"The Hell," you say? The John R. W. Stott that few people knew . . .

John R. W. Stott on Hell

“I question whether ‘eternal conscious torment’ is compatible with the biblical revelation of divine justice, unless perhaps the impenitence of the lost also continues throughout eternity,” Stott was quoted as saying in David Edwards’ book, Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue, in 1988.

Quoting Revelation 14:11, which reads:

“And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever,” Stott went on to argue, “The fire itself is termed ‘eternal’ and ‘unquenchable’, but it would be very odd if what is thrown into it proves indestructible. Our expectation would be the opposite: it would be consumed forever, not tormented forever. Hence it is the smoke (evidence that the fire has done its work) which ‘rises for ever and ever.’”

The ultimate annihilation of the wicked, Stott added,

“[S]hould at least be accepted as a legitimate, biblically founded alternative to their eternal conscious torment.” However, he acknowledged that his opinion of hell was not based on his emotions alone.

Stott said around five years later, according to his authorized biographer Timothy Dudley-Smith.

“Emotionally, I find the concept [of eternal conscious torment] intolerable and do not understand how people can live with it without either cauterizing their feelings or cracking under the strain. But our emotions are a fluctuating, unreliable guide to truth and must not be exalted to the place of supreme authority in determining it... my question must be—and is—not what does my heart tell me, but what does God’s word say?”