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What should I do to help my friend?

Neostarwcc

We are saved purely by the work and grace of God.
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About a year ago my wife and I were playing a video game that we probably shouldn't have been playing. Not going to name the game but it was a game completely about wizardry and magic because let's face it, magical games sell in today's age of Harry Potter and days of magic. Anyway we met a interesting person there whom I'll call Raven because that's the nickname he likes to be called (we know his real name and where he lives because he later told us after one of his nearly successful suicide attempts so that we could call the cops on him if necessary.) my wife and I became friends with Raven immediately. At first Raven identified himself as a woman so we spent many months thinking that he was a woman but he one day confessed to us that he was in fact, Male. Anyway while playing this game our friendship grew and we shared everything with each other and we grew to become really close friends. His sexuality came up (hes bisexual but mostly dated and slept with men) his religion came up (he was born and raised Catholic but was massively hurt by the Catholic church. I'm not going to share what happened for the world to see. I'll just say that he was deeply hurt by the Catholic church. Because of this trauma he became an athiest and stopped believing in God) my religion came up and hes accepted and been interested in my religious beliefs and protestantism in general ever since. He almost constantly asks me questions about my wife and Is religious beliefs because they were so different than the ones hes grown up with and been taught. His ideas of religion were almost exactly like Luther's when he first became a monk. So I've shared what Ive believed for almost seven years now and the ones my wife has believed since as far back as she can remember.

I've made Raven cry several times because I've made several promises to him 1. God loves him and has a plan for him which he doesnt believe and 2. I will be his friend for the rest of his life if he allows me to.

Hes an army veteran who was honorably discharged from the army because he got shot and severely injured in Iraq several years ago. I've confirmed everything hes said online. The only lie hes ever told me was that he was a woman. I've never lied to him since day one. Weve become the best of friends over the last year and eventually we quit the game we were playing and solely talked on discord ever since.

Over the last year hes tried to kill himself several times. I mean throughout the year that I've known him hes been in the hospital for over six suicide attempts. I've managed to talk him out of several attempts as well over discord. My wife and I have been the family that he hasn't had since his father passed away a few years ago. Ever since then his mother hasnt been the same. He eventually got so bad that I told him he had to get on depression meds or one day he was going to die. Especially when a few times before he almost succeeded. If his mother did come over to his apartment and immediately tzkd him go the hospital he would have died. For that attempt he spent over 2 months in a hospital. The doctors apparently got his meds straightened out but hes tried to kill himself other times since.

During his latest attempt the police took him to a hospital that wasnt covered by his military disability insurance benefits (I forget what you call it) he was there for about a week and when they released him they told him he owed over $25,000 and that he had a year to pay it. I've helped him fight the bill ever since but they insist he owes it. So hes been working virtually nonstop for months now. Hes confessed to me that hes so depressed and feels like God is so against him that he cannot nor will not believe ever that he exists. Let alone loves him.

My friend is so lost and needs my help. Even if I dont succeed in bringing him to Christ or saving his life because God will never unharden his heart I want to be his friend for the rest of his life not just because I promised him but because God has placed a massive deep love for him into my heart. I have made such a massive impact in his life that.... I want to do more and more and I want to help him get on the right meds and try to improve his life as much as I can. Even though hes mostly gay. I... am mixed in feelings about homosexuals. They disgust me in their acts and I do judge them dont get me wrong. But Raven is mostly homosexual that God has placed a deep love into my heart for. I openly welcome him into my family and I've never had a friend that I've cared about more than him. It's like God is sending me a message to love homosexuals into my heart because it's definitely a weakness of mine. God used sin for good. There are other homosexuals that God has placed into my life and I've helped but I've never loved them like I love raven. Hes my brother and I care about him so much.

Hes stated many times that never in his life has he encountered somebody who's cared about him like my wife and I do. He wants to thank us but has no way to and we're like you dont have to we just love you that much and he just cannot comprehend it. The love of God is staring at him in his face through my wife and I and he cannot see it. I feel so sorry for him and I've prayed for him countless times but his life just keeps getting worse and worse.

My question is, how do I help him? How do I give him the will to live and a much better life than hes had? It's like hes Job and cursed by God and I'm supposed to show him what a true child of God is like. But... I'm afraid that hes cursed forever. I'm trying to show him as much love as I can but at the same time... Its Gods job to change his life. I cannot tell God what to do. It all has to be at his perfect timing. But... I just want to scream at God "why?"
 

fm107

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That's a tough one, I hesitate to even answer. So, I'll just say a few things - just some suggestive thoughts for you to contemplate:

1. It sounds like your doing the right things in terms of being a loving neighbour to him. Matthew 5:16
2. If you maintain a good testimony, be there to answer his faith based questions, help him out practically where you reasonably can do so and pray for him, then I think that is all that is required of you.
3. You need to leave the rest to God, you can't save him, only God can. Only God can open his eyes. We are given the gracious privilege to sow the seed, only God can make it germinate. Some seeds are sown early in a persons life, but they can lie dormant for decades, only to germinate at an unexpected point later in life so don't give up hope.
4. This man suffers in his life but how much is his sufferings down to his own sinful choices? I'd say quite a lot. Telling him to take meds for depression, in my view, isn't good advice. Depression is down to distance between him and God - often sin related. I'd rather have heard you point him to God rather than pointing him to take anti depressants.
5. The man may suffer in his life, but the Lord Jesus sufferings do not compare to this man's sufferings. He can't therefore say he doesn't see that God loves Him (Romans 5:8). Perhaps something else is holding him back such as his lifestyle? Many prefer their sin. To say it's God's lack of love sounds to me like a false excuse.
6. This man could be hardening his own heart each time he hears the gospel.
7. What do you mean by homosexuality is your weakness?
 
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