphold the law, to enforce the law … So when they put the PVC pipe on, they were basically just showing the sheriff’s department, ‘Hey, we are willing to do something rather than nothing.’
So they went out and when I visited the bishop, he said, ‘Yeah, the sheriff’s department came out and they followed us.’ They said, ‘Yeah, that, that looks really nice. You know, you can really see it spinning around the wheels with that, reflective tape on the PVC pipe.’
And it helps. But he wasn’t satisfied yet. He wanted more in trying to get them to put the orange reflective tape (on their buggies). So I say that because it’s gonna come down to each individual county and how they would decide to deal with it.
But I do want each county to know that since they are minded this way, they are more strict than the more New Order — more lenient Amish. And since they’re wired this way, they are willing to go to jail. They’re willing to not pay that fine, go to jail and even death.
So I want them to know that they’re not gonna give in. So they’re expecting the sheriff’s department to give in, to reason with them. And that’s why they will bring letters. Most generally, they’ll bring letters to read off to hopefully convince the judge, a lot of them sometimes bring letters in from other Amish communities that have the same ordinances that support the church.
They fellowship together and they’ll bring other … bishops that wrote a letter to try and help convince the judge that they’re standing before for why they should be let off to hope you just let them be and let ’em live.
Now … the younger generation is trying to reason with a lot of these in my county and also Ashland County. Because I actually had Wayne County, Vinton County, Ashland County, and Hardin County all reach out to me (with) people that do have communication with either their drivers’ phone — or they might have one that they’re obviously maybe sneaking around behind a church’s back — where I was able to speak with them.
And the one that stands out to me is Ashland County, where he said, you know, ‘We’re in our 20s and we really wanted the elders to really see our point of … let’s just follow the law.’
And they said this to the bishop and the elders: ‘Let’s just follow the law so that we can please the outsiders and they’ll let us be, and we can live at peace and be Amish.’ And the bishop literally just replied back to him and said, ‘I would rather preach at your funeral than to give into a different belief.’
So … your question about what will be the resolution; it’s literally gonna come down to each county and how they wanna handle this.
If they’re gonna stand firm and enforce the law and not give in — and not hold the Amish above the law — then it could be a pretty nasty mess because I … I know their mindset and I know what they’re gonna stand for. Just like they did in the 1970s when my grandfather and about 30 others were sitting in jail month after month.
And finally the judge said, ‘Well, what are you gonna do? I mean, they’re just not giving in.’ So they just released them, just let ’em go back home.
Joe: I just remembered this case where they didn’t wanna have hunter’s orange on for hunting. Do you remember that?
Eli: Oh, yes. For a long time.
Joe: Can we talk about that? Whatever happened with that? Because I remember the first thing that kind of popped up was they agreed to wear red in place of the orange. Why is there such a big difference between red and orange? It’s still a bright color.
Eli: I know exactly what you’re saying there. There was a couple counties that did choose it. It’s kind of like what I was explaining a little bit ago about the PVC pipe with a reflected tape around it. They wanted to do something to hopefully please the county, the law enforcement, police, the judge, because they started to …
There’s been multiple cases … the game warden would give them citations and say, ‘Hey, you know, this is gonna be your fine, you gotta appear in court.’ And they wouldn’t pay the fine. But what they did offer, in many counties, they actually did that in Hardin County as well. They said, ‘Well, hey, we’re gonna use one of those red handkerchiefs and tie it around our hat, the Amish hat.
It was really, it was not even comparable to orange, but they were hoping that that would take care of it. So there were many Amish cases … in the mid ’90s when I was still a teenager. I remember so many Amish men going to court. And on Sundays they would talk about that. Like, ‘Hey, you know, they wanted us to pay the fine.’ And, and the bishop said, ‘don’t give in. Don’t give in. If they’d send you to jail — go to jail, but don’t give in.’
