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Eventually the last of the anticipated dates passed and Christ still had not appeared - at least, the Second Advent did not occur in the literal way the Adventists had expected. As mentioned, the failure of their literal expectations has come to be known as 'the great disappointment'. (184:1) With the passing of the expected dates, Miller's critics intensified their attacks. Writers depicted the Millerites as irrational fanatics characterized by sensational and extreme types of behaviour, such as waiting on their rooftops wearing ascension robes, and going mad when their predictions appeared to have failed. Scholars today have shown that no evidence exists to warrant such images and allegations. (184:2) Miller gave up the movement, but others were disinclined to give up what seemed to them to be a clear prophecy. They advocated that something had happened - but not on earth - and that Christ's return was still to come later. The main idea was that the prophesied 'cleansing of the sanctuary' (Dan. 8:13) had occurred in heaven rather than on earth. This view was put forth and illustrated in Seventh-Day books such as Bible Readings. It was the individuals who accepted these later views who went on to found the group known today as Seventh-Day Adventists. (184:3) The methods of interpretation, such as the 'day/year theory', which had been so popular among Christians for centuries and which were central to Adventist thinking, are today regarded as erroneous by most Christian scholars, both liberal and conservative. However, because these calculations also accurately reveal the time of Jesus' First Advent, some Christian apologists still accept them.
(184:4)
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