Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 140:558 (Apr 1983)
Article: Do Bible Facts Change Attitudes?
Author: Brian Richardson

BSac 140:558 (Apr 83) p. 163

Do Bible Facts Change Attitudes?

Brian Richardson

[Brian Richardson, Chairman, Biblical Studies Division, Bryan College, Dayton, Tennessee]

Has Christian education taken on an impossible task? Can Christians realistically hope to reverse the humanistic trends of today’s society? In a mass media society where abortion, sexual promiscuity, euthanasia, homosexuality, and other positions openly opposed to traditional Judeo-Christian ethics are promoted, can Christian education do anything to develop positive biblical values? Many may respond at first, “No, it is a hopeless situation.” However, the Bible makes it clear that God wants believers to try. But the question is, Where should they begin? Should Christian educators immediately begin to teach for attitude changes, or should they go through the process of teaching Bible facts before they can change attitudes? Can one be certain that Bible knowledge as such will even produce a change in deep-seated prejudices and values and the development of what most would recognize as “Christian attitudes”?

Many feel that the last question should be answered with an emphatic no, because many who know the Bible thoroughly have poor attitudes. That is why several main-line denominations have relegated the Bible to the “resource” category in much of their curricula.1 Studies, such as those conducted by Murray G. Ross, discovered that:

…among those for whom religion, in the form of the Ten Commandments, the golden rule, the occasional sermon, etc., tends to provide a rough guide in life, one must note the tendency to dilute these ideas in such a way as to make them consistent with the

BSac 140:558 (Apr 83) p. 164

secular standards of society. Less than 20 percent of the respondents find in religion a basis or a compelling guide for their everyday behavior. For the others, one must conclude that religion has almost ceased to provide a significant or lofty ideal which gives life purpose and direction.2

Nevertheless Ross’s study deals more directly with the correlation of attitudes to attitudes than it does with the correlation of knowledge to attitudes. In fact, Ross makes no attempt to ascertain one’s knowledge or understanding of that which he claims to believe. Ross even questions the validity of his own conclusions when he admits that in the majority of cases what is described as “belief” is not “belief” as this term is commonly used, but something much closer to “assent to” or even “an affirmative reaction to an echo.”3 This means that his study only discovered ...