African Methodist Episcopal: A Religion Formed by Adversity - Research Paper

Introduction

A denomination or religion bases its doctrine in the history that facilitated its origin and the supernatural being present in the midst of Christian faithful and believers. African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church committed believes in "God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit Our Comforter, and Humankind, Our Family." This doctrine and discipline of believers in the church resulted from its adverse formation that included he split from the Central Methodist Church. Therefore AME has no big doctrinal difference from the mother church that it originated from; the AME church believers have many more similarities with the main Methodist than difference. However, the Africans from the main Church deemed it fit to split from the main church due to man's intolerance of fellow men, especially on skin color differences. Other races oppressed and dehumanized their fellows of African descent, and these slavery activities found their way into churches. As a result, Reverend Richard Allen and a group of fellow members of the African color formed a separate denomination of the Methodist descent naming it AME church. The focus of this essay, therefore, is finding the necessary foundation of beliefs of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and how to resolve areas of conflict with the view of fellow worshippers.

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As believers worshipping in AME church, our four fundamental beliefs have the foundation in the Apostles Creed and the twenty-five articles of religion. "God the Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family" is the root of religious beliefs of AME church, aligned with the teachings of the Apostles Creed (Cone, 2018). Besides, the twenty-Five religion articles explain further in support with the biblical scriptures also elaborates on the doctrine within which the church teaches the word of God.

The first part of the Apostles Creed says, "I believe in God, the father Almighty" expecting all Christians to believe that God is the supreme being who created the earth and all that is in it. The Bible tells us that every humankind knows God deep in their hearts. However, Romans chapter one says that ever since Adam and Eve sinned, human beings turned from worshiping the true God to idols or anything created by God (Payne & Draft, 2019). Since humankind diverted from praising the true God to things created by God, the holy Church of AME believes in restoring faith and belief of worshippers according to provisions of the Creed. Moreover, the part stating, "I also believe in Jesus, His son, our Lord conceived and born of Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit," teaches Christians of how God is forgiving and merciful.

Luke chapter 1, from verse 26, talks about the love of God when he sent angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary to bare the world a son who will forgive the sins of humankind. The church believes in the promises of Jesus Christ after he died and resurrected to the right-hand side of God in heaven. According to Luke chapter 24 from verse 44, He promised all his children in the entire universe of companion and comfort in his absence through the Holy Spirit he would send from heaven. For this reason, as Methodist faithful, believe in the Holy Spirit, who teaches them that humankind is family, and they should believe in it by treating other people well.

Importantly from the twenty-five articles of our faith, there is a reiteration of the foundation of AME church beliefs that al worshippers take seriously to change their lives religiously. The two parts of the article, namely; "of faith in the Holy Trinity and the word of the son of God, made of very man" form the embodiment of the doctrine of the AME church. As earlier mentioned in support of the Apostles Creed, Jesus was God born of very man, to come and deliver the broken world. As identified by Romans, human diverted attention from believing in the creator to finding in earthly things created by Him. However, God was not angry at the human race and therefore sent his only begotten son to save us from this evil.

I believe in the doctrine of the AME church due to the teachings of the Bible and the Apostle Creed. I believe in the Existence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit because God created the universe and everything in it. In Genesis chapter nine, He later created the human race in His image and gave them the mandate to rule over the earth and continue with His creation while multiplying to fill the earth (Beisner, 2019). As much as humankind angered God through sinning, He went ahead to bring His only son to save the descendants of Adam through His son, later through the Holy Spirit. From the chronological of events describing God's love to the wicked human race, I believe in His endless love and mercies as well.

Religious belief is a personal choice; therefore, conflict of interest is a universal occurrence that is far from coming to an end. There are people whose views are in alignment with the doctrines of AME church, while others do not believe in the scriptures and the provisions of the Apostles Creed. I would elaborate on the promises of the Almighty Father with support of what is in the Bible to make the anti-Christ believe in what is the way to righteous life on earth and the afterlife.

Conclusion

Since the establishment of the AME church, believers informs the world that the doctrine of the church provides a leeway life after earth. The church is at the forefront to make the world look equal to humankind by believing that humanity is family. The guidance provided by the Apostles Creed and twenty-five articles of our faith from the Bible creates an understanding of the mission and vision of the AME church. The purpose and foundation of the church's doctrine also provide guidelines on religious conflict resolution and strengthening living in Christ among believers.

References

Beisner, E. C. (2019). Prospects for Growth: A Biblical View of Population, Resources, and the Future. Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Cone, J. H. (2018). " God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, Man Our Brother": A Theological Interpretation of the AME Church. Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center, 4(1), 4.

Payne, M., & Draft, S. F. (2019). Enjoying God Through Creation: An Examination of Idolatry and the Christian's Relationship to the Physical World.