One Definition of Empathy Capturing
Its True Essence-Man is Animal
I believe the above graphic captures the true essence of empathy which is rarely so clearly documented giving us the understanding why empathy is clearly insanity according to the Bible.
I want us to clearly understand how the Bible defines insanity and then we will define the word insanity (insane) to prevent equivocation fallacies.
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done (Ro 1:28).” The word debased is the Greek word adokimos (ἀδόκιμος) which means that which is worthless, does not pass the test or that which is unfit. The mind of sinful people {all people begin as sinful without God and some become sinful people saved by God} God calls unfit for which I will use the word insane (insanity). Insanity is defined as, “mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior.” While the professional pseudoscience psychology community will reject this definition as outmoded and judgmental, I believe the majority of people will understand the difference between insane and sane so as to understand this point of this post.
God, through Paul, says that all unsaved sinful people have had a credible witness of God’s existence but have rejected God in favor of their own particular philosophies; i.e., really religions. This has debased their minds, caused them to be insane, and God has allowed them the consequences of their choices which has resulted in doing what should never have been done. This is a bold and controversial statement that flies directly into the face of empathy so let us look again at the definition of empathy as given in the above graphic.
Man is considered an animal that can think. This is consistent with an evolutionary approach even though evolution is replete with many inconsistencies bound together by well documented logical fallacies. The ability to think; i.e., to be self-aware is nowhere evident except in man. The Bible says that man was created in God’s spiritual image to account for man’s self-awareness and morality. Man is the only being in this physical creation who is moral and thus can be immoral. The definition is very honest in that it admits that scholars can only speculate as to the cause of attributes possessed only by people such as language, love, kindness and sociality. However, it boldly states that this cause is “empathy” and then makes the fantastic leap of faith that empathy represents the highest evolved capacity in animals. This makes empathy both the cause and the result of its own action! Thus, rather than acknowledge God as the creator of man; man makes empathy the creator of the attributes of man and the result of its own action. This is blatant circular reasoning that should be immediately rejected; but, it gets even better.
Mirror Neurons Discovered!
Proof that Empathy is Real!
Mirror neurons, so-called because they produce an electrical signal whether the animal does an action or only sees the action {depicted in the above graphic}, have been linked by many to the development of empathy. Many have touted this as proof that empathy has a physical component. This brings us to the reason I call this branch of knowledge a pseudoscience. Science by definition can only deal with the empirical. The brain cells are empirical; apply a stimulus and measure any result is absolutely empirical. However, the mind is not empirical! To state that an empirical component corresponds to the mind cannot be substantiated by science. It may be philosophically posited but it is outside the realm of science. Therefore, to state that mirror neurons prove empathy is a fallacious statement. This has come to be recognized by some in the community (The Myth of Mirror Neurons. Gregory Hickok.). There is neither a philosophical nor scientific validity to the current concepts of empathy. Hence, empathy passes into the realm of religion and since it rejects God, having an evolutionary basis rather than a biblical basis, it must therefore promote insanity.
Empathy Claims to Replicate
The Soul of Another Person
Herein is another fallacy of empathy. In claiming to allow a person to feel the same emotions as another person means that you must become the other person. If you are not the other person then you cannot know if you are feeling the same feelings nor can the other person validate what you are feeling for the same reason – it is impossible to experience anyone else’s emotional-spiritual worldview. Sympathy, compassion is just a component of sympathy, makes no such claim. Sympathy acknowledges that there are emotions and responses common to all peoples. Thus, it is possible to understand when a person grieves or expresses joy because all of us have experienced, or have the capacity to experience, these common emotions. Sympathy is the understanding placed in each of us by God in order for each of us to be able to support and help people in joy, grief, trouble and so forth. By seeking to replace sympathy with empathy, man ultimately seeks to replace guilt with justification. Since empathy requires that I be you, and each of us is the hero of our own story, I will not judge your behaviors (thoughts, words or deeds) since I would be condemning myself as guilty. No one believes they are guilty of sin (Ro 3:10-18).
Now we come to understand the true goal of empathy: corporate absolution via self-justification. If I am not guilty then you cannot be guilty which means none of us are guilty of sin. Therefore, guilt must be considered mental illness and removed via drugs {primarily} and counseling {isn’t this just preaching by another religion?}. Paul states that since man chose insanity, by rejecting God, man is now enjoying those behaviors that are produced by insanity: envy, murder, strife, haters of God, haughty, disobedient, etc. People still know they are doing wrong; hence, the guilt, but they not only still do the sins but give approval to others who also do the sins. This is nothing more than the biblical rejection of empathy more than 2,000 years before man gave it a label {but not before man practiced the same philosophy}.
The insanity is that since people know of God’s judgment of death against those who reject God (Ro 1:18-23), namely themselves, they continue to reject Him, as did we all when we were also sinners (2Ti 4:3-4). How then does one become healed of insanity? “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” by the preaching of the gospel by those who are sent (Ro 10:12-15). If no one can understand then how can anyone be saved? It is God who saves people who have not sought Him according to His own will (Ro 5:6-11; 9:14-18). The insane seek to bind themselves by increasingly stringent laws that do not work and by silencing those the sane who reveal their insanity proving the truth of the very Bible they reject. Empathy has seeped into every nook and crevice of modern society, oozing out of every television show, movie, song and book covering the world with its lie. Yet, though Christians be persecuted more intensely in our time than in the past 2,000 years, God still sends forth His Gospel message of hope calling the insane to become sane {saved in Him}.