I know there have been some murmurs about the LOST series finale, but I loved it! Absolutely loved it.

Before I get started just let me make certain that I say I am not suggesting that the complete story is a perfect example of Biblical Christianity.  Even though I said that, some people will still think that is what I said.  It is a hodgepodge of different spiritual beliefs.  You hear that?

Ok now to what was so excellent about the story.

First, this was a wonderful artistic portrayal of redemption.

Jack’s time on the island (and indeed all of the passengers who survived the crash) was full of pain and misery.  Many of the people we grew to love even lost their lives in that dreadful place, one in particular never holding his own daughter in his arms.

The pain they endured was a part of resolving some heart issue that each of them overcame along the way.  Jin and Sun overcame pride arrogance and rage to find true love.

Claire overcame the thousand heartaches of a young single mom, Hurley found meaning at purpose near the very end, Charlie, who was once selfish fulfilled the ultimate act of selflessness, Kate the murderer watched first hand as life entered into the world and it completely shaped the rest of her days, Sawyer who was on the plane because he killed a man in a failed attempt to find resolution finally found it on the island. This list could go on and on all day.

Jack who struggled his whole life with purpose, meaning, and hope finally found it all.

And in the very end all the troubles, all the pain they each faced was obliterated by the joy they found when they discovered each other and a life where the good remained and the evil was stripped away.

At its core, this is the hope of redemption that Christians have.  We hope that at the finale of this mortal coil, the good will remain and the evil and pain will be erased.  “every tear will be wiped away.”  In the final scene, there were many tears, but only tears of joy.

I also loved the finale because it was well done (the whole series was) and true to its hope.  Did you know that the final scene was filmed right after the pilot?  The writers managed to weave all the parts of that story together to come back around.  Think – the opening scene in the pilot was Jack’s eye opening with Vincent at his side.  The finale was a truly fitting conclusion.  Magnificent piece of art with great story telling throughout.

And to all you naysayers who wanted all your answers handed to you, let me say this.  A good story will make you think.  Rarely in a true piece of art are you just a spectator.  You need to be a participant.

Time for you to participate.  Please feel free to post your thoughts here, but remember, the answers are somewhat subjective, and unknown to us since the writers did not clearly communicate every to us.

What do you think of the unanswered questions?  What is the island?  Why did the light need protecting?

What is your favorite unanswered question and your theories about its answer?

Obviously, there is no way to address these topics without addressing them as they relate to the King.  I believe that true freedom and liberty can only be reached when we live out the humanity we were made to live out as loyal subjects in a kingdom.

My friend is a wonderful artist.  Made in the image of God, she reflects his glory in so many amazing ways.  Her daughter, whom I have gotten to know, is 23 and honestly a special person.  Well rounded and educated, she is a shining testament that my friend cares about good things.  She has raised at least one child so that I can personally see how her influence on this earth has been good.  It is not as if it is up to me to approve of her and her life, but in many ways I do.  She is a terrific individual worthy of great respect.

The thing is, she talks like a universalist.  She believes there is a “Christ in all of us”  and that all of creation is filled with God.  Personally I don’t exactly disagree.  I think that all of His creation echos his name and his glory.  So it is easy to see where she would say God is in the trees and the hills.

At any rate, she had some thoughts on my book which were well received and I am contemplating.  She basically said I might want to make it more accessible to readers who are not openly Christian.  Her words were not “tone down the exclusivity of Christ stuff.”  But I think it is fair to say that is what she was getting at.

Herein lies the tension.

We live in a relativistic culture where people are happy to accept my point of view if I don’t question theirs.  And I have no desire whatsoever to question their point of view.  I think each and every human being has something special to share with the world and their opinions and perspectives should be valued and listened to.  So I don’t want to challenge them, I want to listen respectfully to what they have to say.

The problem is that I live as a subject to a king.  If my neighbors were openly plotting rebellion to the US government and shipping secrets to the Islamic Fundamentalists, shouldn’t I in the very least challenge their thinking and remind them that they are subjects of the US and could be tried for treason and executed?

