Darkness & light at Sutherland Springs



By Gary Ledbetter - Posted at Baptist Press:

"The apostle Paul calls death 'the sting of sin.' Sin is another word for the darkness, the root cause of the darkness. Even so, the darkness cannot overcome the life that is the light of men. The believers killed on Nov. 5 were at church because they were expressing a heavenly hope that death is defeated by resurrection. Jesus is the proof and the first fruits of those who would rise after Him."
GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP) -- John's prologue in the Gospels is my favorite Christmas passage, showing us in theological outline what happened in Bethlehem's stable. We know that Jesus is "the Word," the light that shines in the darkness. With somber joy we read that "the darkness did not overcome it."

I thought of that passage as I've considered the darkness manifested at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs yesterday (Nov. 5).

As I write this, hours after the event, pundits are talking in the background about causes and solutions -- "coming together" as a nation, gun laws and our culture of violence. In due respect to those wiser than I, there is no solution by means of inspiration or policy. The darkness hates the light; the darkness hates life; the darkness really hates churches that celebrate the risen Savior. That is not new. And it will not change.

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