The Theology of … Lost (Part 1)

The Theology Of … is a series in which we tell parents about the overt or subtle spiritual worlds of various popular media. Each article will explain the theological landscape of a relevant series, and when appropriate, we’ll provide ways for parents to use said content as a way to teach their child about Christian theology.

In 2004, Lost took the world by storm, crashing into family living rooms and introducing a storyline chock full of mystery. It featured a massive cast of survivors who had crashed on an island in the Pacific Ocean filled with strange—and deadly—happenings. After six seasons, the show finally came to a close after grappling with dozens of spiritually inclined questions throughout its run. And while some (myself included, I admit) found it to be a satisfying ending, others felt that it wasn’t worth the six-year investment.

I didn’t watch Lost while it was coming out, and I hadn’t even heard of it until I saw it at the top of my Netflix queue. But, like so many of the show’s millions of viewers, I got swept up in its storyline. And part of why I enjoyed the show so much was because of the way its plot was almost always tied to a greater spiritual reality.

Lost is inherently spiritual (note my usage of “spiritual” rather than “Christian”). The importance of its spirituality to the plot is about as subtle as naming a character “Christian Shephard.” The show isn’t just a story about a group of survivors who desperately want to go home: It’s also about a spiritual journey. The show may throw polar bears and smoke monsters at its ragtag crew of misfits, but it’ll also chuck philosophical questions to its viewers: questions that deal with fate, redemption and greater purpose, among others.

We’ll deal with Lost’s spiritual themes in two blogs. This first one will cover the general skeletal backing that sets the spiritual stage for the series (things that, in Lost’s case, are not revealed to the viewer until its final season). We’ll also give a brief summary of the notable people, places and things that someone should know about if they want to talk about the series. And finally, this blog will provide a few ways to connect the show to a gospel conversation.

Our second blog (which, when published next week, will be linked at the bottom of this one), will cover the predominant spiritual themes that viewers will be exposed to throughout the show. Whereas this blog covers the biggest, overarching background for the series, part two will dive into the more specific spiritual themes that take place in Lost—themes that may not affect the show’s whole story but are still important to bring up. And we’ll also explain what Lost gets wrong about Christianity.

But, let me provide one final warning to you, reader. Unfortunately, because so much of Lost is intrinsically tied to its spiritual premise, it is impossible for us to talk about the show’s theology without spoiling major parts of it. That means that, between these two blogs, we’ll be unpacking many of the show’s season and series-long mysteries. With that in mind, prospective readers who want to watch the show but haven’t should make sure that they want these elements spoiled before they read any further.

So, without further ado, sit down and prepare for takeoff as we fly into Lost’s spiritual world, brotha.

The Ultimate End Goal in Lost

As soon as we hop aboard Oceanic Flight 815 with the rest of the Lost characters, we know we’re in for a bumpy ride—especially after the plane crashes. We see hatches and polar bears, monsters and visions. A mysterious series of numbers shows up everywhere. Time can seem to go backward and forward and sometimes, sideways.

So, what’s happening on this mysterious island? Is it all just a metaphor for purgatory? Is the island itself sentient? Are all the supernatural happenings really just a scientific experiment gone wrong?

Actually, it’s a bit more complex than all that—and requires a bit of speculation on the viewer’s part due to some unresolved mysteries in the series. In fact, viewers do not discover any of this until the second half of the show’s sixth season. But, as best as we understand it, the general crux of the supernatural side of Lost is as follows.

Late into the final season of Lost, we’re told of a source of light called the “Heart of the Island.” This light, we’re told, “is inside of every man.” (In essence, it constitutes a person’s soul.) But because men are inherently wicked, if most knew about the light, they’d try to get more of it. And though they cannot take it, they would still try, and they might put that light out forever in the attempt. “And if the light goes out here,” one character explains, “it goes out everywhere,” and complete evil and darkness will be unleashed.

That’s why, over the course of thousands of years, people who are deemed special have been chosen to protect this source. As long as these people protect the light, they don’t seem to age. One such protector is a man named Jacob, who has been the island’s protector for the last 2,000 years.

This Jacob has a brother who is only ever referred to as the Man in Black—and he is the biggest threat to the Heart of the Island. Two thousand years ago, he wanted to take the light in order to leave the island, something his and Jacob’s adoptive mother would not allow, which ultimately resulted in the Man in Black slaying her. Enraged, Jacob threw his brother into the source of light, killing him. It also changed the Man in Black’s spirit into an evil creature called the Smoke Monster. As the Smoke Monster, the Man in Black’s spirit lives on and is able to shapeshift into various apparitions.

