Thank you for the response. I know what you mean by frustration from seeing well-supported debates. On the one hand, reading the NT in a historical context ties up lose ends, but on the other end, it opens other lose ends. It leaves us, those living in a post-apocalyptic time, feeling empty. Also, I have always had a hope of Universal Salvation, and the historical readings do not seem to be compatible with that doctrine; annihilationism seems to fit better. That’s another problem I face.

I’m trying my best to keep an open mind and I can be sure of one thing: the mainstream view is definitely “off.”

UPDATE/EDIT:

Daniel, I just read that article you linked me, and I would like your opinion on this statement:

“Note how, even when Revelation 21 and 22 speaks of those who are in the holy city, the new Jerusalem, and those who are excluded from it, it also speaks of the river of the water of life flowing out to the world around, and of the tree of life growing on the banks of the river, with ‘the leaves of the tree being for the healing of the nations’. What does that mean?”

It seems to me that he is suggesting an eventual salvation for those who are at first excluded from new Jerusalem. In other words, those inside new Jerusalem will heal the nations. That’s the way I see it anyway. What do you think he is hinting at?