Lost!

[Pirate Bill]

Originally Posted by sleepyjeff

Or it could just be a simple matter of the Island sending people where they need to be to obtain a desired outcome.....

That's what it looks like to me. Their encounter with Christian makes it seem like they have a job to do. (Paraphrased: "You've got quite a journey ahead of you.") Are they going to somehow rescue the "Neithers"* from 1977?

*Neithers - the name my son gave to the group of Losties stuck in 1977. They're not Dharma, they're not Others, they're Neithers.