From the first episode to the last viewers were entertained and enticed by the ABC drama Lost. I only watched one season and a few shows after that so most of you know the recurring characters and multiple story lines far better than me. But I think the writers may have unintentionally defined the post-modern approach to Bible understanding.
“. . . On Lost, says co-writer Damon Lindelof, "the question has mostly been, What's going to happen next? But that question no longer exists after the series finale. And we anticipate that it will be replaced by a question along the lines of, What did they mean by that? And the question that we would throw back at the audience is, Well, what did it mean to you? Your own personal relationship with Lost actually trumps any intention that we had as storytellers.(Italics mine) And we wanted that to be the legacy of the show."
This post-modern goal of individual truth is all that exists may be excusable in a fictional story that has little bearing on real life. When it enters the church it is a tragedy. Yet this is the model of Bible interpretation in many modern congregations, encouraged by emerging shepherds. ‘Your personal relationship with the Bible actually trumps any intention the writers had.’ ‘What God meant is not as important as what the verse means to you.’ This is not the church that Jesus promised to build. In fact, a priority calling of Christ’s church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. Churches and church leaders who leave the legacy of Truth will never be lost.
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