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The Blunder of 1844:
Hi there,
I was just curious to know why if Jesus clearly says that nobody knows the day or the hour (Matt 24:36) then why do/did Adventist's seem to accept the 1844 second coming prediction/calculation, and even make excuses and give (seemingly valid) reasons for why it did not happen?
Please don't get me wrong, I read EGW and am continuously inspired by her writings, and I know this was not her prediction, but Adventist's pride themselves on being a "Bible based" faith, so I really am curious.
Thanks!
Christina
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Seventh-Day- … lunder.htm
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Tom Norris replied:
To understand Adventism, one must first understand the context of their world. By the 18th century, a new view of Revelation emerged thanks to Jonathan Edwards and his pre-millennial preaching.
Edwards unleashed the idea that the millennium could be brought about "by the preaching of the gospel, and the use of the ordinary means of grace." In this way, Christ's kingdom "shall be gradually brought to pass."
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/new … ml?start=1
See also:
William Miller and the Second Great Awakening in the US
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline … amprophesy....
By the early 19th century, many Americans were expecting an apocalyptic event. In fact, Preachers like Charles Finny, were openly predicting the Millennium of peace was about to start, even as there was great expectation from all about a greatly improved future.
Listen to Charles Finney in 1834:
“If the Church will do all her duty, the millennium may come in this country in three years.”
Thus Finny, and others, were actually predicting the start of the millennium somewhere around the year 1840. He also believed that if the church had cooperated more fully with the type of revivalism he espoused it would have already brought about the millennium in the 1820’s.
“If the whole Church, as a body, had gone to work ten years ago, and continued it as a few individuals, whom I could name, have done, there might not now have been an impenitent sinner in the land. The millennium would have fully come into the United States before this day.”
(See: Charles G. Finney, Lectures on Revival, Lecture 15 "Hindrances to Revival” 301, from Books For The Ages, AGES Software, version 2.0 [CD-ROM] (Albany, OR: The Master Christian Library Series, 1997).
Note also Lecture 1, 9. Where Finney explains his view of why "excitements” are needed in the mean time:
“As the millennium advances, it is probable that these periodical excitements will be unknown. Then the Church will be enlightened, and the counteracting causes removed, and the entire Church will be in a state of habitual and steady obedience to God. Children will be trained up in the way they should go, and there will be no such torrents of worldliness, and fashion, and covetousness, to bear away the piety of the Church, as soon as the excitement of a revival is withdrawn.”
http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue53.htm
http://store.iblp.org/products/FOR/
The point is this; Miller was not atypical or strange. Many in his time period were anticipating an apocalyptic event. Miller, like so many others, also believed a great prophetic event was about to be fulfilled; however his view was very different from all others, even disturbing and fearful.
Rev. 14:7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”
2Pet. 3:7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
1Th. 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a 1cshout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
1Th. 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Miller_(preacher)
http://www.earlysda.com/miller/william- … raphy.html
http://www.whiteestate.org/pathways/wmiller.asp
http://www.adventistheritage.org/article.php?id=23
End of the World and the 2nd Coming
Instead of things getting better and better, as the post millennialist claimed, Miller warned that the Judgment Day was about to take place. He railed at those who were looking for the millennium of peace to start. He thundered for them to get ready for the Day of God’s wrath, which was almost here.
For many, Miller’s new discovery about the 2nd Coming replaced the popular view that the millennium was about to start. This not only allowed apocalyptic fervor to remain high, it also made it more biblically based, even as this new doctrine also focused on the shortness of time before the great “Burning Day” arrived.
Although Miller was obviously wrong about the predicted time for the 2nd Coming, he was very correct about the pre-millennial doctrine of the 2nd Coming. This is his contribution to Protestant Eschatology, and it is very important because he is the man that destroyed the heresy of pre-millennialism, and correctly articulated the visible and pre-millennial doctrine of the Second Coming as the Day of Judgment. The fact that he was wrong about the date is beside the point.
