I mean read the books in their entirety until you have enough knowledge to interpret these snippets you keep pulling out of context.
Or, putting it another way: Let 20 years of letting priests put your brain on hold with their wordy, preachy, etherial incantations turn your ability to think critically about what you are reading into vague mush--and then you are ready to understand the bible. Thanks, I think I understand your revulsion at trying to understand the declarative sentence, as if it ought to be an attempt to communicate some distinct meaning, from a book that said priests contend is the unimpeachable source of morality. What could I have been thinking?--it's much better to try to understand a declarative sentence by channeling the entire book it occurs in through a crystal ball the priest maintains in his head. Why would anyone want to question such an analytical approach to deciding what one ought to do?
You don't need priests. You get the Bible and you start reading. It wouldn't hurt if you got a good commentary to go with it, because a commentary will point out things that might not be obvious, like where in earlier scripture God said not to do something.