Hi Legendary:
There are two schools of thought about how to apply the scriptures in Peter & Revelation:
1) symbolically - that the same heavens & earth would be here just cleaned up after Armageddon (this is also the JW doctrine)
2) literally - this one is a little harder for the JW to understand at first - we're thinking WAY outside the box here. Since God does not live in our time/space dimension, when Jesus returns and his followers are "raptured" (stay with me here - it's actually in the bible) and taken to be with God they would be removed from our time/space dimension. Now - with everyone that was to be saved outside of this time/space dimension - God completely destroyes it and makes all new stuff. Then EVERYONE (including GOD) returns to live in the new heavens & earth (Rev 21:3)
Now - which doctrine is correct? That I don't know. But I would caution you to ALWAYS apply the same rules in reading a book as to whether it is literal or symbolic. If you read it as literal - then it's ALL literal - if you read it as symbolic - then it's ALL symbolic.
As for understanding Revelation - the best way to approach it is by studying Revelation, Daniel, & Isaiah at the same time. These three books were written to complement each other - you'll find many of the same creatures from Revelation in the book of Daniel.
There are two books that I found very helpful in understanding the bible - don't laugh at the title, I'm completely serious!!
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible AND The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Book of Revelation. The titles are hillarious!! But they're actually very helpful - espeically for JW's who were taught the JW slant of the bible.
These books are non-denominational in that they don't push any particular doctrine or church - just basic information & explanation of the books. It's a good place to start. I never could understand Revelation before - now, although I'm still learning, it's making a lot more sense to me. Guess that means I was a complete idiot hu?!
