6/13/2025
Seems to me that division is the going norm. Is it worse than ever? Is it passed the point of no return? Is it bad? Plenty of people have weighed in on those questions.
Note: Though I have been thinking about this a good bit, I have borrowed ideas and words from a Think Biblically Podcast with Sean McDowell and Timothy Muehlhoff.
In light of division, I’m thinking about empathy. And sympathy. And compassion. And I have more questions than answers. What seems clear though is that, generally, it takes a certain level of empathy to relate well with others. And by that, I mean generally wearing someone else’s boots long enough to understand what they are feeling because I am actually feeling it too. But that isn’t enough. I have to care about that person enough to walk with them toward goodness and truth.
Did the Good Samaritan have empathy with the hurt person or simply sympathy and compassion?
Are we trying to have relationships with people who think differently than we do?
Can we be friends with people who have different theological convictions?
I think I don’t know, yes, and yes.
Should we?
Only if we care about people. Only if we want to align with the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
Can the call to empathy become toxic? I think so.
But first, I think we need to be asking ourselves a different question altogether: Are we even empathetic towards others at all?