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So what became of the people of the first 1800 years of Christianity. The ones that rightly believed scripture is allegory?
God makes this decision. Not you. Not me.
You betray your bias by stating that Scripture (presumably all Scripture) is allegory. While Philo (c. 25 B.C - c. A.D 50) adopted an allegorical method of interpreting the Scriptures, it wasn't until Origen (A.D. 185- 253) who had been influenced by Philo that a formal theory of allegorical interpretation of the Scriptures was developed at the school of Alexandria. Later, Augustine was, according to F. W. Farrar, one of the first to make scripture conform to the interpretation of the church (History of Interpretation, pp. 236-37, as noted in 'Things to Come', J. Dwight Pentecost, p. 23). While there were those in the first century who practiced the allegorical method of interpretation, literalism was the accepted method at that time.
While the Bible does contain some allegory as well as other forms of symbolic language, it is a gross error to commit to wholesale allegorization of the Scriptures. A good rule of thumb is that when the plain sense reading of Scripture makes sense, seek no other sense. Accept as literal that which is obviously literal and as allegorical or some other kind of symbolism that which warrants being interpreted as such.
One of the dangers of the allegorical method of interpretation is stated as follows;
Thus, the great dangers inherent in this system are that it takes away the authority of Scripture, leaves us without any basis on which interpretations may be tested, reduced Scripture to what seems reasonable to the interpreter, and, as a result, makes true interpretation of Scripture impossible. [Things to Come, p. 6]
When a person chooses to take everything in the Bible as allegory then he can make it mean anything he wants it to mean without regard for the meaning that the writer of Scripture intended to convey. And what is important is what the writer of Scripture intended to be understood.
You are quite right that God makes the decision. However, God has revealed in the Scriptures through the human writers of the Bible, the fact that the believer in Christ Jesus goes to heaven when he dies. Scripture has previously been shown in prior posts.
"The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament proclaim the works of His hand."
"No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the son of man."
"Not everyone who cries to me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but only those who do the will of my heavenly Father."
The one who comes from above is above all. He who is of the world thinks like the world and speaks in a worldly way but the One who comes from heaven, he testifies to what he has seen and heard but nobody believes him. If anyone does believe they render the truth of God. For the one who is sent by God he speaks the words of God. His gift of the spirit is not rationed.
Jesus used ' knowable ' terms. Such as: sleep in death - John 11:11-14
' sleep in death ' is what the old Hebrew Scriptures explain - Ecclesiastes 9:5; Psalms 115:17; 146:4
Jesus believed ' sleep in death ' was worth knowing so we would know there is only sleep in death.
No postmortem penalty as the false clergy teach.
When the KJV Bible was translated into English the word Gehenna became hellfire.
Gehenna was simply a garbage pit where things were destroyed and Not kept burning forever.
So, Gehenna is a good symbol for ' everlasting destruction ' such as in the wicked being destroyed forever - Psalm 92:7
"Dying in your sin" is a spiritual transformation which occurs when a person is born-again in Christ. You become a New creature. The old creature who dwelt in Hell is no more. His torment is burned away for all eternity.
Jesus said Heaven is like unto a man casting net into the sea and when he has drawn it out begins to divide the good from the bad the useful from the useless.
Matthew 7;21,22, 23 13;47,-49, 21;19-
John 3; 4, 5, 6, -16,17,18 John 14; -15;
God has an intolerance to non productivity, and fraud .
The productivity God expects is obedience.
Jesus made this possible, providing the Holy Spirit to teach and guide in God's will in His place.
This is the message I live, and share, as told .
This life is an under writers lab test ,to divide out those that fit God's specifications .
My hearts desire is to obey God and earn His trust for responsibilities on an eternal basis. (not just this life)
God required man to work for a reason.
Because eternity is not sitting on you butt an doin nuthin .
You should probably re-read what I actually wrote.
They need to quit taking scripture out of context, the immediate and larger context and ... giving meaning to words that are wrong.
Paul said:
2 Cor. 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
He did not say that would be instantaneous, he said he preferred it. He knew that 1st resurrection was a later event and even Jesus confirmed that when he raised Lazarus and he would know.
John 11:23-25 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Jesus agreed he did not contradict her.
Paul knew:
.Acts 24:15 15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
NIV Acts 24:15 and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
It was a future event as he also said:
KJV 1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a (1 )shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
The dead are ... dead/asleep and are not aware of anything. If they died 3000 years ago, 2000, 1000, 500 it makes no difference to them as they are asleep and do not know of the passing of time. When resurrected it will be like no time passed.
People believe their teachers not what the Bible actually teaches.
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Pretty obvious for those who believe and trust the God revealed in scripture 
