Spiritual Friendship: Learning to Be Friends with God and One Another

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Spiritual Friendship

Indeed the servants of King Saul, by going against his command and keeping their hands from shedding blood, preserved their faith to him far better than Doeg the Edomite did, who, by acting as an agent of the king’s cruelty, slew with his impious hands the priests of the Lord ( 1 Sam 22:17−18 ). And then there is Jonadab, the friend of Ammon, who should have kept his friend from incest and thereby acted more laudably than he would have by offering advice to enable his friend to attain his desired end ( 2 Sam 13:3−5 ). 41. Also, the virtue of friendship cannot excuse the friends of Absalom, who by giving assent to his treachery, took up arms against their country ( 2 Sam 15:12 ). And, to draw an example from our own day, it is certain that Otto, a cardinal of the Roman church, withdrew from his friend Guido far more happily than John stuck to his friend in the midst of such a great schism. 4 You can see, therefore, that friendship is not able to endure except among the “good.” 5 Are You Saying Only Perfect People Can Have Spiritual Friends? Is There Any Hope for Us? (2.42−44) 42. WALTER: So what has friendship to do with us, since we are not “good”?

4 This “current” example Aelred provides took place around 1159−1164. Can you think of a current example of friends who supported a high-profile Christian leader, despite that leader’s significant ongoing sin, and somehow rationalized

going along with their friend anyway? 5 Cicero, On Friendship , 5.18, 18.65.