Countdown to Christian, Part 3: Are You There, God? No Worries. It's Only Me.

DON'T HANG UP

When LOST creator/producer/writer DamonLindelof was challenged [on Twitter by julian_gill] to sum up LOST [the ENTIRE show] in 140 characters or less, Mr. Lindelof said:

Damaged people crash on damaged island. People fix each other, then island. All consumed in bright light. Yay! (or Boo!) #LOSTINONETWEET 29 Mar

Pretty funny, right?
Did you notice terms like "redemption," "God," "heaven/hell" and "afterlife" DIDN'T MAKE THE CUT in Mr. Lindelof's description? Also missing: "save," "rescue," "repent," or anything remotely related to religion.

"DAMAGE" is the key word here, Not "damned." Our losties need to be "FIXED," Not "SAVED."

Also Good to note: the ISLAND and the PEOPLE are BOTH "damaged," the people fix EACH OTHER and our story is not COMPLETE unless the ISLAND IS FIXED -- BY THE PEOPLE. The ISLAND itself doesn't fix ANYONE or ANYTHING. [WATCH your WORDPLAY!! The people fix each OTHER, as in, they fix the others one at a time in turn. SNEAKY!]

My point is DON'T let the religious theme distract you! LOST is NOT a story about Good v. Evil. And it's NOT a story about how God in heaven helps out a plane full of dysfunctional people on an island in the middle of nowhere. LOST is NOT PILGRIM'S PROGRESS for the 21st century.

Nooooooo no-no-no-no-no.

LOST is an ALLEGORY.

If our losties need to have "faith" in "God," it means in order for them to succeed/win in the end, they must have faith in SOMEONE WITH A GOD-LIKE ROLE in the OVERALL STORY. They need to believe the CREATOR of this world has a PLAN for them.

They need to have faith in "God," not God.

[Don't panic.]

Painting by Doug Aldrich.

GOD HELP US ALL

With all this God talk, maybe it's time to talk about God. [Think?]

Let's air out the religion bit first. I'm the first to admit it. The religion thing on LOST can be very distracting. However, we've faced this challenge before. When Jack, Kate, Locke and Charlie discover the BODIES in the CAVES ["House of the Rising Sun"], Locke calls them, "Our VERY OWN ADAM AND EVE."

[Remember that? It seems like forever ago, doesn't it?]

EXCERPT from Team LOST's Sneaky Trick #4: Themes With A Capital 'T' [I highly, HIGHLY recommend reading this post again. It DIRECTLY relates to what we're discussing here.]

If Team LOST has chosen to refer to these bodies as “Our very own [version of] Adam and Eve,” what does that tell you?  [Unidentified bodies aren't called Adam and Eve, btw. They're called Jane or John Doe.]

Remember, this is not a physical world. If these two bodies are “Adam and Eve” in this NON-Physical world, that tells me that this world we’re in is a CREATED world — one maybe created specifically FOR these two by someone else. Someone with the POWER to create [and maybe monitor it/them].

Painting by Jeniffer Stapher-Thomas at www.fineartamerica.com.


If we follow the analogy, “Our very own [version of] Adam and Eve,” implies:

• “Our very own” [version of] “God” created this world.
• “Our very own” [version of] “God” might have created “Adam and Eve.”
• “Our very own” [version of] “Adam and Eve” aren’t “here” by accident.
• “Here” isn’t “Our very own” [version of] “Paradise/the Garden of Eden.”
• Whatever happened to “our very own” [version of] “Adam and Eve,” it started The Island ball rolling. That is, the glitch that “broke” The Island can be traced back to them somehow.

END EXCERPT
As far as the concept of "God," regardless of specific religion [pretty much], I think we can all agree on the basics.

Metaphorically speaking,"GOD" is:

• THE CREATOR.
• THE FATHER.
• THE LORD.
• THE ONLY PERSON who can see the BIG PICTURE.
• THE ONE WHO CREATED "ADAM" and "EVE."
• THE ONE with the PLAN that will WORK.
• The one who SENDS HIS "SON."

To have faith in GOD is to believe that EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON. That GOD has a PLAN, and that each of us has a specific part to play in order for that plan to go forward. We "have WORK TO DO" -- GOD'S work. We have FAITH that God knows what he's doing, AND He knows way more than us [He knows EVERYTHING, past, present and future], so if we just TRUST and OBEY Him -- if we KEEP THE FAITH -- then everything will work out fine.

"Hands of Fate" painting by Herbert Renard at www.fineartamerica.com.