The Man in Black believes that all people are wicked and evil, but Jacob disagrees. And Jacob (following the example of his mother) won’t let the Man in Black leave the island as long as he (or a replacement of his) lives. Jacob knows that though the Man in Black cannot kill him (and vice versa, due to some not fully explained ethereal binding rules), his brother is actively looking for a loophole so he can get rid of Jacob and leave the island. That’s why Jacob has been bringing “candidates” to the island—people who he believes are flawed but generally good in nature and can take his place in the event of his death.

And that’s how Jacob orchestrates the arrival of many survivors on the island, including our main cast of survivors from the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. Though the flight was caused by external circumstances, we’re told that Jacob intentionally set all of it up in order to bring these candidates to the island. These flawed people are judged during their time on the island to see if they’ll use the clean slate they’ve been given to become better people—and if so, they’ll be a suitable replacement for Jacob as the island’s protector.

Glossary of Important Characters/Topics

Jack Shephard – Jack is a spinal surgeon who was a passenger aboard Oceanic Flight 815. He emerges as the survivors’ leader, and he feels uncomfortable when he’s forced to trust others to take charge. Back home, his father, Christian, was chief of surgery before Jack ousted him out of his medical license and job due to his heavy drinking. In response, Christian went to Sydney, Australia, and drank himself to death. Jack was on the plane because he was returning home with his father’s body. While off the island, Jack follows his father’s footsteps and becomes addicted to alcohol and prescription painkillers. While on the island, Jack is initially skeptical of any supernatural events, and he even gets angry at anyone who would entertain the notion. His experiences slowly cause him to believe in the island’s spiritual reality, though he remains committed to get the survivors off the island and back home.

John Locke – Locke is a paraplegic man who crashes on the island along with the rest of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. Locke was on the plane because he had gone to Australia to experience a Walkabout, an Australian Aboriginal rite of passage in which the person lives in the wilderness for a time. But when the tour guide blocks Locke from coming due to him being in a wheelchair, they send him back on their dime. When Locke crashes on the island, he finds that he can suddenly walk again, and this convinces him that the island is special. Locke approaches everything through a spiritual (though not Christian) lens, and he believes that the island brought them there for a reason. However, some events cause him to stumble in his faith. He hopes to learn what his reason for being on the island is, and he often compels others to do things in order to cause them to believe in destiny, too. He and Jack Shephard often butt heads.

Jacob – Jacob was born on the island 2,000 years prior to the events of the main series. He is a fraternal twin to the Man in Black. By the time Oceanic 815 crashes on the island, Jacob has protected the Heart of the Island for those thousands of years. He knows that the Man in Black is seeking for a way to kill him and exploit the Heart of the Island, and so he brings people to the island to find someone worthy to replace him as the island’s guardian. His test for this: Giving people a clean slate to see if they would ultimately choose right over wrong without external prompting. As such, he tries to not interfere. Through his intermediary, Richard, he provides The Others (another group of people on the island—more on them later) with lists of people whom he believes might be suitable candidates to replace him. It is important to note that, despite his apparent immortality and pseudo-omniscience, Jacob is not God, as he expressly tells Richard that he does not have the power to forgive him of his sins or raise the dead.

The Man in Black – The Man in Black is Jacob’s fraternal twin. He was a man who was born on, and desperately wants to leave, the island. In pursuit of this goal, he sought to use the Heart of the Island to do so. After his adoptive mother killed the men helping him in that goal, he killed her, and Jacob threw the Man in Black into the Heart of the Island in retribution, killing him. However, the Man in Black’s soul conjoined with evil. His soul remains trapped on the island, and he can take many forms, though he most predominantly appears as the “Smoke Monster.” He can also take the form of people who have died on the island, and the majority of times someone has a vision, it is actually the Man in Black manipulating them.

The Others – The Others are a group of people who live on the island and who fervently assist Jacob, though only Richard has ever met the man face-to-face. They kidnap people based on Jacob’s list—sorting out the “good” from the “bad” people. They serve as the mysterious primary antagonists for much of the show and are led by Benjamin Linus, who usurped the previous leader. They also conduct experiments to figure out how to save pregnant women, as all women who get pregnant on the island die.

DHARMA Initiative – The DHARMA (Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications) Initiative was made up of a large group of scientists who came to and inhabited the island between the 1970s and the 1990s. Its general mission was to study the island’s “unique properties for the betterment of mankind and advancement of world peace.” (Though not in the TV show itself, an alternate reality game designed by the show’s producers stated that the Dharma Initiative existed to learn how to manipulate the “Valenzetti Equation,” a “mathematical formula that reportedly predicts the amount of time until the extinction of mankind.”) Their presence was largely despised by the Others, likely because of their potential threat to the Heart of the Island. As a result, the Others eventually killed every Dharma Initiative member save for Benjamin Linus, who had chosen to ally with the Others instead.

