Essay On Friendship

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What is Friendship and How is God Man’s Best friend?
What is a friend? If someone were to ask this question, it would get many contending answers. Some may say a friend is someone who has common interests, others may say it’s someone who is incredibly generous and enjoyable. These are two different types of friends, but are they true friends? How does one know if a friend is real or false. As Aristotle explains in Book 8 of Nicomachean Ethics, there are many forms of friendship, yet only one is true. A true friendship is one not only of mutual giving or common interest, but of mutual benefit. A true friend is someone who helps bring one closer to the God within them, bettering them as a person.
Aristotle divides friendships into three
The main points which differentiate a true friendship from a fake one is that a true friendship is a much more stable relationship that exists because the two people are friends for more than the sake of themselves. This means that people are friends for more than any kind of personal benefit. Friends of a true friendship are friends because they genuinely enjoy one another. From this definition, one can look back to Augustine’s early friendships and note another reason why they were not true ones. His “friends” were not with him because they wished to see him benefit, but because they wished to gain pleasure from seeing him worsen himself. A true friend would not wish to corrupt another. A true friend would want to better himself and those he is friends with. Augustine, however, did manage to find a true friendship, short though it
Following this logic, it too would be correct to say that God is infinitely kind and wishes the most good for His children. “Now those who wish goods to their friend for their friend’s own sake are friends most of all.” If God wishes infinite goods upon His children, that would make Him man’s best friend. Though because God is the maximum of everything, “His goodness is infinite, he is abundant in it, the earth is full of it, all creatures partake of it.” So in wishing infinite good upon us, He also wishes for us to be closer and more like Him. That would mean that the closer we are to God, the better a friend we

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