Remember Death: Book Review

             "So long as death remains someone else's problem, Jesus will remain someone else's savior."

In this book, the author begins by writing about the decline of "death-awareness" in the West, arguing that our distance from the processes and reality of death allows us to focus on the present moment without facing the harshest and most inescapable reality of life. Even though most people would consider this state of affairs to be preferable, he argues that fully confronting the reality of death isn't just a relic from history or more traditional societies, but is essential to Christian living:

"We must hear and accept the statement death makes about who we are before we can fully rejoice in the message of the gospel. Death says you are less important than you've ever allowed yourself to believe. The gospel says you are far more loved than you've ever imagined. You are not too important to die. But you are important enough that God gave his only begotten Son, so that if you believe in him you will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). You will not be defined by death."

McCullough explains that because only Christ holds the answer to the problem of death, we should understand the biblical narrative and Christian theology within this context, rather than believing that faith is about leading happy and fulfilled lives in the present. God never promises that he will take away our earthly suffering; what he promises is that we will have eternal life after death in a perfect, renewed world where sin and death are no more. Remembering this reorients us, giving us a better, more realistic view of life and faith.

Christianity is unique in its promise of bodily resurrections in a new, restored earth, and McCullough explains that Jesus solves the problems of identity and futility that come with our awareness of death. We will all die, and someday after that, we will be utterly forgotten. No legacy is sufficient to make up for our eventual passing into nothingness, but because Christ has defeated death, we are free to labor with the knowledge that our work is not in vain (1 Corinthians 16:54-58).

In addition to writing about death directly, McCullough also addresses related concerns about the passage of time and our continual losses. This was my favorite part of the book, since so few people want to have a full discussion about this, and just cut it off with platitudes or positive thinking. He quotes C.S. Lewis's line, "Time itself is one more name for death," and explores the ways that life's constant transience both reminds us of death and wears on us with loss after loss. Everything changes, nothing lasts, and the more you love something, the more it hurts to lose it. Even when change leads to new seasons, we can never get back the past, and the only way I have found to still deeply enjoy everything good without feeling crushed by its eventual end is to know and remember that earthly joys are just a foretaste of heaven.

McCullough shares the same conclusion, arguing that even though many people view looking towards heaven as a mode of wishful thinking that neglects earthly wants and needs, it is the most realistic view. Even though Christians and their churches should make strides to solve social problems and meet people's immediate needs, the idea that Christianity exists to solve all of your personal problems and make you happy is out of sync with Scripture and eternal reality. When people no longer think about death, and when death is an unacceptable topic in polite society, we blind ourselves to reality and distort the gospel to meet our cultural interests. As he writes, "In this world, everyone loses everything. Eternal life only seems like a distraction from what you really want or need if you pretend you're not dying."

Unlike most of my peers, I have always thought about death a lot, partly because I grew up reading a lot of biographies, which all end in death, and read a lot of classic fiction from more death-aware time periods. Still, I learned a lot from this book, and I appreciated seeing many of my usual thought processes on a printed page, instead of hearing people tell me that they're morbid. Then, about two-thirds of the way through the book, McCullough mentions that before he became a pastor, he was trained as a historian. "OH," I said out loud. "That makes so much sense!" There's nothing like studying history to give you constant awareness of how futile and forgotten ordinary and even exceptional-in-their-time lives become.

Back when this book came out, I read a short review of it which left a lasting impression. My biggest takeaway from that review, aside from the reminder that people no longer remain aware of death the way that they should, is the message that God never, ever promised to alleviate my particular sufferings. He promises salvation, forgiveness, and life after death. I purchased this book a few months ago, but hadn't gotten around to reading it yet, and the current rising level of death-awareness in society because of COVID-19 made me realize that this was an exceptionally good time to read and review this.

This book is completely, even brutally honest about how inescapable changing relationships, physical decline, and emotional pain are through all stages of life, and that makes the hope that it offers even more real and meaningful. Even though the promises of God do not stop our losses in this life, they meet our greatest need.

"We look to Jesus as a forecast of our story. We look carefully at what happened to him. We see the victory he won over the grave. And we know that whatever may happen to us on our journey - however great the pain of disappointment, of grief, of death itself - we've been there already in Christ and we're headed where he has already gone. We've set our eyes on Jesus. And, looking at each other with grief and hope, we simply await our turn."