LOSING your FAITH means you no longer believe:

• God exists.
• God is in control.
• Everything happens for a reason -- GOD'S reason -- even if we don't understand it.
• NOTHING is meaningless.
• We are a part of God's plan.
• God's plan will WORK.

In order to know what God wants us to do, he has to GIVE US INSTRUCTIONS. Often, we need FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. [Watch how ALL of the following remind us of EKO in some way].

• Sometimes we pray and are "told" in our heads what to do.
• Sometimes we get messages in dreams [like God's peeps did in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible].
• Sometimes we go to "GOD'S HOUSE."
• Sometimes God selects PROPHETS, who can receive God's message and pass along the information to everyone else.
• Sometimes we have to LOOK for the SIGNS God gives us -- events, chance happenings, anything that relates to our questions: What does God want me to do? Am I doing the right thing?
• Sometimes, all we have to do is Check the BOOK. God's INSTRUCTIONS to us are all spelled out in our religious texts.

Some people are WAY more devoted to God than others. They sacrifice their lives and their Earthly relationships (parents, marriage, children) and vow to devote their ENTIRE LIVES to God and His work. These people are expected to give us God's advice when we need it.

Graphic "Men in Black" by OSCAL at www.clker.com.

HOWEVER, if you don't BELIEVE in God, he can't communicate with you very well, can He? He'll still send the message, but you WON'T HEAR IT because you DON'T  BELIEVE the message exists. Even if the message is PRETTY DARN OBVIOUS, if you don't believe, then you'll rationalize it into a coincidence or "dumb, blind luck."

In Christianity, God exists outside of time, AND He knows everything. He's WATCHING us, sometimes protecting us directly with a miracle and sometimes letting things play out in order for things to work out in the long run. God, however, created humans with FREE WILL. We are never puppets. We have to believe in God voluntarily and do what we're supposed to do ON OUR OWN. We have to CHOOSE. Otherwise, there's no point.

"In My Father's House There Are Many Rooms" painting by J. Joseph Hart at www.fineartamerica.com.

God can SEE US at all times, is with us at all times and can NEVER be separated from us -- even in death. But WE can be separated from God -- in hell. Hell is where your soul goes when it is damned -- when your soul is damaged beyond repair and you can no longer be saved [A trip to hell is, unfortunately, irreversible].

HERE'S THE BAZILLION DOLLAR QUESTION:  If LOST is NOT telling a story about the actual God [it ISN'T], then

• WHO is "GOD" in our STORY?

[Don't panic. Chant with me: HOUSE OF USHER. HOUSE OF USHER. HOUSE OF USHER...]

We need LET the religious symbolism do its JOB: tell us HOW "GOD" FUNCTIONS in the STORY in relationship to WHAT HAPPENED before and WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW to our losties.

Team LOST is USING religion to send US a message. Actually, they are using a specific religion: Christianity.


WAIT FOR THE SIGNAL

Let's say we've got a problem. There's a huge, secret medical facility that's about to blow up and destroy the world. This facility is maintained by the "bad guys," who are devoted to keeping the facility up and running.

Let's say I've got a plan: I'm sending you on a secret mission. I'm gonna covertly insert you into this huge medical facility in order for YOU to SHUT IT DOWN [and SAVE THE WORLD].  You are my AGENT -- the person who will complete my "WORK" by achieving my GOALS. Hopefully, after you shut it down, you'll be able to help me OPEN THE DOOR and I'll get you out [bring you HOME].

Problem: I have to insert you when you are sleeping [you're posing as a patient in the facility in order to get in]. However, part of the entry process is a memory wipe. When you wake up in the facility, you've got NO MEMORY of ME nor the PLAN I gave you.  All you have is a "FEELING" --- There's something you're SUPPOSED TO DO.

Lucky for you, I knew that was gonna happen. I've set up a SIGNAL for you. All you have to do is access it, and then you'll remember who you are, what you're supposed to do and how to do it.

Problem: The bad guys figure out what I'm up to. They BLOCK the SIGNAL and kidnap you. They try to brainwash you into thinking that I'M the bad guy.

[Dangit!]

Now I've got to find a way to GET YOUR ATTENTION.

"We're the GOOD GUYS."

Lucky for both of us, THIS FACILITY IS NOT PHYSICALLY REAL. It's a DREAM STATE, sustained by a "machine" I created. Good news is I can affect this world -- to an extent -- because ONLY YOUR MIND is inside the facility. Your BODY is right in front of me.

