That is definitely what I mostly see, stagnation and ignorance. I am pleased to hear that you have been open and searching enough to change your position. It is difficult, I have been there. I especially congratulate you on converting to eternal annihilation. In many "conservative" churches you would not be allowed to be a member, and may not even be welcome for believing that one. Changing a belief based on deep personal bible study to something that poses a social risk is even more commendable.
You said: There are so many things we think we “know” about God and His word but, in reality, we’ve never really studied them all that hard.
Based on that statement I'll recommend something to you that I have been wanting to do with someone. First though, let me give you some reason/context.
You mention "this world is satan's for now". That concept is claimed to be taught by the verses I mentioned earlier, even though they dont teach it. It obviously depends on two things. What is satan and what is world.
World in many of these type of uses is not at all talking about the orb we call earth. It is kosmos, the current order of things. The bigger picture is VERY important here. There are two systems or kingdoms if you will. Christ's/Gods, and an earthly succesion of kingdoms which God raised up to put his people in subjection for seven times because of their sin. These kingdoms are amply discussed in Daniel and Revelation and revealed in history.
The earth, as in the planet is God's; every square inch. He has declared its purpose, some of which I quoted earlier. But the beastly succesion of world kingdoms, believers have been in, but not of.
So my challenge or recommendation to you is to test for yourself the one part of your statement doing a topic study. Write for yourself seven to ten things you know about Satan without looking at any scripture. I expect the list would contain the typical teachings. Then, you examine scripture and PROVE to yourself that these are actually true. Don't just look to validate what you believe. Examine each passage, consider views which disagee with what you have been taught and see if you can support what you "know". Remember to look at the passages which use the same Hebrew word sawtawn but are not translated as satan.
Among other things you may be surpised to learn that satan is: an angel of the Lord, the LORD, and many named human men. Particularly interesting is Rev 12. Many will cursorily reference this to teach things about satan. Yet since neither they nor their listeners have any idea of what Rev. 12 is talking about, they really are making nonsensical arguments.
Let me get back more to the original prophetic stuff. I think Daniel 2 makes this so simple, when one doesn't try to pervert the natural reading with a parenthetical church age.
Virtually everyone agrees on the 4 successive earthly kingdoms, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Rome is in existence when the 4th kingdom appears, grows and smashes the 2520 year(seven times) dynasty of beastly empires. Several key stages of the destruction of Babylon have ALREADY taken place. The empire that struck the image on the feet already exists, and history clearly indicates who it was that accomplished this. Only historical ignorance, biblical ignorance and willful blindness prevent the truth from being accepted universally.
Write for yourself seven to ten things you know about Satan without looking at any scripture.
Interesting. I’ll take the challenge.
BTW, one thing that has amplified a lot of this for me is augmenting my study with simply listening to the NT on my 2.5 hour round trip commute every day. Just as I love reading Ecclesiastes in a single sitting, getting such large chunks in such a short time allows me to mentally link back to what I just heard an hour ago and other mental note taking. It’s an interesting experience.