Don’t listen to Elon Musk. Empathy is not a sin, it’s key to our civilization

In our loud and divisive country, another dangerous narrative spins in civilian conversations, podcasts and political stances.

Billionaire and close presidential advisor Elon Musk recently called empathy “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization,” to controversial podcaster Joe Rogan.

Empathy is toxic. Empathy is a weapon and needs to be almost “struck from Christian vocabulary” because “it will align you with hell,” lead pastor Josh McPherson of Grace City Church in Wenatchee, WA, said.

He spoke with podcaster Dominick Bonny and claimed empathy as a sin. A sin that especially women in churches and friendships fall victim to because their empathy aligns them alongside those who are misaligned with God— the gossips, sinners, sick and bullied.

I am a young seminarian, a woman called into leadership to be a partner in God’s ministry to share the gospel and truth of Jesus Christ. The belief described above physically makes me sick. I know there will be some who read this and believe I am a carrier of a Jezebel spirit or a victim of toxicity and lies— a woman too vocal for her own good. Yet, I know I am a child of God charged to love my Creator and His creation, which means I will stand up against injustice and lies that misrepresent who He is, even if I stand alone.

So, let me be abundantly clear: empathy is not a sin.

Empathy is not the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.

Empathy is also not a ploy that exists to pit compassion against truth, as “Toxic Empathy” author Allie Beth Stuckey claims. It exists to enhance truth. The truth that God created the world, everyone in it, and the emotions every person experiences (Genesis 1:1-31). The truth that He sent His only Son to die for everyone’s sins on a cross, and then raised His Son from the dead (John 3:16).

The Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics defines empathy as “entering imaginatively into the subjective experience of another” necessarily for “good moral decision-making.”

In short, empathy is putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. It’s the Creator of the world coming down to earth and walking alongside us. It takes action toward unity, healing, and love. How is that sinful? God is the Healer, Unifier and Love itself. Therefore, God is empathetic, and we should be, too.

Empathy, while not a biblical word verbatim, is a Christian virtue that partners with compassion, which is a biblical word. Scripture describes Jesus as being “moved by compassion” almost a dozen times (Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32, 18:32-33, 20:34; Mark 1:40-42, 6:34; Luke 7:11-16, 10:30-37, 15:20.) His interactions with the immigrants, marginalized, sick and sinful reek of kindness, gentleness, truth and healing. He consistently recognizes each person as someone created in His image, whom He dearly loves.

Empathy does not make us act like we are more merciful than God. It helps us live into the abundant, never-ending mercy He extends to each of us every morning, even though we continually turn our backs to Him (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Does mercy, compassion and empathy have a price?

Yes. Jesus already paid it on the cross.

I sincerely doubt that when He returns, if we believe as followers of Jesus that He is who He says He is, that He would be upset that we listened to His words in Matthew 25:31-40: “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’”

Alexandra Presta is an Asbury Theological Seminary student who has lived in Wilmore for roughly six years and studied journalism at Asbury University.