The Numbers – The numbers are a series of six digits that have particular resonance for Hugo “Hurley” Reyes, a genial survivor from Oceanic 815. After he used them to play the lottery, Hurley won millions of dollars but has had nothing but extremely bad luck ever since, and Hurley is convinced they are cursed. They are, in order: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. Eagle-eyed viewers will be able to spot these numbers throughout the show, such as in the name of Oceanic Flight 815 itself. In the aforementioned alternate reality game, viewers learn that these numbers are the “core numerical values of the Valenzetti Equation,” and despite the Dharma Initiative’s best attempts, they have been unsuccessful in changing these numbers. While the supernatural effect of these numbers is disputed in the show, they are the alleged cause of at least two people being placed in mental hospitals.

The Whispers – The whispers occur throughout the show, often appearing when people are in peril. They are people who have died on the island but are unable to move on. It’s insinuated that they cannot move on because of some wicked deed they did while they were alive. The whispers can be decoded by using audio software.

Connecting, and Contrasting, the Gospel

As you can see, Lost contains a whole lot of spiritual content, and not all of it will jibe with Christianity. It can deal with some broadly Christian themes but easily cherry-picks from other religious traditions, as well—and it often writes its own spiritual truths as it goes along. Here are a few theological issues to be aware of.  

1. Dualism – Jacob’s struggle with the Man in Black is very reminiscent of a dualistic theology. Dualism is the belief in two opposing entities or concepts—one good, one evil—that are equal in power. They typically battle for ultimate control or, in more Eastern thought, are responsible for the balance of the universe (think something like Yin and Yang). Dualism contrasts with biblical Christianity, however. Satan is no equal to God; God is the only ultimate power. We have plenty of examples that Satan is ultimately powerless to God (Job 1:6-12, Luke 22:31-32, John 12:31). Indeed, though Satan is described as the god of this world, God shines through Satan’s darkness, creating the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the hearts of His people—that is, the salvation that is through Christ alone (2 Corinthians 4:1-6).
   
2. Evil Hearts – With every person Jacob brings to the island, he gets more and more frustrated. He hopes that the people he brings will prove themselves to be good—but everyone he’s brought eventually succumbs to evil. This speaks to the reality that we face, too. Contrary to worldly thinking, Christianity tells us that people are not inherently good; we’re actually born with a sin nature. The early church vehemently rejected doctrines that insisted on man’s “essential goodness of human nature,” excommunicating the theologian Pelagius who taught the heresy in the late 300s AD. Were Jacob to study Christianity’s explanation for why all the people he brings to the island are inclined toward evil, he would find that such a sin nature is present in every human being (Genesis 8:21, Psalm 51:5, Romans 3:10-20 and 5:1-21). The only way to be saved from our sin is through the saving work of Jesus Christ, who voluntarily died on the cross to pay for the sins of those who believe in Him (Isaiah 53:10-11, Matthew 1:21, John 10:15, Ephesians 5:25).
   
3. Progressive Sanctification – Jacob brings flawed people to the island to give them a clean slate, hoping that they choose to do good. This is somewhat reminiscent of the Christian life following his or her justification. Like Jacob bringing people to the island to give them a new life, Jesus justifies us through His sacrifice to give us a new life (Romans 6:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:1-17). Like Jacob, God wants us to pursue goodness as a result of our new life (John 15:5, Ephesians 2:8-10, 1 John 3:9). But Christian theology also differs from Jacob’s, because unlike Jacob, who does not want to interfere, God intervenes in our hearts to help us choose and grow in goodness. The Holy Spirit regenerates our hearts to desire good over evil, convicting and comforting us (John 14:26, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Galatians 5:16). And unlike Jacob, who casts away his candidates should they fail, Christ will hold us fast in the faith even when we stumble (Ecclesiastes 3:14, John 10:27-29, Philippians 1:6, 1 John 2:19).

Conclusion

It’s easy to tell when we don’t know what we’re talking about. We hope that this serves as a helpful primer for parents looking to understand the spirituality presented in Lost—whether as a way to inject a gospel conversation or decide whether the series is for them.

Be on the lookout for our follow-up blog next week that will provide a brief overview of the more specific spiritual questions pondered and presented throughout the entirety of the show.