Discussing
‘Lost’ finds religion

I love LOST so much so that I have a category on my personal blog just for it (http://rob.orangejack.com/cate... and started LOST soup, a LOST aggregation site (http://lost.soup.io). I think your observation about Jacob and his nemesis is one way to look at it, but I don't see it as clear cut God v Satan.

Instead, I see these two as gods of the Island, and not necessarily one all good and one all evil. Of course, as you know Jesus and Satan aren't on the same level - Jesus is the Son of God while Satan is a fallen angel. But I suspect Jacob and "not Jacob" are indeed equals - more like Egyptian or Greek mythological gods.

LOST borrows from a lot of cultural and religious ideas but it doesn't mean that they must equal or represent exactly the idea they borrow. For instance, in this case, the borrowing could (and probably more likely) is from ancient Egyptian mythology and even then not fully. I think they have created a story of fiction that takes concepts and ideas from other places and truths then combines them to make their own story.

It's very interesting to look at the story being told and find the religious and cultural references, but I also don't feel like any culture or religion borrowed from should get too worked up about it.

I explore some of this a bit more on my blog I mentioned earlier like the Island might manifest itself as a trilogy (not so sure now) and even think that Jacob, the 'god in white' could indeed be the bad guy. But LOST has a way of making things not so clear cut. That's what makes it great! If Jacob = Jesus, we'd anticipate the story line having an idea of where it should go. LOST doesn't always do that.

What do you think of the idea as John Locke as Jesus? He's already died once (he had to bear that burden for the good of the others left on the island), and he's been resurrected somehow (we're not sure who did the resurrecting, though...). And now he's set out to kill Jacob. I'm not a LOST afficionado like Orangejack, but I have seen every episode. I must confess, however, that I tend to get lock in the flashbacks. :-)

My co-workers seem to think that Locke is actually dead and the devil used Locke's body as a disguise to convince Ben to kill Jacob, who is the Jesus character.

I preface this with "my co-workers" because I watch the show and didn't pick up on any of the religious themes. I guess I must turn off part of my brain when watching TV.

It's so great to see people who love LOST! Are you doing the ReWatch?

General thoughts: I never really picked up on any "Jesus Christ" reference. That's probably because you NEVER know where the characters will go on LOST. We thought Ethan was just a nice guy, then he ended up stealing a pregnant Claire and hanged Charlie. Ben seemed like an innocent bystander as "Henry Gale". I think that's a lot of what draws you in. There's a mystery to the island and the people you meet there...I have found it unwise to make any kind of judgment after meeting someone for the first time.

But, it's interesting to re-watch Lost (more information here: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wik... and seeing the dynamics of good and evil played out, though. Lost borrows from so many different things to put together the show I, like orangejack, don't feel overly excited about a potential reference to Christ.

If Jacob didn't die, that is one thing, but if he did, we already see that the Island doesn't really appear to have resurrection abilities (it healed Locke of paralysis and now Locke 2.0 is gallivanting in a body that looks exactly the same). But, I guess God always did things completely different than people would think. I just don't see it. There are a few parallels, but I don't know if it's realistic to think they will focus on the Christian God mythology at all. I guess we'll see. I've never been one to actually predict correctly what will happen on LOST. haha.

Is it safe to talk about "Lost" yet? Um, no...
Maybe I'm the only Think Christian reader who's also a fan of Lost and doesn't live in the US. We've got 5 more episodes to get to the season finale. I'll bookmark this post and return then!

I too am a huge fan of LOST. The twists and turns and time travel always provide great entertainment. But it is the characters and how they deal with their past/futures that I find fascinating. As far as the religious angle might go, I think I can make a generally safe prediction. However the characters play out, I think the religion itself will end up being some kind of pantheistic variety with some post-modernism thrown in. I can't imagine many Hollywood producers or directors who would favor a more Christian perspective. In fact, it has seemed to me that the Island itself was like "god" and the Jacob and non-Jacob characters appeared to be more like caretaker/prophets who were on opposite sides. One thing is for sure, it will be fun to watch how this plays out, and it may be that there will come some good openings to talk to non-Christian fans of LOST about Jesus and "the one who will save us..."