The deep aversion and at the same time obsession with death observed in modern Western culture certifies its power over us. It has become our primary taboo, and many of us have reached the point of seeing it as an ultimate force, something like divinity. However, as with all things we deify, we have managed to overcome our fear of it only as much as necessary to manipulate it for our purposes... We have overcome our aversion to death only as much as necessary to make it a tool: to rid ourselves of criminals, or to terminate unwanted pregnancies and gradually "relieve" the suffering of illness and trial through it. Through our own choices and preferences, we have created a culture of death.
Modern secular society nurtures the fantasy that it triumphs over life and hastens to reject the biblical perspective as sick and otherworldly. In reality, it is secular society that cultivates the impression - sometimes the certainty - that death lurks everywhere and embraces our lives. On the contrary, according to the Bible, death submits to a God who redeems the wounded creation from sin and makes death a possibility rather than the ultimate reality.