Satan takes no greater delight than seducing God’s people to reject His good design. This has been true from the very beginning, when the serpent sowed the earliest seeds of doubt in his deceptive utterance in Genesis 3:1: “Did God really say?”
A primary way the enemy works in our world today is sowing corruption, self-hatred, or identity confusion among image bearers. He tempts us to question basic principles in Scripture and to doubt fundamental attributes of our Creator’s nature—that He is trustworthy, sovereign, and perfect, making no mistakes in His creation.
Few issues reveal this scheme of Satan more clearly than the growing cultural confusion surrounding gender identity and the rise of so-called “gender transitions.”
Scripture teaches that men and women were made to bear God’s image in different ways. Each possesses unique qualities and propensities for honoring God, serving others, and building His kingdom. Genesis 1:27 affirms this clearly: “So God created man in his own image … male and female he created them.”
This biblical and biological reality stands upstream of many other foundational beliefs. When it is rejected, a cascade of cultural and moral confusion follows. This disillusionment and despair can take many forms: abortion, gender confusion, rejection of biblical marriage, men forsaking the vocation of fatherhood, or women rejecting the beauty of motherhood. Though these issues appear distinct, they are rooted in the same deeper problem—a rejection of God’s good design.
As a pastor, my heart breaks when I hear stories of people rejecting the way God made them.
“In our fallen world, there are many reasons why a person may wrestle with these feelings. But each of these cases can be compassionately and pastorally addressed with this enduring truth: Our feelings don’t dictate God’s divine design nor biological realities.”
Dr. Gary Hollingsworth, ERLC interim president
Even as believers are those who have been given new hearts in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), Scripture reminds us that our hearts remain deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), and our minds are not fully able to comprehend God’s ways (Ecclesiastes 8:17, Isaiah 55:8-9). The reality of living in a post-Fall world means that we will all endure certain fleshly thorns (2 Corinthians 12:7), seeking to renew our minds (Romans 12:2) and remain steadfast in the face of temptation (James 1:14, 4:7), knowing that “no temptation has overtaken [us] that is not common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Not only should we seek to conform our own hearts to what is true, we should desire to lovingly help others do the same. Because we believe Scripture is true, we believe God’s design is not arbitrary, but undeniably good—not only for the believer, but for the flourishing of all people.
