Before we begin, it is critical to establish the only legitimate standard by which any sermon must be evaluated. That standard is not tradition, feelings, scholarship, or cultural relevance. It is the Word of God alone. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." — 2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV) "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." — Proverbs 30:5-6 (KJV) What follows is not a personal attack. It is a biblical obligation. The Apostle Paul commanded: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Timothy 4:2, KJV). We take that command seriously here. Her words: "For centuries, for millennia, Christians have used those words as a proof text to do all kinds of awful things in the world... to condemn people for all kinds of beautiful diversity..." This is a logical fallacy known as the appeal to consequences — the argument that because a truth has been misused, the truth itself must be abandoned or reinterpreted. This reasoning would also compel us to discard the Ten Commandments, because men have killed in their name. It would require us to abandon the entire Bible, because wars have been fought in its name. The misuse of Scripture by wicked men does not alter Scripture. It indicts the men, not the Book. "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." — Isaiah 55:11 (KJV) God's Word is not responsible for man's corruption of it. Paul addressed those who twist Scripture plainly: "For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." — 2 Corinthians 2:17 (KJV) And Peter warned that the unstable and unlearned would do precisely what Flowers does here — wrest the Scriptures: "...in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." — 2 Peter 3:16 (KJV) Furthermore, it is telling that the sermon begins not with what the Scripture says, but with what people have done with it. This is the method of those who have already decided the conclusion and are working backward to justify it. Paul warned of this exact spirit: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." — 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (KJV) VERDICT: The misuse of John 14:6 by men across history is no grounds whatsoever to reinterpret, soften, or spiritualize away its plain meaning.
