Can Empathy Actually Be a Sin?

0:00 Cold Open
0:29 Introduction
0:46 Defining Empathy vs. Compassion
2:04 What is "Toxic Empathy"?
2:51 Truth and Empathy Must Walk Together
3:52 When Feelings Become the Moral Standard
5:26 The Gender Identity Craze
6:30 Jesus and the Woman at the Well
8:41 The Drowning Illustration
10:05 Three Approaches to Sin (The Book of Jude)
12:03 The Root of Misguided Empathy: Self-Exaltation
14:43 Compromising Truth to Relate to the Lost
16:09 True Love Warns of Danger

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Is empathy always a virtue? What does the Bible say about how we should relate to the feelings of others? Is there such a thing as toxic empathy? Can empathy actually be a sin? How should Christians navigate the cultural pressure to affirm the feelings of others when those feelings contradict the truth of Scripture? This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Richard Caldwell and host Dr. Josh Philpot discuss these challenging questions as they explore the biblical definition of compassion and the modern distortion of empathy.

There is a growing trend in our culture, and even within the church, to elevate empathy above all other virtues. This view suggests that to truly love someone, you must fully identify with their feelings and affirm their perspective, even if that perspective is sinful or destructive. But is this what the Bible calls us to? Dr. Philpot brings up the concept of untethered empathy or what some, like author Joe Rigney, have called the sin of empathy. This is a form of relating to others where a person's feelings become the ultimate moral standard. In this framework, to disagree with someone's feelings or self-perception is seen as hateful. A prime example of this struggle is the current gender identity craze. The world tells us that if we do not use a person's preferred pronouns or affirm their confusion, we lack empathy. However, Dr. Caldwell argues that this approach divorces emotion from objective truth.

Dr. Caldwell explains that true Christian empathy must never be separated from the truth of Scripture. We are called to be tender hearted and to bear one another's burdens, but we are also called to be truthful. Speaking the truth in love means that we care enough about a person to tell them what God says, even if it hurts their feelings in the moment. To affirm someone in their sin is not love. It is actually a form of hatred because it encourages them on a path that leads to destruction. Dr. Caldwell uses the illustration of a person driving off a cliff. It is not loving to tell them they are driving nicely; it is loving to warn them of the danger, even if they get offended.

The discussion also clarifies the difference regarding empathy vs sympathy. Sympathy and compassion involve caring for someone and suffering with them without losing your footing in the truth. It is like throwing a life preserver to a drowning man rather than jumping in and drowning with him. Dr. Caldwell points to the example of Jesus and the woman at the well. Jesus was kind and engaged with her, yet He did not shy away from addressing her moral judgment and her sin. He forced her to face the truth so that she could receive the living water. This is godly empathy.

Furthermore, the podcast examines the dangers of letting our desire to be liked or our fear of man drive our interactions. Often, what we call empathy is actually self-love and a desire for self-exaltation. We want to be perceived as nice and inclusive. But as Dr. Caldwell points out from the book of Jude, we are to have mercy on some with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. We must rescue people from the fire, not join them in it. We must define empathy biblically. If we untether our compassion from the Word of God, we compromise our witness and endanger the souls of those we are trying to reach.

Ultimately, Dr. Caldwell exhorts us to be faithful to God above all else. We cannot harmonize the world's demand for affirmation with the Bible's command to repent and believe. True love warns. True love corrects. True love speaks the truth. Join us for this important conversation on how to maintain a heart of compassion without compromising the truth of God.