Let me ask you - how easy do you find reading a Shakespearean play or poetry by Chauser or Spencer? They all wrote in English only a few centuries ago and had a similar mindset to our own. The Bible was written over a period of more than a thousand years starting around six or seven thousand years ago … in a completely different language, culture and mindset from our own. It covers so many different kinds of literature quite foreign to ours. Cut yourself some slack! It must be the hardest book of any by far. It takes scholars years of study to understand properly after they've learned ancient Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin and the intricacies of history. To say you need a trusted guide is an understatement. There's a widespread but mistaken belief that just anyone can pick up any modern translation and read it like it was written yesterday. Sure, parts of it seem easy, but others parts apparently contradict. It has to be taken as a whole in light of the history of the time. In fact it's not a book at all but a library of books many written thousands of years apart in vastly different styles for different purposes. There are literally thousands of protestant denominations each with their own take on what parts of it mean. Jesus founded one church made up of human beings to communicate and interpret his message faithfully to every generation. The Bible is one of its early documents but not intended as the only, or even as the primary way of communicating. People have a hard enough time understanding the US Constitution and how it should best be interpreted - specialized lawyers argue about it. And that was written only a few years ago. But individual Americans don't often read it - they rely on experts and courts to convey its intention (or Hollywood!) - and still some disagree. The universal church has many experts, theologians and biblical scholars, whose job it is to interpret and teach it faithfully - as Jesus intended. Seek guidance. There is a book that is much easier that summarizes everything you need to know, another document of the same church that brought you the Bible. I recommend it: The Catechism (700 pages). Another shorter one I recommend is The Teaching of the Catholic Church: A New Catechism of Christian Doctrine (82 pages).
