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Well... it's also a theory for those who don't take the Bible very seriously:

"And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If any one worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also shall drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." (Revelation 14:9-11)

Then he will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' [46] And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:45-46)

Not to sound snarky, but: who should you believe? Modernist theologians, or some mere itinerant preacher in 1st century Palestine Who happened to be God?

Remember, the bible was not written in English, and Revelation is a book of symbolism.

You are ignoring many, MANY scriptures that juxtapose the fate of the saved as eternal life and the fate of the unsaved as its opposite - death, destruction, perish, etc.

And frankly, the message of the destruction of the lost fits more with the personality of God. Even in the OT, his punishment was to wipe out entire nations. Even Sodom was not tortured, but annihilated.

God’s past and current dealing with those that are not His involves two courses:
1. Turn them to Him
2. Get rid of them.