This is just complete nonsense. You are denying the obvious here because of doctrinal bias. The heavens and earth are going to be burned up when Christ returns. The wicked and all wicked things must be removed from the earth in order to have the new heavens and new earth "where righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13) and where "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (Rev 21:4). You have offered no viable alternatives for how God will rid the world of wickedness once and for all, which is telling.
It's not nonsense at all. You
want it to be nonsense because you use the passage as "proof text" for Amillennialism.
1. The word stoicheîon (translated into English as "elements") employed in 2 Peter 3:10 & 12 refers to the rudiments of this world in Galatians 4:3 & Galatians 4:9; Colossians 2:8 & Colossians 2:20; and in Hebrews 5:12 (not to the chemical elements of the earth).
2. The Greek word parérchomai (Strong's Greek Dictionary #3928, from 3844: pará; and 2064: érchomai) can mean to come near, or to pass nearby, or to have passed, or to go away:
(i) It can mean to come near, for example in Luke 12:37; Acts 24:7 & Luke 17:17
(ii) It can mean to pass by nearby, for example in Luke 18:37 & Matthew 8:28.
(iii) It can mean to have passed, for example in Matthew 14:15; Acts 27:9; 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Matthew 24:34-35.
(iv) It can mean to go away or be removed, for example Matthew 26:39; Matthew 5:18 & Revelation 21:1.
The word used for burned up is katakaíō, which is used in reference to the works of men in 1 Corinthians 3:15; Revelation 18:8; and Matthew 13:30.
pyróō is used where the heavens are said to be on fire, and it means to kindle, i.e. (passively) to be ignited, glow (literally), be refined (by implication), or (figuratively) to be inflamed (with anger, grief, lust):--burn, fiery, be on fire, try. The same word is used for burn in 1 Corinthians 7:9; 2 Corinthians 11:29; Ephesians 6:16; Revelation 1:15; and Revelation 3:18.
Isaiah describes Babylon's fall like this:
Isaiah 13:8-10
.. they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain like a woman who travails. They shall be amazed at one another, their faces like flames. Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel and with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land waste; and He shall destroy its sinners out of it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not reflect its light.
Isaiah 13:13
So I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger.
This is all typical of biblical apocalyptic literature, which contains a great amount of simile, metaphor and hyperbole all rolled into one. Isaiah is referring to the intensity of the calamity that would be experienced by the earth's inhabitants (in the case, those who lived in the territories of the great empire of Babylon, which covered all the known world in its day), when the day of the LORD was to come upon Babylon.
Compare the following:
Isaiah 34:4
And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled like a scroll; and all their host shall droop, as a leaf falls off from the vine, and as the falling from the fig tree.
Revelation 16:13-14
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Psalm 75: 3 The earth and all its people are melting away; I hold up its pillars. Selah.
Isaiah 34:8-10
For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, the year to repay for the fighting against Zion. And its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust to brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be put out night or day; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none passes through it forever and forever.
Revelation 14:10-11
And he will be tormented by fire and brimstone before the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, those who worship the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.
2 Thessalonians 1:8-10
in flaming fire [phlóx pŷr] taking vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all those who believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that Day.
2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heaven/s [ouranós] shall [parérchomai] (could be come near, or pass nearby, or be removed) with a great noise, and the [stoicheîon] (the rudiments of this world everywhere else the word is used) shall melt/be dissolved [lýō] with fervent heat, the earth [gē] also, and the works (of men?) that are therein shall [ katakaíō] (be burned up or consumed?).
Does the earth have works? Do rocks have works?
In the Greek text,
verse 12 says simply, "..(the coming of the day of God wherein) ouranós pyróō lýō..":
..heaven by fire dissolving the [rudiments of this world?], melting them with fervent heat?
It's seems far more likely that 2 Peter 3:10-12 should be interpreted in the above way, in my opinion, given the fact of the Bible's apocalyptic or prophetic literature's common use of smile, metaphor and hyperbole,
which Peter would have been all to aware of when he wrote his second epistle.
In my opinion there is no biblical reason to continue to
assume that 2 Peter 3:10-12 is speaking about the burning up of the
chemical elements of the earth and the heavens (rather than the rudiments of this world), because
the context, the meaning of the Greek words, and the simile, metaphor and hyperbole all rolled into one like this is typical of prophetic statements in the Bible.
Peter is quite possibly referring to
the intensity of the calamity that will be experienced by the earth's inhabitants when the day of the Lord comes, and describing it using the same Apocalyptic language that the Bible's prophetic books are saturated with.
And if
facts give you a sense of cognitive dissonance when they interfere with the
"truth" you hold close to your heart, I can't advise you how to respond or to react, though you may react as angrily and full of insults and false accusations as you often do.
For me it's easy because I allow scripture top teach
me what it's saying and what the author means, not the other way around.