I’m not given to reviewing movies here on ViralJesus.org, but I’ve been thinking a lot about a film I saw over the weekend – Inception. I was putting together a post on this very subject, and the movie had an oddly crystallizing effect. I was gripped by the tag line used in promotional materials:
Your mind is the scene of the crime.
Woven into the writings of the Scriptures we find the concept that the mind is a battlefield. The epic wars between good and evil, better and best, the flesh and the spirit – all rage in our inner thoughts. The fight begins in our center of consciousness, but its outcome has the power to determine our destiny and expresses itself in our words and actions. Jesus addressed the legalism of His generation this way:
20He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ 21For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ “Â -Mark 7
The word “inception”, for the purposes of the Leonardo DiCaprio film, is defined as the process of “planting” an idea into the mind of a target subject by “breaking into” their dreams. If done properly, the mark would accept that idea as their own. In a debate about whether this was actually possible, one character explains that it is almost impossible because “the mind can always trace the origin of an idea back to its source.” The movie also describes an idea as the most powerful force in the universe – like an unstoppable virus it consumes the subject and forever changes them.
Consider for a moment that power – the ability to plant the seed of an idea that grows into an all-consuming passion – a simple suggestion that becomes the only reality that matters to your victim. How could an evil mind take advantage of such power? And how could you ever hope to defend against it?
The characters in the movie decide that, in order for the idea to take root, they would have to use the simplest version of the thought possible and use the subject’s fears, joys, relationships, and history to embed it as deep as possible. They battle the subject’s “projections”, who attack them to protect his mind. SPOILER ALERT: they succeed.
I found myself thinking of another “thought criminal.” At the dawn of the world, in the bliss of the Garden, the Serpent planted the simplest seed of rebellion possible: “Did God really say that?” For the balance of human history, to this very day, we fight to find the origin of that one thought. Its consequences color our every waking moment. Its outgrowth has warped the very fabric of the Creation itself. We are no longer who we were created to be, and we are weighted down by the notion that this is exactly how we want it. It is always there, tickling at the corner of our mind – “Did God really say…Did God really mean…Is God really God?” For the most part, we have no clue our thoughts have been tampered with. We can’t trace the origin of the idea. We are victims of a universal felony, and our minds are the scene of the crime.
Those of us who have been rescued by Jesus from “death into life” still fight the same battle. The difference is that we have been awakened to the presence of an intruder in our own psyche. We see that the enemy is within – plying the same trade, tilling deep to plant the same fabrication. Elemental to our survival is discerning the truth from the fiction, and to do so, we are taught to take our own thoughts prisoner:
5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10)
We can’t simply assume that our thoughts are our own. We must capture them, interrogate them, and determine their genesis; “Where do you come from? Who do you work for?” We must remain continually vigilant, always aware that the nemesis of our souls is at work in our old nature, attempting “inception” at every point of weakness. And we must discipline our minds to focus on truth, beauty, humility, and light.
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Phil. 4)
Personal story time: The Bible calls Satan “the accuser of our brothers.” In the battle of the mind, I have had one consistent recurring experience: when I am tired, overworked, hurting, lonely, or otherwise weak, I will suddenly remember a moment of personal failure. Often it will be something I haven’t thought of for years, or an event I barely remember. The accusing memory is almost always something I have repented of and committed to Jesus, not something I am being newly convicted of. It is sudden, acute, and always accompanied by a crippling sense of guilt and worthlessness. It overtakes my thoughts and becomes the center of my attention.
For years I struggled to “shake it off”, to try to forget, to “get past it.” To ignore it. But that proved only a short term solution, and in quiet moments, the accusation would come flooding back. It’s not enough to ignore the thought – you have to confront it. You have to back it into a corner at gunpoint and ask “where did you come from?” And don’t take “Orlando” for an answer. I’ve learned you have to then overwhelm guilt and fear with thoughts about truth, forgiveness, beauty, and prayer. This is the fight – it is active, visceral, and more real than the air we breathe.
Learning to live like Jesus begins with a change of heart and mind. A new thought. A beautiful, powerful, all-consuming reality: Grace. It is unmerited favor. Forgiveness. True freedom. Real peace. These are our new realities. We think on them to combat the distortion. God did say. God is. And we are His. In so doing we train our mind to recognize truth and to seek out and attack the lie, like so many mental white blood cells.
I encourage you to train your mind, to take up the fight. To test every thought. And to go see “Inception” in IMAX, because…wow! It will make your brain hurt, but it’s worth it…
