Empathy vs. Sympathy

Butterfield makes a crucial distinction between empathy and sympathy, advocating for the latter in dealing with sin. She suggests that empathy, which involves deeply identifying with others' experiences, can lead to endorsing or tolerating sin. Instead, she posits that sympathy allows one to stand on objective truth and offer genuine help. 'Sympathy recognizes a problem that someone else has, and sympathy grieves and longs for a solution,' she explains.