Note to those reading this right now: I'm currently very drunk. I'll come back and fix my spelling and grammar mistakes and clear up anything that doesn't make sense on the morrow once sobriety kicks in. Until then the general idea I'm going for should still be readily apparent, even if it does lack some polish.
Just saw the season finale of Lost the other day and I thought I'd give my two cents on what's going on. Anyone who hasn't seen it yet can officially skip this post as it's filled with spoilers. At first I wasn't too thrilled with the final episode this season as nothing happened that wasn't predictable. Obviously Locke isn't really Locke (did no one notice all the other dead people walking around the island telling people how to do things they shouldn't know how to do?) and obviously the bomb goes off, or at least they want us to think it did. Lost is known for having "OMFG! MIND FUCK!" endings which then turn out to be less than big. For instance, the "holy shit there's a light in the hatch!" turned out to be Desmond making a smoothie. I won't in any way be surprised if the flash of light at the end of the show that is supposed to be a nuclear explosion actually turns out to be a flashlight in Juliet's face or, more likely, the white light that Locke said he saw way back several seasons ago when everyone else saw the black smoke monster.
On to the real reason for this post. After some contemplation and a second watch through, it appears that the show has taken a serious turn for the religious. It should be noted that I was raised in a severely Christian home, going so far as to send me to Christian school for several years, so my thinking on this may be skewed and others may not see the religious connotations I've noticed. It should also be noted that even though I love Lost and I discuss religion heavily in this post I absolutely do not condone the belief in ANY religious system of any sort. If you actually follow the teachings of a book from the bronze age that lists prices for slaves and mentions talking animals as though they were real - well, you honestly need to remove yourself from the gene pool before you have the opportunity to breed.
The religious connotation of the last episode is almost immediately apparent with Jacob being a fisherman (an archetype featured heavily in the gospels). You'll then note that he wears white and the unnamed nemesis who speaks with him wears all black (good and evil). The unnamed nemesis appears to hate Jacob but seems to be powerless to stop him (God and the devil). When people on a ship approach the island their conversation takes a serious turn for the Anne Rice/C.S. Lewis variety as the unnamed foe mentions that "it always turns out the same with those people" (God, why did you create man when you know they will turn against you and be sent to hell?) while Jacob responds by saying "there's only one ending, anything before that is just progress" (Eventually I will end the world but up until that point I have a plan for humanity even if they do defy me). The foe then asks if Jacob knows how much he wants to kill him. Jacob simply says that he does (I know everything). The foe talks about finding a loophole, but it isn't clear if he means to stop Jacob's plan for the people (Anne Rice's idea that the devil Memnoch wants all souls to go directly to heaven and for God to stop making more people) or if he means that he wants to kill Jacob to stop his vision for the world. There is also the theory that "Jacob" is short hand for "Jacob's Ladder," which is the link between heaven and earth.
You may note a heavy Egyptian theme in the episode. It's not clear if that's because they are taking the religious connotation into an Egyptian direction or if the creators made everything Egyptian instead of Christian so that they wouldn't give away the direction of the story early on in the show. For those who aren't aware, Christianity has large portions of its holy book and central tenets lifted directly from the ancient Egyptian religion, so it's plausible that they are using the Egyptian theme to express Christian ideas. For example, the Egyptian religion had a baby who floated on a reed basket down a river to escape infanticide as well as a "son of God" figure who died and was resurrected long, long before Christianity was ever thought of. Both religions are also obsessed with the afterlife and how to prepare for it.
There are many more religious connotations throughout the episode, but because they haven't fully revealed who is who and what they want it isn't entirely clear what direction they are taking. For example if the unnamed foe, who has clearly taken on Locke's body, is really supposed to be a euphemism for Lucifer it could be that the island is heaven and the foe was cast out of it. This could be why, with the exception of during specific audiences (ala the book of Job when Satan goes to heaven to tell God to tempt Job) that the foe cannot take on physical form and must steal the body of someone else. This might also be why the foe himself cannot kill God but needs a human to do it as only humans have total free will (a contradiction yes, but that's a contradiction in actual Christianity as well so I won't bother to drop the argument in a fictional T.V. show). There's some discrepancy here though, as it seems that this foe was left bodiless in the cabin as a sort of prison, but somehow managed to escape (the broken ash line). They might also be going for a "Jacob knew all along" thing along the same lines as how Jesus knew he was going to be killed, battle Satan in hell, and then be resurrected. Jacob doesn't seem to be particularly concerned by what's happening to him and even goes so far as to try to get the people to come back to the island. He also says to Ben "What about you?" (I'm God and you are man, why do you think you deserve my attention even though you went through hell for me Job?) The foe/Locke also tempts Ben into agreeing to kill Jacob by using several real world arguments about why people would want to hate God in the same way a religious person would claim the devil would tempt people (you followed his laws your whole life but what did He ever do for you?). During the entire exodus of the Others to find Jacob he acts very much like a fallen angel would, pretending to be holy and using logic to cajole people but really having shifty ulterior motives. Richard also appears to be some sort of angel or prophet character who serves as Jacob's messenger.
The foe/Locke seems to have found his loophole by doing a reverse-resurrection where he is born again in an unholy manner, in a direct violation of the holy resurrection we see Jacob do for the original Locke or like what happened with Jesus. Jacob on the other hand follows the typical archetype of a modern day deity who is calm, all knowing, and sympathetic of human pain despite being the one who causes it (re-watch the scenes with Hurley, Sayid, young Kate, and young Sawyer).
There have been several other religious hints dropped throughout the early seasons. Locke's dad talks about being in hell on the island, the drugs were all in statues of the virgin Mary, Charlie was obsessed with baptizing Claire's baby. A huge temple is always looming the background, although it isn't clear what the temple is dedicated to. Even though these next ones are from different pantheons they are still religiously based: we see "Apollo" bars all the time, and Sun and Jin have made several statements which seem to indicate they are somehow associated with fertility and sun deities.
I'm not sure whether Lost is actually going for a directly God vs. Satan or Good vs. Evil motif, but there is without question a huge religious theme that wasn't entirely present before. Whether they take it someplace I hadn't seen or go for a straight Christianity parallel I will have to admit this season finale was the biggest mind fuck of all as it has completely changes how I view the show. Where as before everything was always mysterious but I never once wondered if it was all boiling down to a cosmic good vs. evil battle I'm now seeing everything in that light, even when going back and watching the early seasons. Hats off Lost creators. Even thought I think the Christian cosmology is completely ludicrous in real life I can't deny that it's interesting as fiction and you guys totally hid it well.
