I'm trying to figure out how to erase something...hard to explain...let's say you make a circle with no fill and an outline only...then you have 3 lines going through the circle, but you don't want the lines showing inside of the circle outline...how would you do that?

Not with the Eraser tool.

If I understand what you're asking, here's how I would do it.

1 -- Draw the circle
2 -- Draw a long skinny rectangle, which will be used to create one of the missing lines.
3 -- Duplicate and move it downwards
4 -- Repeat
5 -- Select the circle and the top rectangle
6 -- Path menu > Cut Path

Before you deselect the results, notice on the canvas that there are 4 parts to the circle now. And notice where the 2 pieces are, which will need to be deleted.

7 -- Deselect everything
8 -- Select each piece and delete
9 -- Repeat 5 through 8 until finished

Maybe this?

Exactly that Tyler! Thanks for the help!