He is my best friend, but I'm not sure what to do anymore. He is very open to anything that I have to say especially concerning God's Word. Is there anything left for me to do besides continually encouraging him to fight these feelings and sharing God's Word with him? At what point do I need to look at ending our relationship, if at all?

It did disturb me that your friend feels that his being gay is a natural part of him that he cannot fight any longer. God does not create homosexuality within a person. That would be like saying that God created sin. This does not mean that some people may not be born with a natural inclination to be gay. Some people are born with a predisposition to be more susceptible to obesity or to addictions or to alcoholism or to diabetes. So some people may be born with a natural predisposition towards homosexuality. This is a sinful world. Our sinful flesh is constantly fighting against God's way in the world. But the predisposition towards a sinful way of living is fought by the Christian and with God's help he or she wins the victory over sin, Satan, and the sinful flesh. A believer in Jesus Christ fights sin. A believer in Jesus Christ does not give in to it.

Jesus lived a perfect life here on this earth. He lived it as our substitute. This means that he lived his perfect life as more than an example for us to follow. He lived his life so that through faith in him we have what he did for us. We know that he was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he never once sinned. His sinlessness is our power through faith in him over sin. We turn to him when we are tempted by Satan and we trust in his power to say: "Get thee behind me Satan." Your friend needs to keep hearing you say what you seem to have been saying to him.

Your friend also needs to know that the earlier the intervention, the higher the success rate in a person for overcoming the sin of homosexuality. Some studies show that there is a 60% success rate to overcoming homosexuality with the right counselor and with early intervention. The key is to help your friend find a counselor or reputable therapist who will help him change his sexual orientation.

Then your friend will need help from you and others to overcome temptations. He will need to know that he will have friendships, but not homosexual partners. He will need to see you as a friend -- a Christian friend -- who loves him as a Christian friend. Therefore, I would encourage you to keep your friendship and to keep encouraging your friend to seek help from a therapist who will not just say -- "give in to your homosexual urges" -- but who will work with him to change his sexual orientation.

So, your friend needs to deny those thoughts that God has created him homosexual. He needs to be encouraged to trust in Jesus to manage his life. He needs to be encouraged to find a therapist who will help him.

There are several brief information areas on this web site that will be helpful to your friend as he seeks to find a therapist. Look under Ministry, Special Ministry, Committee on Mental Health Needs, and then find the area entitled, "Ask a Therapist." It is an interview tool to be used by a person who is looking for a therapist.

If your friend is living in Wisconsin, Illinois, or Minnesota, near an office of Christian Family Counseling, 414-353-5005, I would encourage you to help him get in contact with one of their therapists. The area offices are listed in the "2004 WELS Yearbook" on page 279.

God's blessings.