I see a practice that has 4 rotating OBs that I all see, and any one of them can be on-call when I deliver. They each generally say the same thing, but will often say it in different ways, which can be confusing. I think that you need to take the advice from any three of them that you feel most comfortable with because honestly, I don't feel that any of that advice is necessarily wrong.
As far as being induced... labor and delivery is a painful part of the process, no matter whether you are induced or go into labor naturally. I have heard that having contractions via induction are more painful and intense than contractions that occur regularly, but I was induced with DS, so I don't know any different. I do know that it wasn't something that I couldn't live through, and as I was laboring, I actually forgot to even ask for an epidural until they offered it to me to attempt to lower my BP at 5 cm.
There are risks to induction that you should probably discuss with your doctor or your doctor's partner to better understand the process/risks, and please keep in mind that everyone will have a horror story, just as everyone will have a, "Oh, it was a piece of cake!" story. Your experience will be unique to you, and the best you can do at this point is gear yourself up with knowledge and trust that your body is going to do what it needs to do, whether that's with medical assistance or fully on it's own.
As far as attempting to induce labor naturally, I've heard "tried and true" methods are, but not limited to; nipple stimulation, sex [semen apparently softens the cervix], orgasm, raspberry herbal tea [it says something about pregnancy on the outside of the package and is found at health food stores, though I have not tried it in the past], squatting/lunges, squatting/lunges in a pool.... That's all I can think of right now. Hope that helps.