Investiture Achievement/Friend/Spiritual Discovery

The Great Disappointment was a period in the early history of certain Christian denominations in the United States, which began when Jesus failed to reappear on the appointed day of October 22, 1844 as some Christians had expected.

William Miller

Between 1831 and 1844, William Miller, a Baptist preacher, launched what has been called by historians as Second Great Awakening, of which the Millerite movement was a major part. Miller preached a set of fourteen rules for the interpretation of the Bible. Based on his study of the prophecy of Template:Bibleverse, Miller calculated that Jesus would return to Earth sometime between 21 March 1843 and 21 March 1844. After the latter date came and went, the date was revised and set as October 22, 1844 based on the yearly Day of Atonement in Karaite Judaism.

When Jesus did not appear, Miller's followers experienced what came to be called "the Great Disappointment". Most of the thousands of followers left the movement. A few, however, went back to their Bibles to find out why they had been disappointed. A group of the remaining followers concluded that the prophecy predicted not that Jesus would return to earth in 1844, but that investigative judgement in heaven would begin in that year.

But almost all of the other christian denominitions don't share the same belief in an investigative judgement - as the christian God is aclaimed to be omnisciencent and therefor aren't "in need of knowledge gathering". However this is not a central part of the christian belief so many other christians afer not to call this denomination a sect, though some do.

Miller recorded his personal disappointment in his memoirs: "Were I to live my life over again, with the same evidence that I then had, to be honest with God and man, I should have to do as I have done. I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment." Miller continued to wait for the second coming until his death in 1849.

Repercussions

Seventh-day Adventists

When Seventh-day Adventist Church historians write about the morning of October 23 they refer to a vision said to have been received by Hiram Edson (1806-1882), an early Adventist. Edson's saw in vision that the date that Miller had predicted was in fact correct. Later Bible study and visions led to the belief by the early Seventh-day Adventists that Christ went into the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 to begin the investigative judgment of both righteous and wicked to see who is worthy of going to heaven. This investigative judgment is said to take place prior to his second coming, which they believe to be very soon. A number of issues related to the doctrine of this investigative judgement were raised by Adventist theologian Desmond Ford in the 1970s.

Charles Taze Russell and Jehovah's Witnesses

Jonas Wendell, an adventist preacher, experienced periods of weak faith after 1844. After studying bible chronology, he came to the conclusion that the Second Coming would be in 1868, and in 1870 published a booklet concluding it was to be in 1873.

Charles Taze Russell was in turn influenced by Jonas Wendell (as well as by the Millerites in general), and predicted the Second Coming for 1874. One-time Millerite ministers George Storrs (1796-1879) and George Stetson proved to be a great assistance and guide to the development and growth of his worldwide ministry, the Bible Student movement. A schism in that movement occurred in 1933, where the leadership changed the date of the Second Coming to 1914. The main branch of that movement came to be known as the Jehovah's Witnesses, while many members refused the change; Bible Students today still hold that the Second Coming was in 1874.

Religious Studies

The Great Disappointment is viewed as an example of how the psychological phenomenon of cognitive dissonance manifests itself in a diversity of religious perspectives.Template:Citationneeded The cognitive tension between belief in the failed prediction of Jesus' reappearance in 1844 and belief that such an appearance would occur led quickly to a variety of explanations. The various solutions to this individual struggle of faith form a part of the teachings of the different groups that outlived the disappointment.

Other references

Bahá'í

Members of the Bahá'í Faith believe that Miller's interpretation of signs and dates of the coming of Jesus were, for the most part, correct. They believe that the fulfillment of biblical prophecies of the coming of Christ were fulfilled by the fore-runner of their own religion, the Báb, who declared himself on May 23, 1844, and began openly teaching in Persia in October 1844 that he was the Promised One. Several Bahá'í books and pamphlets make mention of the Millerites and the prophecies used by Miller, most notably William Sears' Thief in the Night.

References

• Stone, Jon R. (2000). Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy. Routledge. ISBN 041592331X.