Miller’s stands out in church history because he correctly repudiated the popular eschatology of his day that predicted peace and safety. While he agreed that some great apocalyptical event was about to take place, he disagreed that it could be the millennium. Rather, he said the event would be the 2nd Coming as the Day of Judgment and the end of the world.
As Miller’s brought forth irrefutable proof from the Bible to support his catastrophic view of eschatology, many repudiated postmillennialism, and left their churches in order to support this surprising new doctrine that had no support whatsoever from any theological college or denomination. Over time however, every denomination that once scoffed at Miller has since embraced his core teachings.
Poor Miller gets very little credit for helping to develop modern eschatology. He is a very misunderstood figure. While the critics treat him very unfairly, even the SDA’s badly misunderstand Millerite eschatology, and thus they have confused themselves about the very pillars that are foundational to the Three Angels Messages.
Time of the 2nd Coming
As for Miller’s view about Matt 24:36. He knew this passage very well. Which is why Miller NEVER set a specific DAY or HOUR for the 2nd Coming. While many think otherwise, they are in error.
Matt. 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
Miller calculated the termination of the 2,300 days for a general time period. The year 1843 to be specific. Thus Miller only gave an approximate time range, which is very different from trying to predict a specific day and time of day. He knew that Matt 24: 36 prevented such prognostication.
Furthermore, Miller was not one of those who sold his farm. While he was certain that the 2nd Coming was true doctrine that had been lost to the church, he was not nearly so sure about his eschatological calculations. In fact, he was forced to admit that his prophetic calculations were wrong. But he never repudiated or backed down from his beloved doctrine about the 2nd Coming. Nor should he.
Miller died, like all Christians should, “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Titus 2:13
Today, Miller has been vindicated. Every church and denomination in the land has now embraced Miller’s pre-millennial eschatology about the literal 2nd Coming. Yet few have any idea that Miller played such a positive and important role.
What a pity that the Adventists no longer have any credible or cutting edge eschatology. Their 19th century views that Sunday Law will bring about the Tribulation is not taught in the Bible, and neither are a lot of things that the SDA’s teach.
They need to wake up and get serious about understanding 21st century eschatology, and they can start by correctly understanding how Miller interpreted Rev 14: 7.
See:
The Judgment in the 1st Angels Message
http://www.atomorrow.net/fluxbb/viewtopic.php?id=227
The End of the World
http://www.atomorrow.net/fluxbb/viewtopic.php?id=230
The Tribulation
http://www.atomorrow.net/fluxbb/viewtopic.php?id=768
Here is a quick account of how the date of Oct 22 date came about. Miller opposed it from the start, and with good reason.
Miller and the Blunder of Date Setting:
While others proposed dates based on various readings of prophecy and history, Miller from the first steadfastly refused to set a definite date for the End, simply stating that it would occur sometime around 1843.
But as 1843 drew near, Miller, pressured to name a more specific time, stated a belief that Jesus would return to the earth sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844, the beginning and ending dates of the Jewish year.
In 1843 there was much millennial excitement, with itinerant Millerites preaching the rapidly nearing End of Time to great masses. The appearance of a comet visible in day light seemed a certain "sign in the heaven," a great many more, some highly improbable, of which were reported.37
Meanwhile, ridicule poured from the popular press, with Miller inspiring what would become the stock cartoon figure of a bearded prophet carrying a sign bearing the legend, "The End Is Near."
As the year continued with no apparent divine intrusion into the course of earthly affairs, the ridicule grew along with the Millerites' ardor. When the vernal equinox of 1844 came and went as had any other day, the Millerites rallied around the idea of a "tarrying time" that, as in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, would separate those who were truly prepared from those whose faith was lacking.
As has been repeatedly demonstrated in various movements, such a disconfirming experience, far from convincing believers that they are wrong, often tends to strengthen the group as it reshapes its interpretations to incorporate seemingly discordant data into its belief system.38
Samuel S. Snow, an eccentric Millerite preacher who would later go about in white robes declaring himself as Elijah the Prophet, claimed that God the Father had revealed to him that the Second Coming would occur on October 22, 1844, a date he (erroneously) believed to be the Jewish Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) as observed by the Karaite sect.39
Snow convinced many Millerites that the delayed "Bridegroom" (Jesus) would finally arrive on that day. Millerite leaders, including Miller and Hines, continued to express doubts about the date until late September, by which time it was "spreading over the land like a prairie wildfire."40
The October 22 date gave a new focus to a movement in which serious divisions had begun to appear. While some continued to express reservations, most Millerites came to believe that the end of their earthly toils would occur on October 22.
