personally i'd say that reading the new testament from the beginning and reading jesus's parables make for easier reading if you've just started to read the bible. ^^;

Yes, Jesus focuses a lot less on smiting than the Old Testament does. He's more for forgiveness and stuff.

Which is why you should read the Old Testament first, to at least get the context sorted out.

You know, if there was more smiting, the world would be a better place. Things went a lot smoother when there was smiting.

Yes yes! Smite away God!
Well I havn't really read the bible in years, but I would probably start out with the old testiment myself. Though I've always wondered why christians still follow the old testament at all if the old regimine is supposed to have come to pass with the birth of christ.

Read Left Behind. It will give you SOME idea, but be sure to take it with a HUGE gran of salt.

I'd suggest the Book of Daniel, the Gospels, the letters of the Apostle Paul, and then Revelation...they all tie in together...I had a bunch of verses written down but I lost it...pooh...

Isaiah's a good book to read if your interested in the prophecies concerning the death of Jesus.

Hosea's also a good book to read. It helps to illustrate the love that God has for His children.

The old testament has a lot of family trees listed inside the stories, and is a bit harder to keep with, i suggest starting there though, just to keep all the information in tact.

Certainly, the Gospels are a good place to start. Genesis/Exodus, aside from the family trees, aren't too bad for providing some early context, and Isaiah is a good one for a lot of the Judaeo-Christian prophesies referenced in the Gospels implicitly. Later prophets, such as Malachi, Daniel, Micah etc. are also good for providing some sense of the context Jesus was preaching in. I'd leave Acts, Paul's letters and Revelations for later, to be honest, as they provide less context for the heart of the faith, in my opinion.

However, having a reasonable understanding of the cultural and theological thinking of the time is generally important for a lot of the messages in the Bible, so I'd recommend finding someone who's willing to cover those angles, or a suitably annotated copy of the Bible. As for your main concern over Revelations, it's probably the hardest book to really understand, since it's referring in a poetic manner to events which are (at least mostly) yet to happen. As such, there are several different ideas as to what the specifics really mean...

Not only read it, watch the video. I watched one of the videos. It's pretty awesome.

A lot of people have done commentaries on the End Times. As a default research tool I'd recommend Google, but for more interactivity I would suggest asking someone from your church, a youth pastor or something similar.

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As for your main concern over Revelations, it's probably the hardest book to really understand, since it's referring in a poetic manner to events which are (at least mostly) yet to happen.

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Very true, but it's a good read nonetheless. All the symbolism is incredible especially the verses concerning the Apollyon locusts.

The Book of Revelation was written to encourage and correct. The prophetic portions are interesting reading, but until you understand the Gospels, Revelation won't make much sense at all.

So read the Gospels. Then Romans, Hebrews, and Galations. The bulk of Protestant Christian doctrine comes from those seven books.

The Old Testament is great reading, but if Revelation is giving you trouble stick with the NT for the time being.

Keep reading, and ask all the questions you want.

Jimro