The concept of behavioral objectives has been a signal contribution to education. It brings into focus and control the objective measurement of overt effects of teaching inputs.
When considering behavior objectives in a gospel context, however, it must be kept in mind that the context of the idea of behavioral objectives is psychological behaviorism. That theory presupposes that man is a material machine, without a spirit or soul, without independent intelligence or agency. If those presuppositions were true, then indeed all that need concern us would be physical input and output relative to a given human body-machine. Concern with inner mechanisms might be interesting, but would be unnecessary.
But man is not a material machine. He is a dual being. The spirit in man is the person with the physical body, the body being only the tabernacle. Agency in man lies with the spirit, not the body. Therefore it is the spirit of man that must be affected by gospel teaching, and the most important effects will in turn be spiritual: response of the spirit of a man to the Holy Ghost, control by the spirit over the physical body, etc. This is to say that concern with behavior objectives, (overt actions of the physical body) may well miss the point completely.
Indeed there will be physical results from proper spiritual effects. Signs do follow those that believe, and behavior does change upon genuine conversion. The problem is that if the exclusive focus is on behavioral objectives, the spiritual side can easily be short-circuited, and the desired behavioral objectives be attained without a spiritual change. It is well known that increased church attendance, for instance, can be materially programmed; social and psychological pressures can be put in effect to cause more physical bodies to appear in church meetings. But the behavioral objective has been attained without a change of character. When the pressure ceases, so does the effect. To work principally for behavioral objectives is to fall into Satan’s same plan which was rejected in the council in heaven.
The Lord’s way is to teach principles of truth by the power of the Holy Spirit. The desired effect is a hunger of the recipient spirit for the truth and a desire to live by truth sufficient to cause a voluntary striving for a change of personality, or spiritual character. As the character changes, the actions of the body will also change—and perhaps change permanently. Even when the original stimulus is withdrawn, the person will continue in the newly acquired strength in righteousness because he is inner-directed. His own desires furnish a continuing stimulus, and his newly strengthened character provides, with the help of the Lord, the means to continuing desired covert and overt effects.
What if a person does not respond? Does this signal the failure of the Lord’s method? This would be a failure if concern is only for behavior objectives. But the Lord’s program is a program of agency. The measure of its efficiency is to provide guaranteed opportunity, not guaranteed behavior changes. With that opportunity, the recipient person can change his character if he wishes, or he can reject the Lord; that is his God-given choice to make. If the person does not respond, the Lord will usually continue to extend the opportunity: his hand is stretched out all the day long. But there does come a time when he withdraws the opportunity: his Spirit will not always strive with man.
The ideas contrasted above have important ramifications for teaching in the church. Some of them are as follows:
- The absolute prerequisite for all teaching in the church should be the companionship of the Holy Spirit.
- Subject matter should be prepared and administered in teaching situations strictly as the teacher is guided in faith and prayer by the Holy Spirit.
- The principal teaching objective should always be spiritual impact: a kindly, resourceful invitation to know of the truth and to change one’s own character voluntarily, witnessed by the Holy Spirit.
- The attainment of behavioral objectives should always be measured by spiritual, not statistical means. (Statistics can tell me what is not happening spiritually, but never of themselves do they show what is happening spiritually.)
- One converted spirit is worth a thousand conforming bodies.
- If bodies are conforming, for whatever reason, feed the spirits in them!