I Used to Hate “Amazing Grace”

It’s the joy of human psychology … and the extra ridiculousness of mine.

The first time I remember hearing the song “Amazing Grace,” I was watching a bunch of members of the KKK singing it around a burning cross. (If you must know, it was in the movie Betrayed with Tom Beranger and Debra Winger ... so it wasn’t a real event. I guess this is a testament to the power and influence of film.)

Anyway, I came to associate the song with racists! So I never liked to listen to it … and that was exacerbated when I figured that Christianity could not be true because the Bible lied about God being love. I figured that if He had any grace, He’d act differently – you know, cause I would be super great as a god.

Then I became a Christian. I still disliked the song for a very long time. But one time, I decided to listen to it carefully. Then I heard the story behind the song. And then I started to like it … and now I even get a little bit emotional when I hear it. One of my favorite versions is by Ginny Owens and Jim Brickman. By the way, I would say that the film Amazing Grace, about the fight to end the slave trade in England, is kind of the perfect antidote to watching Betrayed.

So I guess I have learned that bias can come from all sorts of weird and unexpected places. And I think a lot of those are ultimately irrational, even though we like to think of them as logical and well thought out.

Now, this particularly silliness of this bias was always apparent to me. But let me tell you, it’s crazy what I have learned about myself when I have been willing to humble myself and ask God to help me search my heart.