Since Voltaire, the French Revolution, the Declaration of Independence and a thousand other small events in human history, western individualists have lost an understanding of what it means to have a king.  We believe in personal sovereignty.  Our ancestors understood Monarchy in a much different way than we do.  Once upon a time, you had a King who fully controlled your life.  You could only hope that he was a good king and not a tyrant, because you were completely at his mercy.

This Jesus I am talking about, he is a good king.  But he is still a king.  Rebels to his authority will not be tolerated forever.  He will subdue his enemies just like any king would.  But he is good to his people.

This is a hard thing to understand and to teach in a relativistic world where everyone’s opinion should be valued.  I do however, think it is the only hope we have.  I cannot long tolerate a world where each individual is their own sovereign ruler.  I need a king, because frankly I am an idiot and so are you.

I believe that we were made to live in perfect harmony and beauty with each other and with the world (like the Navi on Avatar), but our ancestors made some decisions that screwed us over and now we have wars, death, poverty, oil spills and illegal immigration issues.  Honestly, just think about it.  Doesn’t that idea of harmony and perfection resonate with something inside you?  Doesn’t it make sense that we were made to enjoy that?  That our purpose is somehow not being fulfilled?  I think this king who leads us has the answers to the deepest longings of all our hearts.  The only way to live out true humanity is to recognize the king and bend the knee to him.

It is clear to me that I am not good enough to be my own king.  I need one more powerful.  Does that mean I am weak?  Yes it does.   But I am no weaker than anyone else.  So far in these thousands of years of history, no one else has solved these problems.  I don’t suspect that I will either.   I simply have come to the point where I have been forced to recognize my own weakness and inability to create much of anything pure around me.  Thankfully I have a king who does that.

Each one of us is a subject of the King from Nazareth.  Loyal or disloyal, we have a king.  What you do with the King is up to you, but it won’t keep him from being King.

I see my responsibility as a servant of that king to recognize the beautiful and unique way he has made every person on the planet.  I should honor them since they reflect the image of God, but I must also make sure I let them know that they live in a Kingdom.  And whether they know it or not, there is a King.

So the question is, where do I draw the line on how “accessible” my book is to those who do not recognize the authority of the king?

For now let me just tell you what happened on my run.  I was listening to my good friend Bob Smart as I often do when I run.  My listening choices when I run kind of boils down to Bob Smart or Bono with a few others thrown in here and there for the sake of variety.  Yes Bob is a preacher and Bono is a singer, but they both have a great deal to say about the human condition and redemption.  I find myself learning from both and entertained at the same time.

At any rate, today I was listening to Bob preach on Ecclesiastes.  One of the things he mentioned is that the “teacher” was talking about intellectual fallacies that are still common  today.  The teacher is the person whose voice we hear as we read that book of the Bible.  He continually repeats that every attempt to find meaning or purpose is meaningless.  One of the attitudes which the teacher tested out is what we would call Nihilism.  This is the attitude expressed best by the belief that there is no real purpose in our existence and all we can really do is wait to die.

At the time Bob began to discuss nihilism I was running across a part of UNCW that’s really nice.  A gorgeous, wide, brick sidewalk runs between buildings which share brilliant landscaping and beautiful architecture.  These things were designed to be enjoyed by man.  This part of campus was supposed to make life worth living.  Nihilism sounded so unattractive in light of the culture man had created around me.

Of course I was semiconscious that UNCW is indicative of most of America.  Growing numbers of people are beginning to believe that Christianity does not have relevant answers for the problems they face.

Then it hit me like a freight train (or a mack truck to be faithful to the title of this post) that the reason growing numbers of Americans are finding Christianity largely irrelevant is because more and more American Christians are nihilists who carry the Bible around with them.  What would be attractive about that???

Seriously, with the popularity of left behind theology which teaches that you just need to pray a prayer and then start hoping to die so you can get out of here, I would hate christianity too if I thought that is what it taught!

Thank God for making it clear to us that mankind’s job is to bring culture, art, beauty and whatever it takes to make life worth living here and now.  Otherwise, I don’t think I could take it for very long.