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Why “The Sin of Empathy” is a Completely Toxic “Christian” Belief
The Dangerous Belief That Feeling Too Much For Others is a Sin
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My first-ever funeral was for a father who died by suicide on Father’s Day.
No note.
No warning.
Just gone.
His sons found him that morning.
I was called to the family home — an outsider to their grief, a stranger in their pain. And when I walked through that door, I stepped into something I wasn’t sure I was ready for.
The grief wasn’t neat or polite in that room. It wasn’t a hushed conversation over a cup of tea. It was raw and messy — very messy. One moment, someone was weeping. The next, they were shouting, sitting in stunned silence, or demanding answers no one could give.
They didn’t need a sermon. They didn’t need a theological lecture on suffering. They needed someone who wouldn’t look away. Someone who wouldn’t try to smooth over the pain with easy answers. Someone willing to just be there.
And so I sat with them. Listened. Said almost nothing — because, honestly, what could I say? And at some point, I realized something: