Posted by:
Alpiner
(
)
Date: August 14, 2013 11:46PM
Never.
The JW's have mis-called Jesus' return numerous times, and yet still gain membership. Same goes with Christian Scientists. For that matter, same goes for the original Apostles.
People will never leave because of the sunk cost fallacy -- the belief that, because I have expended X amount of effort already, I may as well expend Y more. In Millennialist Christianity, this manifests itself as people believing they're not worthy for Christ's re-appearance, and thus trying harder, often encouraged by their pastors/leadership. In normal human behavior, you'll see this in lots of places. For example, the guy who keeps repairing his car rather than buying a new one, because he just bought a new set of tires or repaired another component. Or the parents who keep paying for their kids' college and credit cards because this time, the kid will crack down and study hard.
The LDS church came about in the Millennialist/Millerist (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism) milieu. The only reason it survived where comparable end-of-world branches of Christianity did not was because it moved West, where it could thrive.