Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
What if you are wrong? (On the Second Coming and Theological Mistakes)

What if you are wrong? (On the Second Coming and Theological Mistakes)

Last updated on: September 29, 2015 at 1:19 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

What if you are wrong? (On the Second Coming and Theological Mistakes) 2015-09-29T13:19:32-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This chart makes sense, but Jesus did not come in 1843.

Long ago a Reynolds thought that Jesus would probably come in 1843*. He was wrong, but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that this Biblical reasoning was sounder than the “blood moon” thinking we just experienced. Since I doubt anybody aspires to be the least wrong in the class of all the Wrong Headed People Who Have Ever Lived, what did the Reynolds’ clan learn from the Great Disappointment?

Own being wrong.

To his great credit William Miller, the chap who devised the 1843 chart, finally admitted he was wrong. He looked for mistakes, recalculated, and then admitted he had made a mistake. In this way, Miller was a better man than many of his critics. Lies about the followers of Miller circulate to this day: they wore weird “ascension robes,” they ended up in lunatic asylums, or they sold all their property (in great numbers). What did I learn from reading about the Great Disappointment as a boy?

Being a good person or right on other doctrines doesn’t protect you from gross error.

The best men can be wrong. William Miller was sincere, thoughtful, and wanted to help the church. He brought many people to Jesus and he lived a good life. Yet he made a mistake that was very basic: he set a date for the Second Coming. His critics were annoying and often snobs. He was a decent and humble man.

He was also wrong. I find it so irritiating when a pro-choice libertine in the House is right, but sometimes (on other issues) they are. Sometimes my team is wrong. That is a fact of the world, but it never stops irritating me! Still, better to be on team Truth than my team.

Don’t puff up God’s message.

Don’t twist what God is saying to something more exciting. The American church in the mid-nineteenth century had grown cold to the idea of Jesus’ Second Coming. They believed the doctrine, but they did not preach the truth. Most of all, they had convinced themselves that Jesus was coming someday, but almost surely not today. God spoke to William Miller and told him to preach the Second Coming. He did and great results followed, but he was not satisfied with the message. He thought harder and decided that the Second Coming was not just soon, but in 1843.

He took a good message and made it exciting . . . but also foolish and wrong.

Don’t split from every other groups and form your own exciting movement.

Sometimes you cannot help it. Instead of talking to people with new ideas, the establishment just puts a padlock on your church as they did to another ancestor of mine on a different issue. Padlocks end the dialog.

Stay if you can. I know it is hard. The Reynolds family is always getting kicked out of something. The key is to make sure that we are kicked out for virtue and orthodoxy and not for vice and heresy! Yet . . . this is important to recall: often those who are heretical, and that is not good, have a core message that the church needs. The heretic has taken it too far, but the dead orthodox need to hear what is being said. Together the staid and the crazy might find the truth. Apart one group is so straight it leans and the other is so crooked it can crawl through a barrel of fish hooks without getting scratched.

Of course, bad enough doctrine (denying the Trinity) or bad enough practice (gay marriage) may justify the padlocks. On such settled issues, the church has a right to say: been there, done that, heard the arguments, go form your own church. Even then, there is something to be learned and heard: why are otherwise decent people deceived. We can stop, think about it, and hear what even the wicked have seen.

Learn from the past.

The followers of Miller could have known that date setting turns out badly. Skeptics say (of course) that this is because Jesus is never returning. Christians know it is because Jesus told us that we could not know the date of the end. We also know that Bible “prophecy” while sometimes about the future, often is not. The Word of God to a prophet is what God is saying to His people and it will have multiple fulfillments.

Jesus will return, but He will come as a thief in the night. As a child, this verse comforted me. I figured whenever someone said the End was coming, that was the day it surely was not! There was sense in my child thought . . . Jesus will not be controlled. He will come when He will come and we will not control Him.

When He comes, the Doom will be great . . . so nobody can feel quite confident about it . . . and yet the outcome will be awesome . . . paradise. . . joy. . . party without end.

Maranatha! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

————

* In good family news, it turns out that my ancestors were not date setters. They joined the movement emphasizing the second coming after the Great Disappointment. The point of the article still stands. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong… Thanks Dad!

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

September 28, 2015

Two Johns: Hagee and Steinbeck

Next Post

September 30, 2015 Nepotism and the Rise of Unmarried Clergy

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Why was Moses placed in a basket in the Nile?

Select your answer to see how you score.

As part of a religious ritual To send him to another land To hide him from Egyptian soldiers To save him from Pharaoh’s decree

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »