The deep aversion and simultaneous obsession with death observed in modern Western culture attest to its power over us. It has become our primary taboo, and many of us have come to see it as a supreme force, something akin to a deity. However, as with all things we deify, we have managed to overcome our fear of it just enough to manipulate it for our purposes... We have overcome our aversion to death just enough to make it a tool: to dispose of some criminals through it, to terminate unwanted pregnancies, and to "relieve" gradually through it the misery of illness and trial. Through our own choices and preferences, we have created a culture of death. Modern secular society harbors the fantasy that it affirms life and is quick to dismiss the biblical perspective as morbid and otherworldly. In reality, it is secular society that fosters the impression—sometimes the certainty—that death lurks everywhere and embraces our lives. In contrast, according to the Bible, death is subject to a God who redeems the creation wounded by sin and makes death a possibility rather than the ultimate reality.