the Others are Dead by Sawyer's SH!T-eatin' Grin

This idea was just brought up in the comments of another theory and I thought it deserved to be fleshed out as a theory of its own... even if only to be shot down.

Why didn't the Others flash during the time skips? Cass thought it might be due to status of island birth, but we know that Charlotte and (I assume) Miles were born on the island. They both flashed, and Charlotte eventually died, so maybe that's not the reason.

But Charlotte stopped flashing with Daniel after she died, so we know that the dead do not flash through time. Perhaps the Others don't time-skip because they are dead... and they don't even know it!

Richard said that Jacob made him this way. Maybe Richard was badly injured from the Black Rock crash and Jacob took him to the temple, just like Ben. (Richard said of Ben, "He will be one of us from now on, and he won't remember any of this") What if this is also true for Richard? He doesn't realize/remember that he died. He thinks that Jacob just made him an other and then he stopped aging.

GIANT HOLES IN THEORY:
Ben and Locke! If this is what happened to Richard and he's really dead, then are Ben and Locke also dead? Let's look at Ben first:

Ben is has grown up since he was shot by Sayid.
WELL....
We've never seen Ben as a teen or young adult. When he stole Alex from Danielle he looked about the age he is now, except for the bad hairdo. Who else have we seen with a weird hairdo once? Richard!
Did the others "age" Ben into adulthood after saving him because they didn't want a dead/unaging child walking around the island for 20 years? Did they ever show young Ben back in Dharmaville after his recovery? They did show him speaking with Charles in the Others' tent village and he was still young. I can't remember if Richard sent him back before everything went cukoo in Dharmaville and people were being sent off the island in a panic.

They've used three actresses to represent the different ages of Ellie so far and three for Charles as well, so why not get a 20-something lookalike to play Ben in the early 80's when he took Alex? Was it just bad makeup, or did they show us that Ben has stayed basically the same for 20 years? Ben commented to Richard "You do remember birthdays, don't you?" Maybe he still celebrates his even though they don't matter anymore.

ANOTHER GIANT HOLE IN THEORY: Ben developed a spinal tumor that would've killed him. Jack operated on Ben and saved him.
Yikes, this is a tough one!!! Operating on and saving the life of a dead man. It might be this theory's major downfall.

Now about Locke. If Jacob brought him back to life after he was pushed out of the window, then he is the same as Richard and Ben. (Dead and ageless) Off-island, Jacob could only do so much to help him, which is why he remained paralyzed. His arrival on the island would've completed his full recovery from the injuries. When Ben showed up in season 2, he said that he was coming to get John. (To bring him to complete the process of becoming a fully-templed Other?)

But then why was the island messing with him back and forth about his legs all the time?

NOTE: Not all Others have been templed. Juliet, for one and probably Ethan are still mortal. Charles and Ellie are also "untempled".

BONUS THOUGHT:
What if Juliet can somehow be brought to the temple, and although she still dies her unborn BABY is saved?!? (open can o'worms here...)