If you want to climb a mountain, you would not simply start walking down up a trail. No, before you scale Mount Everest, it might be a good idea to sit down and get a bird’s eye view of the mountain, see where it is steep and where it requires more attention. You may also try to look at pictures of the peak, so you know what to expect.

Bible study is hard work. Reading and understanding a 2000-year-old document is hard enough as it is. But motivating our minds to study the Bible is half the battle. It may just be the hardest part of Bible study. Despite this, if you overcome all the distractions and lack of motivation, would you open it to the Old Testament? To the Prophets? To Isaiah?

Few genres of Scripture cause more confusion in the church today than the Law. Perhaps one could reasonably argue that the book of Revelation outdoes the Law in crossing the Christian’s eyes, but beyond that, there isn’t much debate here. We’re left asking, “What is the role of the Old Testament Law in the life of the Church?” or “How in the world do we interpret passages from books like Deuteronomy or Leviticus?”

A Twitter poll on my page once asked a simple question about tithing. After well over 1,000 votes (with 17 hours still left in the poll) the results were both encouraging and concerning. It seems that the modern church is still not clear on tithing.