{"product_id":"following-culture","title":"Following Culture","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn Leo Tolstoy’s novella \u003cem\u003eThe Death of Ivan Ilyich, \u003c\/em\u003ethe main character, Ivan Ilyich, finds himself in crisis when he realizes as he is dying that he has lived his whole life for the wrong things, and that it’s too late for him to do anything to change that. His whole life he has been following what the culture around him believed was proper and fitting, but as he lies in agony on his deathbed, he realizes that these were the wrong things to prioritize. He can only try to ask forgiveness from his family for what he has done. Though his family can’t understand his garbled attempts to ask forgiveness, God does, and Ivan Ilyich dies in peace. Like Saul, and like many of us at one time or another in our lifetimes, Ivan Ilyich believed he was doing the right things in the right ways, and when he was shown just how wrong he was, the effects were devastating. Like Ivan Ilyich’s, Saul’s conversion brought him deep discomfort and pain, and put him very much out of step with the community he had been such an ardent member of before. But it also brought him peace and led him to a righteousness he could truly boast in: that of Christ.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ministry Pass","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52935315095868,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0852\/9874\/1564\/files\/dan-meyers-9FrtwO5i3Gc-unsplash.jpg?v=1774894610","url":"https:\/\/app.ministrypass.com\/products\/following-culture","provider":"Ministry Pass","version":"1.0","type":"link"}