A Word from Bob
You’re reading Part 2 of a blog mini-series on empathy. You can read Part 1 here: Truth Without Empathy Is Sin.
There’s been some controversy in evangelical Christian circles the past year about “empathy,” with some even saying “empathy is sinful.” For 36 years (since 1985), I’ve equipped God’s people for compassionate, empathetic one-another care. This issue has been important to me long before the current controversy. In this blog series, rather than giving you a negative critique of those who say, “empathy is sinful,” I’m providing a positive presentation of what the Bible says about one-another care. And, rather than “re-inventing the wheel,” I’m taking this series from the culmination of 36 years of thinking about this, as summarized in my equipping book, Gospel Conversations: How to Care Like Christ.
Climbing in the Casket: A Biblical Picture of Empathy
Biblical empathy is joining with sufferers in their suffering. It is weeping with those who weep (Romans 12:15) and suffering with those who suffer (1 Corinthians 12:24-26). In biblical empathy, we listen compassionately to another person’s story of suffering and despair and we grieve with them, even to the point of experiencing their pain (2 Corinthians
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