Although there is no evidence anyone made "ascension robes" as was reported by the press, many Millerites saw no need to harvest fall crops, tend their business, or make other preparations for a future earthly life beyond October. Earthly business was superseded by preparation for "the Great Day of the Lord."
But October 22, 1844, which every Seventh-day Adventist church school child learns as the date of the "Great Disappointment," came and went with no visible change in the course of earthly affairs. Devastated by the apparent failure of prophecy, the Millerite movement broke apart. While many gave up their hopes to return to mainstream churches, others remained steadfast in the conviction that the Second Coming was about to occur.
The largest body of the movement formed the Advent Christian Church, which still exists. Some joined the Shakers who regarded the Second Coming as a spiritual event that had already occurred in the person of their founder.
A small group came to believe that, while October 22 was the correct date, a heavenly rather than earthly event had been foretold by Daniel's prophecy. In their reformulated understanding, Jesus on that day entered into the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary to begin what they termed the "Investigative Judgment" as prelude to the Final Judgment that was yet to come on an unspecified but still not far distant date.
This belief, unique in Christianity, became the foundation of what would eventually become the Seventh-day Adventist Church. With a worldwide membership approaching of more than ten million, it is today the largest extant Millerite based group.
Like their forebears, Seventh-day Adventists believe themselves to be the divinely chosen "remnant people," spiritual heirs to the ancient apocalyptic vision of a better world to come. 41
http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ejcmmsm/SDApocalyptic.html
I hope this information gives you some better insight into Adventist history.
Tom Norris for All Experts.Com & Adventist Reform
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Tom,
I noticed in an answer to a question about Leroy Edwin Froom that you mentioned William Miller was a mason, but you don't inform the person that Miller resigned from the Masons in 1831. Was this an oversight? Please explain because I would not any one to think that you meant to paint Miller in a bad light.
Michael Keller
See:
LeRoy Edwin Froom
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Seventh-Day- … -froom.htm
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William Miller was a remarkable man. His views about the 2nd Coming as the end of the world have transformed the eschatology of every denomination to this very day. Few give Miller proper credit for improving the theological platform for the modern Protestant church.
As for Miller’s connection with the Masons, this was normative for that time period, at least before the great scandal of 1826. After that date however, a great anti-mason movement swept the Country. As a result, Miller resigned “less than a month after his first public lecture” in 1831.
Miller was an active Freemason until 1831.[17][18][19] Miller resigned his Masonic membership in 1831, stating that he did so to "avoid fellowship with any practice that may be incompatible with the word of God among masons".[20] By 1833 he wrote in a letter to his friends to treat Freemasonry "as they would any other evil".[21]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Miller_(preacher)
William Miller’s Masonic History
Millers' exact masonic history is impossible to determine from available records. Morning Star Lodge No. 27 (later No. 37) went inactive as a result of the Morgan Incident—not reopening until 1856—and the early records of the lodge are lost.
He joined the lodge sometime after moving to Poultney, Vermont in 1803. Grand Lodge of Vermont records show his participation at their annual communications, as a proxy in 1809 and as Senior Warden of his lodge in 1810. Although there is no extant record, there is no reason not to believe that he served the lodge as Worshipful Master in 1811. Miller resigned from the lodge in September 1831. He did not hold any Grand Lodge office.
Worshipful Master: 1811
Morning Star Lodge No. 27, Vermont
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/mil … ler_w.html
See also:
God's Strange Work: William Miller and the End of the World (Library of Religious Biography)
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Strange-Work … 0802803806
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Seventh-Day- … -froom.htm
I trust this answers your question.
Tom Norris for Adventist Reform & All Experts.Com
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