The “Christianity and” Syndrome
John 14:23-29
Illustration
by Gregory T. Riether

C.S. Lewis once said that it's what you add to Christianity that ruins it. He called it the "'Christianity and' Syndrome;" where we link our faith to some other cause to which we are partial and say "this is the center of our faith."  And so we hear from our pulpits that the main focus for us must be Christianity and Marxism, or Christianity and Capitalism, or Christianity and Social Action, or Christianity and Gun Control, or Christianity and the Republican Platform or the Democrat platform, or Christianity and the Pro-life Movement or Christianity and the Twelve Step program or Christianity and Homosexual Rights movement [add a current movement to the list here], or anything else you might want to insert there.  And the fact is, that as soon as you add an "And" to Christianity you have lost your focus.  A Christian worldview speaks to all of those important issues; but every one of them is peripheral to who we are.  We are not Christians AND something else; we are Christians, and we let our faith guide us in all other decisions of life.

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., ChristianGlobe Illustrations, by Gregory T. Riether