Spoilers--


The whole flash sideways thing happens after all of them had died. Some happened to have died on the island (Jack, Jin, Sun, Boone, etc...), some after they got off the island (possibly Kate, Claire and the other on the Ajira plane--assuming they got off safely). Hurley was the next Jacob for however long with Ben helping him out. Apparently as Christian said, the time they spent on the island was the most important time of their lives so they had to find each other and remember how they had died in order to move on...to whatever is next after death. So they created this meeting place to meet each other and move on. I guess it was some sort of in between life and afterlife place where they had to find each other before they could move on.

Originally Posted by Chad

*SPOILERS*

So can anyone explain the finale to me? What happens afterwards... they all wake up in the church and forget everything? They 'vanish' and move on? It's the parallel world right... so what was the point of gathering in the church??

The parallel world wasn't actually a parallel world..it was more like purgatory or the waiting room before they moved on. They all had to gather in the church in order to move on together. So, everyone there was dead, BUT they all died at different times (time doesn't exist there), which was explained by Christian Shepherd.

So if the flash-sideways was purgatory the island was a real island with all these things happening on it or was it part of the purgatory, like waiting in line to get into purgatory?

The island was real and all it's weirdo-ness was never explained.

What I understood:

The flash-sideways was a world in between Life and after-life. Its where they went after they died, and they had to stay there until they were ready to move on.

The final scence when jack's dad opened the doors, thats heaven i guess, and thats where they are all headed becuase they are now ready to move on. Except Ben. he did alot of bad things, which explains why he isnt ready yet. And michael wasnt there because his soul is lost on the island forever, as the "whispers" we hear sometimes.

I loved how it ended with jacks eye. 10/10 for lost finale, but id only give a 8/10 for 24 finale.

Ben didn't go into the church because he still has things to resolve with Alex and Rousseau before he's ready to move on. Even though he largely redeemed himself, he still wants to make things right with her.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291