In recent years, it’s become popular to denigrate empathy, or at least to ring-fence it. Christian authors have written essays and books with provocative titles like “The Enticing Sin of Empathy” and Toxic Empathy. While these authors acknowledge that compassion is a Christlike attribute, they argue that, when taken to an extreme, empathy can distort our sense of justice and our devotion to God. They call for caution to ensure that emotional identification doesn’t override our eternal perspective and commitment to obedience.
We find no such caution in Moses 7:28-41. In this passage, Enoch sees in vision a future event. His city has been taken up to heaven. Many other righteous people have been lifted up to dwell with God. Those who remain are cruel and violent to one another. I’m not sure if he was expecting to see anger or dispassion on God’s face, but he was shocked at what he saw: anguish. “How is it that thou canst weep,” he marveled, “seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” (Moses 7:29). To Enoch, God’s holiness seemed inconsistent with empathy. But God explained:
Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;
And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;
And the fire of mine indignation is kindled against them; and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them, for my fierce anger is kindled against them. …
Wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep, yea, and all the workmanship of mine hands.
Moses 7:32-34, 40
There is no attempt here to balance empathy with justice. God administers justice because of His empathy, not in spite of it.
When Enoch saw the extent of God’s love for His children, his own heart was opened. He “wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook” (Moses 7:41).
After the destruction in the Americas which coincided with the Savior’s death, a group of people heard His voice as they sat in darkness. Again, He explained that these natural disasters were not the actions of an emotionally detached God, but manifestations of His mercy for His suffering children. As He listed the cities that had been destroyed, He repeatedly explained the reason for the destruction: “that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them” (3 Nephi 9:5, 7-9, 11). Just as He explained to Enoch, this manifestation of divine justice was rooted in empathy.
President Dallin H. Oaks, who studied and taught law and who served as a justice in the Utah Supreme Court, has grappled many times with the relationship between love and law. In a devotional address for young adults, he discussed how his views on this apparent conflict have evolved over the years. Speaking of the commandments to love God and to love our neighbors, he said:
I have previously referred to our “continually [trying] to balance the dual commandments of love and law,” but I now believe that goal to be better expressed as trying to live both of these commandments in a more complete way. …
He loves all of us, and His perfect plan of happiness has a place for all. We show our love for Him by keeping His commandments, including love for His children.
“Stand for Truth,” Worldwide Devotional Address for Young Adults, 21 May 2023
I appreciate President Oaks’s insight: Since God loves all of His children with a perfect love, there can be no conflict between loving them and loving Him. When we truly want what’s best for His children, we are aligned with His will.
Today I will seek for increased empathy, remembering that compassion need not be in conflict with holiness. Like Enoch, I will strive to feel more expansive love for all of God’s children.
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