I don’t think there’s any good reason to avoid the Old Testament, but there may be good reasons to recommend a new reader start in the New.

Jesus being God-with-us showed an accessible and human face of God; He is our prime example of how to be. When we see Him, we see the Father. There’s a quote I love that echoes this John 14:9 truth (though it’s not from the Bible) that says, “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Christ.” It can make confusing OT passages more understandable to have Christ to refer to when trying to understand the mind of God.

Other reasons to start a new reader in the NT are that it’s shorter and more engaging, like nostr:npub1jrx2fk666k5nt8vgak9xwyxlgcwh8fl9rvpwvvcpdthuqkcnptrqdfhtaq said. Unless a new reader is very dedicated, there’s a lot of “why am I reading this? Why does it matter?” to wade through in the OT. Like I said above, I think familiarity with the NT and with Jesus specifically can fuel the desire to understand the OT.

Jesus’ story is the fulcrum point of creation and understanding it is vitally important, but it can’t be fully understood without Old Testament study.