What would the economy become if all christians gave up materialism and became Amish?

The parts of the economy that would be booming are the

manufacturers of pots and pans, and the people who sell food.

I have had Amish and Mennonite friends,

and they all EAT like bears....

... very polite and gentle bears.

Thanksgiving in an Amish or Mennonite home is a delight.

The food is abundant and just about the best anywhere.

I once arrived pretty early with a pile of peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. I knew there'd be a big crowd, and lots of pies and cakes, so I made the cookies mostly just to be polite and to have a little desert to fill in between slices of pie.

I had no less than 300 cookies on two giant platters.

An older woman who knew me to be Catholic said,

"OH! That is just what is needed!

We should have some sweets before the meal.

This is what children need!"

This was about 3 hours before suppertime.

I thought she was sort of sarcastically yelling at me, since a few kids followed along with me as I entered the kitchen. I thought the old grandmother was saying I should NOT have let the little kids see the cookies yet, but I was entirely wrong. She meant exactly what she said.

The old woman lifted the plastic wrap from the edge of one platter, told me they smelled delicious, and very gently asked if I would mind just putting the platters out on the dining room table. I did as requested, and the platters were empty in about a half-hour.

Several women commented, "But I thought you were not married yet." They were at least a bit surprised a man could bake cookies.

I offer this report of the cookies being eaten so fast to show that Amish and Mennonite people sometimes consume plenty. They just don't waste their money on what I think is asinine junk for the house. They generally earn money honestly and spend it carefully.

As for the economy overall, I think it would be far better in a few years. Once the adjustment was made, we'd all be a lot better off. We also would get along a lot better with most of our neighbors. That's because we would share our needs AND our excesses. If I built a large spring house, my neighbor could keep things in there. If I needed a little extra room for this year's cow corn, my neighbor's barn would be available. The "sharing" might include cash payment, but it would still be far cheaper than everyone having to buy and build everything for themselves.

I am Roman Catholic.

Peace be with you.

EDIT:

1.) A "spring house" is a cold storage shed that uses fresh cold spring water to make the shed cold enough to store food. They work just fine if a cold spring exists on your land.

2.) I referred to the Amish and Mennonites as if they are all the same group. That's definitely not true. they generally get along very well, but they sometimes have significant differences in faith and practices, and differences in traditional language.

Lots of Mennonites will use modern appliances, but not extravagantly.

Most Amish won't own such things.

I don't count the Amish as non materialist. They are just one more outlandish cult which distinguishes itself from others by avoiding various everyday materials used in the last couple of centuries. Nothing spiritual or unselfish about that.

You might as well say that the Rajneesh movement and its Ashrams were full of unmaterialistic people because a lot of them liked to wander around barefoot.

Didn't stop Rajneesh collecting limousines and women.

In Belize, the Amish rules against taking up arms make their colonies in the backwoods easy targets for gangs on the Guatamalan border who steal their possessions and rape their women.

They try to solve this by getting British paratroopers (who would much rather be doing other things, and who are paid for out of my taxes,) to go after the bandits and put bullets into a few of them. Doesn't fill me with respect for their sanctimonious mockery of the Christian Church.

Ironically, the Amish still have to work. Many of them work in local factories or make furniture, etc. Some people think Amish are totally self-sufficient, but this really isn't the case.

Jesus didn't want us to seclude ourselves like the Amish, he wanted us to face evil everyday.

a stupid question...you obviously don't even know what an Amish is. Their life is not based on renunciation !!!

Separation - Isolating themselves from the rest of society is one of the key Amish beliefs. They think secular culture has a polluting effect and, therefore, to avoid the use of television, radios, computers, and modern appliances, they do not hook up to the electrical grid.

Another bigot that should be put in a dungeon.

we'd see the Amish making awesome computers out of some of the most beautiful woods on earth... and to the "joyful new convert".,..Jessie...get a life and a sense of humor....this isn't bigotry..it's a bit of humor from this specific poster...what it is is utter hypocritical whining on your part based on a more than obvious lack of education....throw him in a dungeon because YOU are utterly clueless? How typically Christian...

We'd go back to the barter system. I'll give you a bushel of peas if you fix my fence. No more wasting our natural resources. Everyone would actually have to do something USEFUL. Lawyers would all be thrown off cliffs.

It would be an improvement.

A few billion people? Yeah that would screw up the worlds economy big time.

LOL! The companies that make Wii, Play station, and all sorts of computers would see sales plummet.

great.

what would the world be like if atheism, gave up being a bunch of A wholes.

it would be greater than being great.

I don't know but we'd have a lot nicer furniture stores