Ok I will say it. I struggled with it. I really, truly, tried to understand it but I struggled with the entire essay. I probably took it the wrong way but I felt like he was bitter at the church, well the Pentecostal church to be specific. It is the job of the church and I feel bad that the Fettke family has not been supported by the local church, but I think that Dr. Fettke should not be generalizing. Not all churches will turn him away and not all churches are allowed to be held account to what he said and the accusations that he made. I still do not feel like the government should be giving our tax dollars for any means, not just the mentally handicapped. I know that they cannot just “up and leave” but they need to be weaning everyone off the government. The church needs to step up to the plate. I do not think that the church helps enough. I think that places like the dream center is a good example of what can be done to help the community. I understand that you probably feel like I am a selfish brat who wants tax cuts so that I can keep more of my money, but I must remind you. If I pay less to taxes I will have more to pay towards tithing. So in full circle I would still be helping those in need through cutting taxes. If you still feel as though I am selfish, I apologize for my leading you to feel that way. I simply think that the church could be better at allocating funds than the government. In turn families like the Fettke’s will not be so bitter towards the church. I assure you that I did read this story openly but I could not help but see the singling out the Pentecostal church for not helping as much. Generalizations can very easily be wrong and I truly wish that more churches did help people with disabilities. I really want that I just do not think that it will happen any time soon.
I afraid that in this post you come across exactly as you say you hope you won't be taken as.
ReplyDeleteYou suggest that Fettke is bitter. I don't know if that is true or not. But he has every right to be bitter, if he is. Moreover, whether or not he is bitter has nothing to do with the truth of what he says. To dismiss what he says on the premise that it is "bitter" is simply to dismiss what is in this case the bitter truth.
You also suggest that Fettke is overgeneralizing about churches. I wish that that were true. The fact is, he simply isn't. Show me one church that does anything at all no matter how small for the developmentally disabled and I will show you ten churches that do nothing. More to the point, show me one church that does enough for the developmentally disabled (i.e. something comparable to what the AFI does) and I will show you hundreds of thousands that do not.
Moreover, you really seem to totally miss out on engaging the deeper theological questions that Fettke raises, which is really too bad. Perhaps you'll go back over and ponder these things.