Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Henry Leo Boles (1874-1946) is a transition figure, coming of age as the chasm between Churches of Christ and Disciples widens and becomes impassable. He emerges early as a leader, taking the reins of the Nashville Bible School by 1913 and playing a crucial role in the editorial course of the GA as the creative development of nineteenth-century sectarian ideology hardens into an increasingly rigid scholasticism.
Early on HLB becomes the heir to DL and Elisha G. Sewell in what is perhaps the most critical function of the GA-- responding to queries on issues of theory and practice, often with great potential for controversy, addressed to the editor and answered on the "problem page," called in the GA the "query department." Difficult queries arise as churches and individuals search for a "thus saith the Lord" and do not find it, or find it ambiguous, or find it distasteful. Such issues continue to plague us, but there is no longer a forum with the authority of the GA nor a single individual who can speak with wisdom and pastoral authority. This is the service that HLB performed for his generation, as DL and EGS had done for the one preceding. It is the mantle to which, in our own time, Guy N. Woods aspired.
Such queries arise as the church confronts new situations in the culture and environment it inhabits. In the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan becomes such an issue. It is, in fact, the principal competitor of the church for the allegiance of the yeomanry of the so-called Bible Belt--where the Bible is honored with lip service but rarely taken seriously and personally when something troubles people seriously and personally. In responding to the threat of the Klan, HLB shows himself to be a consistent disciple of DL. His reasoning may amaze or amuse, but the "bottom line" is as clear as his logic. He is both naive and wise. HLB responds to the Klan as he does to any parachurch organization, whether the aims are clearly evil or relatively benign. HLB's method was classically defined by Brodie Hardeman in his "Open Forum": "If you can't answer any Bible question on a postcard, and have room to tell about your family and ask about theirs, then you're not a Gospel preacher." HLB is certainly "a Gospel preacher." As we ponder such opportunities as the Promise Keepers or the Christian Coalition or the Moral Majority or Operation Rescue, we may wish to recall his advice.
Race relations are not specifically addressed here, but we should not doubt that race relations are at the heart of this text.
I know but little about the Ku-Klux Klan; but from what I do know about it, I would say that no Christian ought to be a member of it. No one can follow Christ and go into this, because Christ did not go into it, neither did he give any instruction for any of his people to go into it. Therefore, no one can claim Scriptural authority for being a member of it.
The Ku-Klux Klan has been outlawed in many sections of the country. I am sure that it does not make one a better Christian to belong to it. Like all other social organizations, what good it may have can be enjoyed by the child of God as a Christian in the church of Christ; therefore, one need not go into it for any spiritual blessings or for any instruction as for living the Christian life. Much harm has grown out of the Ku-Klux Klan. It has been a menace to our civilization and should not be encouraged even by citizens of our government, to say nothing of Christians, who should keep themselves unspotted from the world. I can think of no reason that could be assigned for any Christian's going into the Ku-Klux Klan. Many Scriptures could be given showing that God's people are not of the world, but should keep themselves unspotted from the world. I know of Gospel preachers who were led into the Klan, but they have seen the error of their way and turned from it. I hope that all of the Lord's people may see the error of being in the Klan and have the courage to come out of it and serve in the name of Christ their fellow men and honor and glorify God in his church.
Amen, Brother Leo. Amen.
dhaymes, his mark +