Annihilation

In 1868, Mill argued in the British Parliament that life imprisonment was 'less severe indeed in appearance, and therefore less efficacious, but far more cruel in reality' than capital punishment. This got me thinking about the philosophy and theology of eternal punishment.

from http://thinkingsoldier.blogspot.com/2010/03/philosophy-and-theology-of-eternal.html
He posts further thoughts and some quotes in another post
http://thinkingsoldier.blogspot.com/2010/08/case-for-annihilationism.html
including this one from Stott:

I [Stott] am hesitant to have written these things [about annihilationism], partly because I have a great respect for longstanding tradition which claims to be a true interpretation of Scripture, and do not lightly set it aside, and partly because the unity of the worldwide evangelical constituency has always meant much to me. But the issue is too important to suppress, and I am grateful to you [Edwards] for challenging me to declare my present mind.

I do not dogmatise about the position to which I have come. I hold it tentatively. But I do plead for frank dialogue among evangelicals on the basis of Scripture. I also believe that the ultimate annihilation of the wicked should at least be accepted as a legitimate, biblically founded alternative to their eternal conscious torment.

- David L. Edwards and John Stott,Evangelical Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue

It is encouraging that many are considering the issues of annihilation and conditional immortality.