QUIET CONTEMPLATION - AMAZING GRACE. THE END!

John Newton wrote Amazing Grace after his 'Damasconian' like conversion to Christianity.  following him, as us humans are apt to do, calling out to god to save him, when the ship he was on, encountered a terrible storm off the coast of Ireland. 

Again, as tended to be the case, that debacle was not sufficient to make a 'true devotee Christianity' of Newton.  

And it was not until long after he had done his bit as a slave trader, and suffered a serious stroke, that he became more devoted to god and Christianity. 

Amazing Grace was not published until 1779, when Newton was 54 years old. In trying to balance the evil he had done.  By contributing towards the development of the African slave trade, Newton also wrote a somewhat weak 'anti-slavery' poem, called the 'Negro Complaint.'

I am not about to condemn John Newton for the 'bad' he has done, or praise him for the 'good' he has done. 

Just to highlight how people, us humans, can find ways of rationalising the decisions and judgements we make in our lives. Including how we tend attribute the 'good' ones to the 'grace or benevolence of god.' 

And 'bad' ones to the 'malevolence of the devil.' Instead of taking personal responsibility for both the 'good' and the 'bad' we do. 

I am not aware of John Newton having became a philanthropist, or being in the forefront of the anti-slavery movement, like William Wilberforce was. 

However, while he has contributed so much to the suffering of the Africans whom he had helped to forcefully removed from their homes and traded in. 

I still have to accept that, the evil which he has done, somehow, has contributed towards him being inspired to write a song.  

Which has given joy and poignancy to the lives of millions of people, including the descendants of some of the slaves whose lives he had helped to blighted. 

By taking them on a journey across the Atlantic, which was no less tempestuous than the near ship wreck which led to him becoming a Christian. 

And, eventually composing and penning a song which gives comfort to millions. 

Of course, while his god has been credited with having herd his prayer to be saved, the salves whom he was to transport and trade in, did not have their's answered. 

Which might have given some credence to the view that, the African has a lesser god, having had his enslavement predicated upon the theory that, he was also a lesser human; if at all.

But we now know that not to have been  or to be true. So, being human and susceptible to doing 'good' as well as 'evil' or 'bad', we can all enjoy hearing and find some reassurance in Amazing Grace. 

Not because any god has offered us unconditional love or redemption, but because we have come to better know ourselves, including the fact that we all carry an X and a Y chromosome. 

And are capable 'straying' either way, although most of us return to the more compassionate road. As did John Newton, to some degree.