{"id":3544,"date":"2008-08-12T01:04:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-12T01:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1\/"},"modified":"2008-08-12T01:04:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-12T01:04:00","slug":"lost-exodus-from-season-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html","title":{"rendered":"LOST Exodus from Season 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/7\/7c\/LOST124.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/7\/7c\/LOST124.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a> <\/p>\n<div>I just finished watching season 1 of LOST. What a marvellous bit of television LOST is! Just like the Black Rock made us presume there was a rock rather than a boat out there in the \u201cDark Territory\u201d, the naming of Aaron and the naming of the three-hour, two-part season finale \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Exodus_(Lost)\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Exodus<\/a>\u201d was a false clue, pointing to the expectation that those on the raft were leading the survivors across the waters to freedom.\n<p>But in this exodus, we find a ship of slaves left on the boat to die, rather than slaves set free. And the one potential escape hatch, as it were, leads down into the depths of the island, deeper into the mysteries rather than away from them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lostvirtualtour.com\/lost\/screens\/1x23ExodusPart1\/exodus07_thumb.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lostvirtualtour.com\/lost\/screens\/1x23ExodusPart1\/exodus07_thumb.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a>The contrast between two Johns, between Jack Shepherd and John Locke, is drawn in terms of \u201cman of science\u201d and \u201cman of faith\u201d. But anyone who watched the Matrix trilogy knows we need to be wary of the language of fate, destiny and prophecy. There it turned out to be just another method of control.<\/p>\n<p>So who is in control, behind the scenes? If we say \u201cthe island\u201d, then perhaps we\u2019ll need to think in terms of the supernatural for the unravelling of the mysteries.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sfbook.com\/pics\/bcs_crichton_prey.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"89\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/sfbook.com\/pics\/bcs_crichton_prey.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a>But so far, all the clues point in a different direction.<\/p>\n<p>As we caught the first good glimpse of the smoke monster, we were told that it is a \u201csecurity system\u201d that protects the island. It has made mechanical sounds from the beginning, and resembles the nanobots from the cover of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaelcrichton.net\/books-prey.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Michael Crighton novel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_BtqUSG7RCA0\/SKEZCIrNlMI\/AAAAAAAAAM4\/0xXPfrSWKOM\/s1600-h\/lost_exodus.bmp\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_BtqUSG7RCA0\/SKEZCIrNlMI\/AAAAAAAAAM4\/0xXPfrSWKOM\/s200\/lost_exodus.bmp\" border=\"0\"><\/a>So more likely is that the island is the remnant of some superior technology, whether of human or alien origin. And so the question becomes who wields that power?<\/p>\n<p>They left who carried the dynamite up to fate, drawing straws. But in the end, Jack determined the outcome, and the straws could have been manipulated. Just a couple of episodes earlier, Sayid\u2019s arrival in Sydney and meeting with his old friend (played, somewhat unfortunately, by an actor with a strong Scottish accent, although maybe we\u2019re <em>supposed <\/em>to notice that\u2026) at the Mosque is attributed to \u201cfate\u201d, but in fact it has been arranged as part of a CIA operation.<\/p>\n<p>It may seem that there was an element of sheer luck involved in who ended up on the plane. And that may have been true of some passengers. But they are just the crewmembers in red shirts whose job it is to blow themselves up with dynamite to keep the mood tense.<\/p>\n<p>In most cases, powerful individuals were involved in deciding who ended up where and when. So an important question is who was pulling the strings (and paying the Oceanic representatives around the airport) to get certain people on board?<\/p>\n<p>Also, was there an intentional attempt to use the numbers in connection with the flight (815, departing from gate 23, etc.) so as to have it discover the location of the island?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/br.geocities.com\/r_gueller\/lost-exodus.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/br.geocities.com\/r_gueller\/lost-exodus.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/a>There were enticing big questions left at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lostvirtualtour.com\/lost\/episode\/1x23.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">end of season 1 of LOST<\/a>. Now that we\u2019ve had several more seasons, we have some answers and many more questions. But it is helpful to go back and examine early clues, because this show keeps using sleight of hand to try to set up expectations that we can see were misguided if we go back and watch a second time. It isn\u2019t like Dan Brown\u2019s <i>Angels and Demons<\/i> or countless other mysteries, where the author simply chooses whoever seems least likely to have been the murderer at the end of the book and then creates a back story to provide motive. In LOST, the clues are there, but they mislead through double entendre and vagueness.<\/p>\n<p>I think one big clue that sets us off on a false trail from the most recent season will be the message from Charlie for Jack, \u201cYou\u2019re not supposed to raise him\u201d. We are encouraged to think of Aaron, and the psychic\u2019s warning that he must not be raised by another. But Claire and Christian are trying to keep the baby away from the island, and the psychic\u2019s words may have simply been part of the plan to get the baby to the island in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>So who isn\u2019t Jack supposed to raise? Given the way the last season ended, one possibility that needs to be considered is this: he\u2019s not supposed to raise John Locke\u2026from the dead! <\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-5360816364927977889?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just finished watching season 1 of LOST. What a marvellous bit of television LOST is! Just like the Black Rock made us presume there was a rock rather than a boat out there in the \u201cDark Territory\u201d, the naming of Aaron and the naming of the three-hour, two-part season finale \u201cExodus\u201d was a false [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LOST Exodus from Season 1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I just finished watching season 1 of LOST. What a marvellous bit of television LOST is! Just like the Black Rock made us presume there was a rock rather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LOST Exodus from Season 1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I just finished watching season 1 of LOST. What a marvellous bit of television LOST is! Just like the Black Rock made us presume there was a rock rather\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-12T01:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/7\/7c\/LOST124.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html\",\"name\":\"LOST Exodus from Season 1\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-08-12T01:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-08-12T01:04:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"I just finished watching season 1 of LOST. What a marvellous bit of television LOST is! Just like the Black Rock made us presume there was a rock rather\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LOST Exodus from Season 1\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LOST Exodus from Season 1","description":"I just finished watching season 1 of LOST. What a marvellous bit of television LOST is! Just like the Black Rock made us presume there was a rock rather","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LOST Exodus from Season 1","og_description":"I just finished watching season 1 of LOST. What a marvellous bit of television LOST is! Just like the Black Rock made us presume there was a rock rather","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2008-08-12T01:04:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/7\/7c\/LOST124.jpg"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html","name":"LOST Exodus from Season 1","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-08-12T01:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-08-12T01:04:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"I just finished watching season 1 of LOST. What a marvellous bit of television LOST is! Just like the Black Rock made us presume there was a rock rather","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/08\/lost-exodus-from-season-1.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LOST Exodus from Season 1"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}