This magazine .has often warned against liberal trends in the CRC. That is good and necessary. But let’s not overlook another danger that is threatening us—that of fundamentalism. If we have to choose between the former and the latter, no doubt we would choose the latter. But I don’t want to choose, and we don’t have to. The Reformed faith has a richness all its own, and we don’t have to import ideas and practices from the fundamentalist camp in order to make it exciting. It has a built-in excitement. All we have to do is believe and practice it.

Examples of the inroads of fundamentalism among us are not hard to find. In the 70’s many of our people were influenced by neo-pentecostalism, and some of the after-effects are still with us. Today we see it in the “altar-call” at a recent Young Calvinist convention, and in the invitation of some of our Grand Rapids area churches to have a certain Dr. Guest speak for them. Twenty five years ago the late J. K. Van Baalen wrote in The Banner that “we have relatively more people who do not know the difference between a Reformed gospel call and preaching that departs from the doctrine of election and reprobation.” If that was true then, it is much more so today. Radio and television evangelists (the electronic church) have slain their thousands, also among our own members.

Look at the music being taught in some of our Christian schools, and the musical programs put on by them, and by other groups of our people. Too often it is music borrowed from the evangelicals and fundamentalists rather than from Reformed sources. And how does Psalm singing fare in many of our churches? Judging by several bulletins I see, not very well. Many churches sing far more hymns than psalms in the worship services. Several of these hymns are taken from books other than the Psalter Hymnal. A look at some of these books will reveal songs that have no place in a Reformed church. But we seem to sing them without any qualms at all. Some years ago Prof. Hamersma of Calvin’s music Dept. wrote in The Banner: “While we have not adopted the evangelistic service, we have adopted the evangelistic-service approach to the evaluation of our church music.” A bit later he writes: “As a denomination we have a specific theological position: the Word of God interpreted in our doctrinal standards. . . . Does the music in your church suggest that you have another starting point?”

A lot of the hymns sung by our people are man-centered rather than God-centered. The songs emphasize my soul, my experiences, my happiness, etc. The psalms, on the other hand, emphasize much more what God has done for my salvation. Subjectivism and experientialism are real dangers among us today. Even a song approved by the synod of 85 is not free from it: “You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.” Already years ago the late Prof. Henry Van Til warned about the non-Reformed content of those words. Today we have lost some of those Reformed feelers and we go more by how well we like the song and how well we can sing it (also on the floor of synod). We need to heed the admonition of the late Prof. J. G. Vos which he wrote some years ago in Blue Banner Faith & Life:

The trend of modern hymn books is largely toward the over-emphasis of the subjective experience at the expense of the objective foundation . . . . The Psalms are balanced, they are free from all one-sided emphases. They have stood the test of time. Let us hold on to them, love them, glory in them, sing them heartily, and never, never apologize for them or be ashamed of them.

While we continue to warn against the inroads of liberalism, let us not overlook the real danger of fundamentalism. Living as we do in the church environment of North America, where fundamentalism is rife, the latter may be a greater threat to some of our churches than liberalism.