When my children were younger, it was often necessary to simply tell them not to do something such as playing in the road or touching a hot stove because they couldn’t understand the consequences of those actions. As they have matured, they have come to understand exactly why they shouldn’t touch a hot stove or play in the street. Yet there always seems to be some new area where they just don’t understand the why’s of avoiding, or the need for certain actions.

I have found that the Bible is full of similar “just do (or do not do) this until you understand why” commands. For example, quarantine was required for leprosy patients; we didn’t know why until the 1900’s. The commandment against coveting is another such instance where most adults still do not understand why coveting is a problem. (It leads to debt, adultery, arguments, etc.)

As a child learns the why’s of simple instructions we consider that to be a sign of growth towards maturity. If a child has trouble learning those why’s we consider them to have some sort of mental defect, leading to many expensive consultations with experts.

As adults we should also be continuing to mature and learn the why’s of more complicated subjects. The consequences of such actions are rarely as immediately obvious as touching a hot stove. Yet, when mature adults study such a topic, the why’s can usually be discovered.

For example, the Bible condemns homosexuality, but it doesn’t specify the why’s. That’s the topic Probe Ministries is addressing this week in their series of radio shorts. You can find their transcript here: “Same Sex Marriage: A Façade of Normalcy”. If you don’t know why God condemns same sex “marriage” or if you need a refresher, it’s definitely worth reading.

Hugh Hewitt has started a debate in the blogosphere by naming Dr. James Dobson as “the most influential individual not in government in America.” Josh Clayborn disagrees, saying that either Oprah or Bill Gates is more influential. Joe at the evangelical outpost disagrees with both of them, stating that Rick Warren deserves the honors.

I’m going to stick my neck out and disagree with all of them. Joe is absolutely correct about Oprah’s level of influence. Bill Gates’ biggest influence is how much swearing people do at their computers. Rick Warren is having a huge positive impact on evangelical christians who accept the authority of the Bible. But I believe his influence is largely limited to that subset of those who profess to be Christians. I believe that Dr. Dobson is probably the most influential of evangelicals among the general population, convincing both Christians and social and political conservatives to act.

Influence isn’t just being able to tell large groups of people what to do, or even what to think. It seems to me the most critical influence which can be asserted over people is in how to think, in other words the process a person uses to reach a conclusion.

The most rampant error in critical thinking today goes by the term postmodernism. This is the theory that there is no absolute truth. What one person believes is considered to be true for them, even if another person’s belief contracts them. In fact, both beliefs are considered to be “true and correct.” In short, there is no such thing as absolute truth.

Postmodernism is the snow and ice of critical thinking. This method of thinking does not care about evidence, logic or facts. Therefore, it becomes impossible to reach an accurate belief or conclusion because any evidence and facts which disagree with the chosen conclusion are summarily dismissed. As a result, such beliefs and conclusions are nothing more than castles in the air; little more than elaborate fantasies which cannot be corrected even when presented with the most obvious of evidence against those beliefs.

Postmodernism is the reason why Dan Rather at CBS could ignore the evidence that the Bush AWOL documents were fogeries and still say they were “unimpeachable” with a straight face, even after it was obvious that they were forgeries. It is also the reason Democratic strategist Flavia Colgan could be shown solid evidence of the lies and distortions in Fahrenheit 9/11 and still state, “Well, I don‘t think he is telling lies” and “It is such a credit to democracy and discourse” while still expecting to be taken seriously.

In short, postmodernism is giving priority to beliefs over truth, a distinct reversal of their appropriate priorities. A postmodernist lives by the phrase, “what does your heart tell you?”

If you recognized that phrase, you may already be aware of where I’m going with this. This philosophy can be found in most movies today; and nowhere is this error seen more often than in movies put out by the Disney companies led by Michael Eisner.

“What does your heart tell you?” began appearing in Disney movies shortly after Eisner took over as head of Walt Disney Studios. As a result, this phrase is being drummed into the heads of millions of impressionable children and unsuspecting adults who still see Disney movies as “safe family entertainment.” Even most Christians still think of Disney as providing good “clean” entertainment, and they have no problem plopping their children in front of the TV and stuffing a Disney movie into the VCR or DVD player.

Not only have Disney movies been teaching postmodernism, they have also been teaching wiccanism (Pocohantas), animism (Brother Bear), ancestral worship (Mulan), pantheism (Hercules), moral relativism (Pirates of the Carribean) and many other new age philosophies.

Michael Eisner hasn’t stopped there either. Under his guidance, Walt Disney Studios created Touchstone Pictures as well as making Miramax Films and Dimension Films part of the Disney holdings. All three companies are responsible for a huge percentage of the filthiest movies made in America today. Miramax Films in particular, is also the largest source of blatant propaganda films such as “The Cider House Rules” (pro-abortion), “Chocolat” (anti-morality), “Fahrenheit 9/11” (anti-Bush/War), and “The English Patient” (pro-suicide).

Now if Hugh Hewitt had said that Dr. Dobson is the most influential Christian private citizen or the private citizen with the most positive influence, I would probably agree with him. (Sorry, Joe.) However, I would have to say that the most influential private citizen period is Michael Eisner.