Because faith without works is dead. (James 2:17)

By Meerabelle Dey

Christianity is at its heart a very practical religion. The teachings of Jesus, essentially, are about how we should relate to one another and to God. Jesus’ teachings effectively are a manual for how we are supposed to operate in this world.

That makes Christianity a very simple religion to understand, but a hard one to follow. We are called to love others and forgive freely. Admittedly, that isn’t easy. That is why people like to turn the Christian conversation to things that don’t matter.

“Do you go to the right church?”

“How often do you go to church?”

“Look at me! I have a bumper sticker/tattoo/necklace which advertises my Christianity. Do you?”

“Do you talk about Jesus on your Facebook page? I do!”

Unfortunately, those are all just distractions. Where you go to church, how often you attend…