Changes

The [[Second Great Awakening]] saw a general revival of evangelical Christianity, and was especially strong among [[Yankee]] Protestants in the "Burned Over" district of upstate New York.  William Miller was a Baptist Minister who earnestly looked forward to the return of Christ, but who become inordinately consumed with determining the date. In 1831 he announced he had dated the Second Coming to 1843, when the world would end in a fiery purge. A recalculation moved the date to October 22, 1844.  

The [[Second Great Awakening]] saw a general revival of evangelical Christianity, and was especially strong among [[Yankee]] Protestants in the "Burned Over" district of upstate New York.  William Miller was a Baptist Minister who earnestly looked forward to the return of Christ, but who become inordinately consumed with determining the date. In 1831 he announced he had dated the Second Coming to 1843, when the world would end in a fiery purge. A recalculation moved the date to October 22, 1844.  

===Reinterpreting 1844===

===Reinterpreting 1844===

A day after the failed prediction  of October 22, 1844, a solution was provided for the problem by an Adventist named Hiram Edson. He argued that Miller misunderstood the nature of the predicted event, that it was not Christ's return to earth, but His entering in the holy of holies of the Heavenly temple, marking the beginning of the second phase of Christ's atoning work. This teaching was what would later  become the SDA doctrine of Investigative Judgment, for which Heb. 9 in invoked, in which Seventh Day  Adventism holds that Jesus began determining who among the forgiven was redeemed. (cf. 2Tim. 2:19) The chief proponent of this idea was Mrs. Ellen G. White, who along with her husband James, had helped Miller determine his dates. White, a woman of little education who reported she received prophetic visions and teachings from God, is considered to be the real founder.  At that time, most Christians were opposed to women holding positions of church leadership.

A day after the failed prediction  of October 22, 1844, a solution was provided for the problem by an Adventist named Hiram Edson. He argued that Miller misunderstood the nature of the predicted event, that it was not Christ's return to earth, but His entering in the holy of holies of the Heavenly temple, marking the beginning of the second phase of Christ's atoning work. This teaching was what would later  become the SDA doctrine of Investigative Judgment, for which Heb. 9 in invoked, in which Seventh Day  Adventism holds that Jesus began determining who among the forgiven was redeemed. (cf. 2Tim. 2:19) The chief proponent of this idea was Mrs. Ellen G. White. White, a woman of little education who reported she received prophetic visions and teachings from God, is considered to be the real founder.  At that time, most Christians were opposed to women holding positions of church leadership.

Those who did not abandon Millerite Adventism concluded that God had indeed purged the heavenly sanctuary but did not appear on earth due to the sinfulness of humankind. The years of the Great Disappointment, 1843 and again in 1844, might have been the end of the Adventism movement. Instead, it was the beginning. True, Miller lost his audience but many believers soon found a new leadership in [[Ellen G. White]] (1827-1915). By 1863, this group had a new headquarters (Battle Creek, Michigan) and an official new name: Seventh-day Adventists.  The national headquarters was later moved to Maryland.

Those who did not abandon Millerite Adventism concluded that God had indeed purged the heavenly sanctuary but did not appear on earth due to the sinfulness of humankind. The years of the Great Disappointment, 1843 and again in 1844, might have been the end of the Adventism movement. Instead, it was the beginning. True, Miller lost his audience but many believers soon found a new leadership in [[Ellen G. White]] (1827-1915). By 1863, this group had a new headquarters (Battle Creek, Michigan) and an official new name: Seventh-day Adventists.  The national headquarters was later moved to Maryland.