Sects Cults and Catholic Church Essay Example for Free

Sects Cults and Catholic Church Essay The Seventh Day Adventists A sect is a religious group with controversial beliefs, they are groups that break away from a main group/religion and form their own set of beliefs, which differ from the teachings of their parent group. Sects also reject the authority of their parent group. The Seventh Day Adventists is an example of a group that broke away from their parent religions of Millerite Movement and Christianity, to become a sect. New York was the home of the 1840s Millerite movement; Millerites were followers of he teachings of William Miller who prophesied the second coming of Jesus Christ to Earth on the 22nd October 1844. When Jesus did not appear on this day the Millerites dissolved, however from the ashes of one movement came the next as the Seventh Day Adventists arose from the disbanded Millerites. The Seventh Day Adventist Church was officially founded in 1863 and the four founding fgures were Joseph Bates, James White, Ellen G. White and J. N. Andrews. The Church quickly became popular and began to spread worldwide, reaching the shores of New Zealand in the 1880s only shortly after its official establishment back in the States. Today the Seventh Day Adventist Church boasts over 16 million members globally and is the twelfth largest religious body in the world.