How Do Muslims Understand and Apply Quranic Verses?

As-salamu alaykum! I hope this doesn’t come off as rude-I’m genuinely trying to learn. I’m not Muslim, so I’m not super familiar with the Quran, but I’m curious about some verses. Like, one says there’s no forcing in religion (2:256), so I get that people shouldn’t be pushed into Islam. But then there’s a verse about dealing with polytheists after sacred months (9:5) that sounds harsh unless they change their ways. And I’m also thinking of Jews and Christians-not sure if they’re included. Plus, some verses talk about fighting enemies of Islam, and others say live peacefully. I wonder if most Muslims today would actually act on these, especially the harsh ones. The Muslims I know are some of the kindest people, and I can’t picture them doing anything like that. I’m not criticizing, just trying to understand how it works. JazakAllah khair for any insights!