Editor,
John Newton was a brutal slave trader more than 200 years ago.
He purchased slaves along the coast of Africa. He chained them in dark, stifling, hellish conditions for weeks below deck on his slave ship. He later confessed that scores of these African men, women and youth died from his miserable confinement, and they were buried in the ocean.
Newton is guilty of kidnapping, torturing and murdering human beings. He committed horrendous crimes against humanity.
But eventually Newton repented, and he turned from his evil past. He became an eloquent, strong leader of the movement to abolish slavery. He changed from a brutal slave trader to a committed crusader against slavery. He wrote the words to the beloved song, “Amazing Grace.”
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”
No matter what evil we have done in our past, we can change!
Don Schrader
Community member
