The American Funeral: How We're Avoiding the Reality of Death

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November 25, 2024 at 08:50 AM

Death is an inevitable reality we often try to avoid or control in modern society. This cultural shift is evident in how we've transformed funerals from times of mourning into "celebrations of life," moved graveyards away from churches, and increasingly chosen cremation over burial.

Our society typically responds to death in two problematic ways:

Mortal Naivety

Inappropriately romanticizing death through New Age beliefs
Desensitizing ourselves through media and entertainment
Adopting nihilistic attitudes that minimize death's significance
Using euphemisms to avoid confronting death's reality

Mortal Control

Attempting to overcome death through technology and medical advances
Obsessing over anti-aging treatments and procedures
Seeking to maintain complete autonomy over life and death
Refusing to accept human mortality

A healthier approach involves remembering our mortality (memento mori) while maintaining hope in resurrection. Christians should:

Acknowledge death as an outrage and consequence of sin
Practice proper mourning and lamentation
Teach children about death's reality and hope beyond it
Live well by preparing to die well

Rather than coddling ourselves through denial or false comfort, we should face death honestly while holding onto the promise of eternal life. This provides a powerful witness to a world struggling to make sense of mortality.

The Christian response to death involves both grief and hope – mourning death's reality while trusting in Christ's victory over it. Through this lens, funerals become meaningful occasions to process loss and anticipate resurrection, rather than empty celebrations or exercises in denial.

Parents should involve children in funeral services and teach them appropriate ways to mourn. This helps them develop a healthy understanding of death while learning about the hope found in Christ's resurrection.

By grieving with hope, Christians offer a compelling alternative to cultural attitudes that either avoid death or try to control it. Our response to death can point others to the One who conquered it and offers eternal life.