The final judgment is one of those doctrines that were often tempted to ignore or downplay.

Even for those of us who love the Bible and affirm it as God's an errant word,

it can be hard to read those passages that speak about hell and the ultimate destiny of those who

reject Jesus in this life.

And yet the final judgment is a critically important doctrine, without which the gospel is

threatened. Only by coming face to face with the devastating consequences of our sin can we

truly come to appreciate the wonder, the glory of God's grace.

My guest today is Tom Shriner, and in our conversation we discuss what the Bible really

teaches about hell and why it's worth thinking about, even though it's hard.

Tom serves as the James Buchanan Harrison, professor of New Testament interpretation, and associate dean of the

School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

His new book is called The Justice and Goodness of God, a biblical case for the final judgment

from Crossway.

Let's get started.

Well, Tom, thanks so much for joining me again on the Crossway podcast.

That's great to be here again, Matt.

So you open your new book with a good question.

You write, why would anyone even want to write on the final judgment?

So let me ask a similar question. Why would anyone

want to listen to a conversation about the final judgment? Yeah, I think I would argue that

we need to say that apart from judgment, life doesn't really make sense. It's like, I mean,

we could use illustrations. It's like trying to play

...