The ability to understand and emotionally relate to another person’s feelings, struggles, or experiences.
In a healthy sense, empathy helps people show compassion, kindness, patience, and mercy toward others.
In modern progressive thought, though, empathy is redefined to mean unconditional emotional affirmation of another person’s beliefs, desires, identity claims, or personal choices.
From a Christian worldview, this becomes problematic when compassion is separated from truth and moral discernment.
Biblical love calls Christians to care deeply for people while still speaking truth, recognizing sin, and encouraging what is ultimately good according to God’s moral law rather than merely affirming whatever another person feels or desires.