If we try to align the time lines of the series into three connected components, the above chart is useful. The Lamp Post station under Eloise's church in Los Angeles has information from the military in the 1950s. It must have been created by a military-industrial (Dharma) initiative to relocate or "find" the island. And once it was found, the Others purged Dharma severing the connection to the island. But that connection was re-established by the Widmores (Eloise and Charles) after they were banished from the island. This Lamp Post station had to remain in operation in order to "find" the moving island after each FDW turn; we know that Ben had used the FDW before and wound up in the North African desert. The key characters associated with the original Lamp Post are Eloise, Faraday (who we believe is the clever man who created the pendulum device to find the island), Dharma scientists, Widmore (the money man) and probably Ben because he knew of all the Dharma stations.
The key elements of the Lamp Post were knowledge, power and manipulation. The unspoken realm of the island and its powers were contained in the files and curator of this station. All those factors had to be used "to find" the island, which meant "finding the light."
Once the island is "located," it can be controlled by outside forces. In theory. That is what we were led to believe by the alleged conflict between the native Hostiles (Others) and Dharma, then Widmore and the Others. It seems like the same tragic play being performed over and over again, but with new cast members. During the series, the key island power players were Jacob, MIB, Jack (as the survivors de facto leader), Ben and the Others. To sort these connections back to the Lamp Post, we know that Eloise and Widmore were proto-Others, and the Others were the chosen people to maintain human security on the island. We believe that the only reason the mysterious Others arrived on "their" island was because of Jacob. But again, Jacob and his brother (MIB) were also brought to the island. The unanswered question is whether the Others go back further to the builders of the temples, etc.
Once on the island, the key factors for anyone who arrived on it were adventure, life-death danger, and friendships. As Jacob told his remaining candidates around the campfire near the end of Season 6, he chose them because they all were lonely, miserable people in meaningless lives just like himself. We only half of Jacob's story: his mother was murdered by the island guardian and kidnapped into becoming the next island protector. But we know of nothing of Jacob's father. Was he a Roman? Was he a Roman god? If these island adventures were mere sorting tools for this continuous play to find the lead characters for the next production, then Jack and Ben (who had more knowledge than anyone left on the island) were the key characters to move the island to its final curtain.
But what was the purpose of the island? Was it to create life and death situations, put people into danger, to forge strong bonds, to create lasting friendships in lonely people's lives? If so, then the island was a massive set to create the sideways fantasy world. The characters memories, activities, viewpoints, actions and reactions were the building blocks for an after life portal.
Throughout the series, many viewers commented that the island appeared to them to contain some form of portal to another time-space dimension (whether it was a wormhole, riff in the fabric of space between parallel universes, or a stargate). Despite all the inconsistencies and flaws of the island story lines, one has to consider that the result appears to be the creation of a purgatory alternative world.
The key elements of the sideways world were fantasy, awakening and self-realization of death. During the series, many viewers believed that the inconsistent story line arcs and conflicting sci-fi explanation of events were only understood if we were not viewing reality but some form of dream state.
There is a split among the key players in the sideways world. Christian and Jack are the final players in the church. Everyone present is "waiting" for Jack to awaken so they can begin, continue or end their journey in the after life. We are led to believe that this Christian is Jack's real father - - - but in all island events the vision of Christian was an illusion created by the smoke monster to trick or manipulate Jack. Those tricks and manipulations led to Jack becoming the next island protector, replacing Jacob (and in some respects freeing MIB from the chains of the island).
The other important group is comprised of the Others of Eloise and Widmore, and Desmond who acts as the bridge between the two potentially conflicting groups. In the sideways world, Eloise continues to know everything about their situation and their pasts. She is the one who is manipulating her in-the-dark husband, Widmore, to keep Desmond "busy" in global meetings, deals, etc. and away from Penny and Daniel. The reason to keep Desmond away from the family is that Eloise knows that if Daniel awakens, he will "leave" her forever. This paranoid devotion has a Bates Motel feel to it. Nonetheless, Desmond is the good soldier and does Widmore's chores until one of them, dealing with a mental rock star Charlie, begins the investigation and discovery of the reality of the sideways world.
Why Desmond would want or "need" to awaken the other Flight 815 island folk is unclear. He really never had a strong group connection with them. He may have felt "guilty" for causing Charlie's death, but Charlie would have died (and did in fact die on numerous occasions) without Desmond's interventions. The only thing Desmond cared about was Penny, so once he "found" her, they could have moved on by themselves. Penny had no connection with any of the Flight 815 people. The only reason Desmond would have remained in the sideways church was that he found true friendship or brotherhood with these lost island souls.
But in the end, it was Eloise who really got what she wanted: her sideways family of Widmore and Daniel at her beck and call. She could maintain her complete fantasy life as long as Widmore and Daniel remained in the dark about their past life. It would seem a long and tortuous con by Eloise to round up, trick people to get lost on an magical island, and to first "die" without realizing their plight, then round them up in the after life to set them off on their way without disturbing her relationship with her son, Daniel.
One has to try to match up the churches to find the common connection to try to unravel the unspoken dimension of the lost story arcs. The churches had no religious significance or symbolism in the actual scripts; but the setting does form the basis to trace the elements and motivations of the characters tied to them. The church was the key element that allowed the transition or transformation of the characters lives into the after life.