And so … they just kept on hunting with that red handkerchief around their hat. And if the game warden came back up to enforce the law, he would just give him another citation. Some of ’em had three, four citations. They still just wouldn’t give in.
Dillon: I think there are some of the people that were given citations that have paid their fines. Why do you think some of them are OK with following the law and then others are not?
Eli: There are always gonna be some of them that are going to disagree with how the elders and the bishop are doing things. They know, like my sister, she moved out with her newlywedded husband. They took off out of Kenton because the same thing happened with the sewer system.
They had a new house, the new law had passed that you must have a septic system under that house if you have a new house. But the older houses were grandfathered in. The church also said, ‘Do not give in, we do outhouses only.’
So they condemn their house and again, the church said, ‘Nope, you can’t give in.’ Well, they’re young. They were in their 20s, she’s gotten married. And they said, ‘No, we’re not gonna go to jail, we’re not gonna do that.’ And so they moved out of the community.
So some of the ones that you just mentioned that are paying their fines — trust me — they’re getting some heavy backlash on Sunday in the church. They’re probably gonna do a couple weeks in the bann (a period of discipline or tough love) for getting in and paying those fines. So it’s gonna be their decision.
Do I stay here and keep paying my fines and get punished by the church? Or do I just pack up and move out to another community?
Joe: I found out the only one (that) had paid a fine is actually an English woman that had drove the family. She went in and paid it because she didn’t want that particular one to go to jail.
It was kind of a special-needs (person) a little bit. And she didn’t want him to go to jail. And so she paid it. So … all the other ones though, that I checked with … had not at that point paid their fine.
Dillon: Eli, what is something you wish the “outsiders” understood about the Amish community? I mean, you’ve mentioned that they’re willing to die for this, but what are maybe some misconceptions that we have of the Amish community that you wish was clear?
Eli: I don’t know. I mean, really it’s, it’s … I mean, they’re all different. Obviously. It’s just viewing one Amish community. You can’t just put ’em all in the same boat because they literally are all different.
That’s one of the biggest confusions that I have noticed with people asking me questions on social media is, ‘Well, hey, they’re doing this over here.’ They’re … are all different. Even if it’s two or three rules different, every single community is different.
In Ohio, you have over 800 different ordinances. Now that’s a lot. There’s a lot of different churches, New Order consortium, Swartzentruber, Old Order, new New Order. They’re all mixed in together.
And a lot of people don’t know that. A lot of these churches that we’re talking about tonight, the conservative and the Old Order, Swartzentruber, they don’t even want to fellowship with the New Order that allow bicycles, that allow blinkers, that allow triangles. That’s one thing I try to make awareness of.
And a lot of people don’t know that stuff because they are so different in their rules and their ordinance. They don’t really necessarily wanna mess with those Amish or have any dealings with them.
And a lot of them, the Old Order, will even teach that you shouldn’t do business, buy and sell with them because they may allow some of those modern-day technologies and modern-day things that we don’t believe in.
Dillon: What is maybe something that you miss from the Amish way of life and the community?
Eli: Coming together and helping one another. Matter of fact, just about an hour ago, I put on my TikTok channel how they all came together in Middlefield, Ohio. Lifted up — 800 Amish men — lifted up a barn and moved it. They all come together. I miss that.
I think the outside culture could learn a lot from the Amish when it comes to getting together, helping one another in time of need.
Our barn burned down when I was younger and within 24 hours the mess was all cleaned up. And within three and four days the roof was on. The brand new barn was standing.
Everybody put up cattle. So they come together to help one another. And I love how they live off the land, the plain living, the lifestyle itself.
I would love to live still today, you know, growing a garden, living off the land, farming with horses. There’s nothing wrong with that. A lot of people admire that from the outside looking in. (It’s a) very awesome, plain living that separates themselves from the rest of the people. And it’s a wonderful thing.
And I miss a lot of those values that the Amish had cause it’s a great way of living … They’re always there for one another. They got each other’s back and I admire that about them.
