In the Beginning

Genesis 1 - New King James Version (NKJV) The History of Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was[a] on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Reference: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=NKJV https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2016/02/19/11/53/book-1210029_960_720.jpg

Open minded?

I'm interested in exploring the ideas of religion and opening my mind to the possibility. I must admit that I am an atheist who love documentaries on the topic of religion and science. I would like to explain that I was brought up without any pressure to believe any sort of way and that I was responsible to believe what I deemed right. I have been attending church quite regularly and have learnt the order of mass quite well. I have acquired the new testament, catholic books for atheists and anything I could get my hands on the try and understand the viewpoint to the best of my ability. https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2015/04/04/17/17/bible-706662_960_720.jpg The reason I've indulged in this task was I always considered myself very open minded and inquisitive to science, psychology and loved understanding why people do the things they do. I always believe there are reasons for things and any unknown is just around the corner, waiting to be explained in a logical manner, as all advancements have be either found by mistake or intended but eventually we grasp how nature works. This way that of thinking totally goes against my understanding of faith and religion and each time I tried to understand I would have more and more questions, which I would always be told is good but I never reached a place of better understanding, and feel underwhelmed and just stop trying. I find the act of faith puzzling to say you know truth when it clearly by my best definition a hope or best intention. I would like to ask if any users have certain views any approached that I may find useful, as currently I find it near impossible to just believe or have personal experience, which I've heard been used as the reasons why believers I've spoken to profess their following so much in knowing its true.

How reliable is ones personal experience in building knowledge?

My brain tells me its not that reliable until there is a general opinion that can't be argued against or at best is open to scrutiny to check how valid the claim is. I simply believe I am a healthy skeptic, as I don't want to spend my life on something that was false, but I believe I owe it to myself to open up to various claims to avoid staying pessimistic to the world.

Good bits

I like the community of church but deep inside I dislike the feeling of saying I believe/know truth without good enough reasons. I Would like both religious and the non religious to talk about any of their personal experience and anything they believe is good information to build upon or answer questions I may have. Many thanks for reading this! I'm looking forward to any comments or questions.