In the World but Not of the World

"I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the Evil One" (John 17:15 ESV). 

We are in the world, but not of the world, and as we trust Christ, the world will not prevail over us.

Word vs. World

"I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:14 ESV). 

Jesus delivers His Father's message to His people. The sinful world promotes self-love rather than true love for God and His people.

Pay Your Way into Heaven?

I'm a movie geek who has also taught writing and literature classes to middle school students for a couple of decades. So one of my favorite YouTube channels is "Why the Book Wins: book vs. movie," hosted by Laura Jay. On an episode from about a month ago, Laura was comparing the monumental movie The Godfather with the trashy novel on which the film was based. (NOTE: whereas the language in most of Laura's videos has been fairly family friendly, her video for the R-rated Godfather and its book, which should be X-rated, is not family friendly at all.)

For the Mafia, family, ethnicity, and a type of religion are all blended into a type of organizing principle by which a kind of loyalty among criminals is maintained. Therefore, in her video on The Godfather, Laura ends up discussing religion. Comparing situations from The Godfather with the TV show The Sopranos, Laura discusses how mobsters (and their families) are often depicted as trying to pay the Catholic church in order to assuage their consciences. This leads Laura to observe:

The idea that you can pay your way into Heaven: so many religions–maybe like every single religion–thinks this. [It's] a bizarre thing to believe, [but] every religion does believe it in one way or another. Members of the Mormon church, for example, like to look at other religions and [say], 'We don't believe in that,' and yet they do, because in order to get a temple recommend, you have to pay 10% of your money to the church, and if you are not a full tithe-payer, you can't get a temple recommend, and if you don't get a temple recommend, you can't get all the blessings that get you into the top tier of Heaven.

My comment, re: Laura's statement, "pay your way into Heaven... every religion does believe it in one way or another" is that this is definitionally NOT true of Protestant Christianity. We believe that a person is justified (that is: counted right in God's sight, and thus counted fit for Heaven) on the basis of faith alone. Adding any works at all (including any kind of 'payment') is considered heretical. It is important to keep this in mind as we lovingly present the truth of what Jesus has done for us.