The Campaign to Eliminate Hell - A new generation of evangelical scholars are challenging the idea that sinners are doomed to eternal torment—but traditionalists are pushing back

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Underlying these statistics is a conundrum that continues to tug at the conscience of some Christians, who find it difficult to reconcile the existence of a just, loving God with a doctrine that dooms billions of people to eternal punishment.

While religious philosophers have argued over the true nature of hell since the earliest days of Christianity, the debate has become especially pronounced in recent decades among the millions of Americans who identify themselves as evangelicals.

"What if the muting of hell is due neither to emotional weakness nor loss of Gospel commitment?" writes Edward Fudge, whose 1982 book, The Fire That Consumes, is widely regarded as the scholarly work that jump-started the current debate.

"My prediction is that, even within conservative evangelical circles, the annihilation view of hell will be the dominant view in 10 or 15 years," says Preston Sprinkle, who co-authored the book Erasing Hell, which, in 2011, debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list.

"I tend to be more favorable toward the metaphors that talk about hell as the absence of a love of God and that would be a miserable existence."

From ancient Greece to the birth of Christianity, to medieval Europe and modern America, visit real locations believed to be portals to the underworld and witness a hair-raising vision of hell come to life.

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