I was a heavy Vim user for about 4 years, and also did not understand Emacs though I tried it from time to time. The thing that changed my mind was using Org mode, and sticking with it for about two weeks. Once I felt comfortable in elisp and writing my own config, Emacs began to feel like a development environment that I had total control over. Everything that I bring from my life into Emacs -- task management, email, programming -- I now feel free to do them how I would like to do them. (Also, Org mode is great.)

edit: And there's nothing wrong with key bindings being 30 years old, Vim for instance has an incredibly efficient interface. Also, I find knowing basic emacs bindings quite useful around the OS X interface (many of them work).