A Gentleman and a Scholar

Ask him for an opinion of evolution, communism, divorce or war and you get a viewpoint which may not be embraced by anyone else but is brazened with assured confidence based on years of scholarship and concentrated learning. 

Ask for the grand tour of the library of the doctor's home and you are immediately struck by the immensity of a life devoted to research, manifested in the dozens of file cabinets and tens of thousands of books. He may take you to the back window of the study and point out the six additional repositories of learning in his backyard - tons of books, stored in five small buildings and a tractor trailer.  He simply had no more room. 

No one expected Dr. James D. Bales to retire from his position as professor of Christian doctrine and simply fade away after nearly 37 years of service.  Bales notes through a still young smile, alluding to scripture, "A generation has grown which knoweth not Joseph." Although he may not always be recognized when he strolls the Harding campus, his work carries on his reputation as author, teacher, and debatesman. 

The 71-year-old native of Tacoma, Wash. decided early in life that he was called to teach and preach. He began writing letters to the editor of the Arkansas Gazette and saw the early saplings of what would later blossom into a fairly extensive writing career. Today, his books range from church doctrine to communism. 

"I've authored 70 to 80 books, I forgot the exact number," he says. "I've got 20 or so manuscripts I'd like to publish but can't because of the great expense involved.  Some of my titles sold over 50,000 copies but my subjects aren't at all best seller types." 

Bales was a Harding student in the late 1930's. He studied the art of debating under the late L.C. Sears and won the state debate championship in 1936 with his partner, James McDaniel. He, at that point, realized a strength which would turn his life toward an aggressive angle of evangelism and become a Bales trademark. 

"We're told to be ready to give answer for the hope that we have," he began.  "We live in a world in which faith is constantly challenged, either openly or indirectly with a tact in which the attacker maims the object of the attack. We are challenged in our faith by atheism, evolution, moral relativism, the idea that there is no truth, et cetera.  How can we give a reason for the hope that we have if we can't answer the challenges of the world?"

Bales held nearly 40 public debates with atheists, communists buddhists, evolutionists, and Christian religionists in his years on the firing line. 

His dealings with atheists have led to some definite conclusions on the subject:  "The atheist is incapable of giving an intelligent defense of anything, if he's consistent, because matter in motion is the sole reality - he thinks as matter makes him think.  You can describe what is but not what ought to be.

"You can't resort to a moral law without God; no matter how refined the matter may be, if the universe is a baloney then no matter how thin you slice it, it's still baloney.  Matter is matter operating by the laws of matter, no matter how intricate the arrangement may be." 

"The general theory of evolution, which embraces the formation of the universe, the formation of the earth, and the creation of life, is simply out of the out of the question as a scientific theory.  There is a difference 

He points out in his book 42 Years on the Firing Line which detailed his years of debate, "When truth is at stake, our personal feelings must not keep us from contending for the faith. In some controversy I have wept; sometimes because of my close personal attachment of the individual involved, and in other cases, because I know that some people, who do not understand, will feel hurt and may even be discouraged by a controversy even when it is necessary. 

"As a child I disliked physical combat - although sometimes a brother or a sister tempted me above what I was willing to bear - and when  it comes to controversies with brethren I often have the temptation to procrastinate until my sense of duty will no longer let me avoid the scene of battle."

Although pulmonary embolism and a fast heart rate have restricted him to written debates, he feels confident that were it not for his health restrictions he'd be participating in oral debates even now.

"Written debates are safe, though," he says. "You can check your sources, and there's little chance of getting carried away like there is in oral competition.  It's less emotional but safer nonetheless." 

He's currently involved in two written debates. 

His position on communism brought him into the ranks of Joseph McCarthy during the 1950's "red scare" and he retains his anti-Communist position. 

"If you're a Christian you must be anti-Communist. Communism is militant atheism.  Christians should be militant theists. Communism says that the way to progress is through class hatred; they reject love and goodwill among classes. They say religion is the opiate of the people and make Christ a dope peddler." 

One of his fellow classmates from the 1930's, Herman West, who manages Harding Press, described his friend Bales as "intense. Whatever he worked on he worked on with all his ability." 

Bales' hobby is his study:  "I like to study, and I like books.  I'm a bookaholic."

"I'm also beginning to tolerate my wife's cats," he adds. 

This article first appeared in The Bison, the Harding University paper on February 20, 1987.