HUGE PROBLEM: The guys inside the facility either totally know that it's not physically real, OR they DON'T know, and believe that it IS physically real. Either way, it's in their best interest, once they figure out who you are and where you come from, to convince you to take their side. In THEIR minds, I'm trying to "end the world" because I've sent you to SHUT DOWN the facility.

The BEST way to convince you to be on THEIR SIDE, is to manipulate you into believing that I DON'T EXIST. That I NEVER existed -- I only existed as a FANTASY in your head. If they can convince you that the facility is the "REAL" world, and your "hunch" about me and the world outside the facility is nothing but your imagination, then they've got you, and I'm screwed!

If that doesn't work -- if you still think I exist -- then the next best way for them to get you on their side is to prove to you that I'M the bad guy [that I'm a LIAR]. I sent you in to play mind games with you -- just for fun. They try to convince you that if you believe that I have a PLAN for the GREATER GOOD, you are a SUCKER.

Virgin Mary STATUES from NIGERIA full of HEROIN.

Part of this facility's original function is to create a FLASH WORLD for its patients. It creates one for YOU. In this flash world, created with your MEMORY, you are placed in familiar scenarios and faced with a CHOICE. This way, you should be able to REJECT the source of your SUFFERING.

The facility is designed to EASE YOUR PAIN [like a PAINKILLER].

However, since I CREATED the facility in the first place, I know how to HACK into the flash world "signal" that creates the FLASH WORLD for you. I can use that signal to HELP YOU. I can send you MESSAGES in your DREAMS, too.

Problem: The bad guys have access to that signal, too. This has created a TUG-O-WAR between our signals. Sometimes THEY have control, and sometimes I have control. Sometimes we have EQUAL control. That's where YOU come in.

If YOU BELIEVE in my existence, MY SIGNAL will be stronger. If you DON'T, THEIR signal will be stronger.

[DO YOU SEE IT?]

In the ALLEGORY above:

• I'M "GOD."
• YOU are "God's" [my] INSTRUMENT. You are a MAN OF "GOD."
• YOU are in the "facility" to do "GOD'S"/my WORK.
• YOU need FAITH in ME and my PLAN in order to know what to do.
• The "FACILITY" is the ISLAND.
• The "bad guys" are whoever's UNDER THE INFLUENCE [or INFECTED].

CLUE ME IN

Turns out, "GOD" is a BIG WOM CLUE in the Eko/Yemi story.

• The nun is a WOMAN of GOD, and she's a zealot! She enforces the LETTER of the law regardless of the circumstances. She CONDEMNS Eko ["Hunger does not matter"] just like the nurse condemns him for killing the bad guys.
• The CHURCH is the HOUSE of GOD. It's "MY FATHER'S HOUSE."
• The PRIEST, referred to as "FATHER," is a MAN of GOD.
• A MAN of God takes your CONFESSION.
• Eko TAKES HIS BROTHER'S PLACE as the MAN of GOD at the church.
• YEMI takes his brother's place as the Man of God on the smugglers' plane.
• The AUTHORITIES don't pick up on the SWITCH.
• EVEN THOUGH Eko "becomes" a Man of God, he is STILL ABLE TO KILL -- EVEN IN GOD'S HOUSE. However, a murder in God's house means you can't use it anymore.

The BIGGER CLUE here is "GOD'S HOUSE."

Eko was "just told" to build a church.

There are a LOT of "God's House" type places on the island, aren't there?

• The TEMPLE. [houses the "spring" which acts as a "doorway" to "between places" AND sits over Smokey's lair -- where Ben goes to be "judged."]
• The CABIN. [Place used by Jacob/MIB to communicate with island peeps.]
• The STATUE. [Where Mock Locke "finds" Jacob.]
• LOCKE'S SWEAT LODGE [built to facilitate COMMUNICATION WITH "THE ISLAND"].

[What about that "holy ground" thing? Anyone remember the FIRST thing God said to Moses from the burning bush? That's right! He told Moses to TAKE OFF HIS SHOES. Who do we know NEVER wears shoes? Um, Jacob, maybe?]

The BIGGEST CLUE on the PLANET, however, are the themes of DIVISION and REUNIFICATION [the "brother" part].

IN THE THE NAME OF THE FATHER

If "GOD" [on LOST] is representative of a character in the story, then, in order to avoid major confusion, we need to know: WHICH "GOD" are we talking about? I mean, if we're gonna follow a metaphor for "God," there are several different ways to go with it. Which religion will give us the best metaphor to follow when deciphering this whole "God" mystery?

Ready for the easiest LOST answer on the planet? Yes?

GUESS WHO?

More to come!

Happy rewatching! Thanks for stopping by!