The deep aversion to and obsession with death in modern Western culture attests to its power over us. It has become our primary taboo and many of us have come to see it as a supreme power, something like a deity. But, as with all things we deify, we have overcome our fear of it long enough to manipulate it for our purposes... We have overcome our aversion to death long enough to make it a tool: to get rid of some criminals with it, or to terminate unwanted pregnancies and to "relieve" little by little the misery of illness and trial with it. Through our own choices and preferences, we have created a culture of death.

Modern secularized society feeds on the fantasy that it devours life and is quick to dismiss the biblical perspective as sick and unworldly. In fact, it is the secularized society that fosters the impression – sometimes the certainty – that death lurks everywhere and embraces our lives. On the contrary, according to the Bible, death is subordinated to a God who redeems the sin-wounded creation and makes death a possibility rather than an ultimate reality.