2 Peter 3:10-12 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! The word for "elements" in verses 10 and 12 is the Greek word Stoicheion. It is in the Bible 7 times. None of them speak of physical elements of the earth. Let's look at them. Without studying Stoicheion, one would never know what is actually burning up. So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the ELEMENTAL principles of the world. Galatians 4:3 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable ELEMENTAL principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again? Galatians 4:9 Be careful that you don't let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the ELEMENTS of the world, and not after Christ. Colossians 2:8 If you died with Christ from the ELEMENTS of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances, Colossians 2:20 For although by this time you should be teachers, you again need to have someone teach you the ELEMENTARY principles of the oracles of God. You have come to need milk, and not solid food. Hebrews 5:12 So, how can a principle "dissolve" or "melt" in the heat as described in Peters writings? The things that were going to be destroyed were all those things mentioned in the other verse. To top it off, Why would Jesus warn people to flee to the mountains if He was going to burn up the earth?