Dave wrote; "I'm not sure if I'm less confused (Which I guess means I
am still confused)."
Confused at one level but clear on a more basic level, seems to be the
most reasonable goal, at least for me.
To be a good moral life according to Buddhist principles, all the
essential texts have already been translated very accurately and
poetically into English by experts. IMHO The children's versions of
Jatakas actually make them the clearest.
But once one starts to delve into the Tipitaka, especially in Pali,
things start to get a lot more complicated. Ideas are repeated in
different sections, sometimes in subtly different ways, like the
"Seven Ways to Avoid Decline" (Aparihaniya) which stress group
solidarity in communities and the Sangha. They are set forth in two
different ways in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta and then summarised in
numerical form in the Anguttara Nikaya.
In fact, the Anguttara Nikaya by putting things in easy to digest
lists seems like it was specifically geared to reducing confusion.
Hope I haven't made things worse, but the Tipitaka is so big that some
confusion seems natural. Thanks for the list of questions you
presented. I started making a similar one for all the possible
meanings of the locative case.