Review: "The Gospel According to Lost"

The Gospel According to Lost by Chris Seay is my latest read and review for Thomas Nelson. Seay is obviously a passionate devotee of the Lost series and has put a great deal of thought into the series and what it all might mean, reveals something that has been lost in much of modern Christianity, yet, overall, the Gospel seems to be lost in his book. Product information can be found at: http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=0849920728&title=The_Gospel_According_to_Lost&author=Chris_Seay

Seay begins his book with what I found to be his most important and true contribution in this work: there is mystery in Christianity. There are things we cannot and will not understand – things the biblical writers even say are mystery.

There had been a certain rationality in the Church which thought and sought to explain everything of Christianity – which goes against Christianity. We can “explain” the Trinity, but no one can explain the Trinity – no one really understands how it is possible that the One God exists in Three Persons Who are equally the Same One God yet distinct in Their Personhood. (For example.) But that is what we are taught – unequivocally – in the Scripture – in God’s Word – so it is true.

However, in more recent times, there has been a swing to the opposite excess – understandably – but that must now be corrected. It is not true that there are no absolutes – that nothing can be said with certainty – that whatever means brings you closer to God is good and right.

Back to Seay: in most of the books chapters, Seay introduces or re-introduces the reader to the major characters of the series and shows how they may be based in some biblical knowledge. But here Seay stumbles – just because the creators of Lost use biblical imagery at times does not prove anything about their intent. Surely, the stories in lost can be used as narrative examples, but Seay seems to force them into being parables.

The biggest problem with this book, and the reason I cannot recommend it, is because, for all of it’s good in directing the reader to mystery and introducing the reader to the series, the gospel that Seay presents according to Lost is not the biblical Gospel. Seay writes, “Christianity (that is, the devotion to following the ways of Jesus) is about love, forgiveness, and reconciliation” (96).

Not so: the Gospel is not about following the ways of Jesus – any none believer can attempt to follow the ways of Jesus – as the late Keith Green use to say, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.” Following Jesus’ ways is not the Gospel. It does not make one a Christian.

Paul wrote, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you now stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (I Corinthians 15:1-4, ESV). The Gospel is Jesus Christ His Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. The Gospel is God – Who He is – it is not who we are or what we can become by following Jesus’ ways.

One final comment is that Seay uses almost exclusively his community’s “translation” of the New Testament, called The Voice. Based on the quotations, I find it suspect, but I hope that Thomas Nelson will offer it up for review, as I would like to know more about it – for better or worse.

Enjoy the TV show; read you Bible; skip this book.

[This review appears on Amazon.com and my blog.]