ryan.smith.blog

In case you haven't noticed, LOST is a deeply spiritual show. And despite its flirtations with other belief systems, it seems to be particularly interested in Christianity. Last week's episode, titled "316" (John 3:16 is the reference), had Ben telling Locke (who must die a sacrificial death to save his friends) about Thomas the apostle, who unfairly become known for his doubt rather than his faith. I appreciated these comments by Entertainment Weekly's Doc Jenson, whose analysis of the show is consistently stimulating (read more here):

I think Ben's composite picture of Thomas as both believer and skeptic — or rather, moving from believing to unbelieving and back again — captures a universal theme that's swirling through Lost. Thomas is a one-man symbol for mankind's shaken, if not lost, faith in ANYTHING that purports to offer meaning and stability. Religion, science, government, the economy, even family — it's hard for people to completely trust in any of these institutions and the people who represent them anymore, for any number of reasons. This is what the ruins that dot the Island represent to me: They are reminders that we once lived in a world that no longer exists — a world of answers, not ambiguity. A world where God was experienced as a literal presence in everyday life. A world where science and religion were joined at the hip, and not at each other's throats. Now, everything is a mystery, and everything is an argument. Who is right: Jack or Locke? Which is correct: The God-forged cosmology of C.S. Lewis or the God-subtracted physics of Stephen Hawking? I'm not sure that Lost is asking us to pick a side, but I am certain Lost is saying: ''This kind of confusion profoundly sucks.''