Welcome and thanks for commenting. I had a couple of comments on your comments:
1) Yeah, I agree, there is a real danger of playing the devil’s advocate. For me I don’t think I hold Christianity to a hyper-skepticism. I think it tends to clash more with my skepticism because it involves the supernatural which itself is outside of analytical investigation. So it naturally is hard to distinguish it from other supernatural claims. You bring up a good point that I keep meaning to post on, and that is pride in skeptical thinking. Recently I’ve been more convicted of this.

2) (My devil’s advocate coming out.) Sure if one spends more time trying to believe and meditate on something one is more susceptible of becoming brain washed into believing. I also think Christianity closely aligns with human nature, so that “ring of truth” is because the authors were better at analyzing and addressing human nature.

(Putting the devil advocate away.) I’ve found going through the NT to be more beneficial for me. The stuff in the OT right now is too much of a stumbling block for me. I keep reading and praying because I want to stay open minded, I want to believe, I want there to be something more to this life. Also the “ring of truth” could just be that a ring of truth. Just like with science, I should be surprised if data fits into a well form model. And the more data that fits in that model, the more confidence in that model one can have. So can I have more confidence in Christianity, because it fits more of life’s data? Possibly. . .

3) See comment above about the practicality of Christianity. Was there a book that described this journey of Francis Schaeffer?

I too, wish you the very best in your journey. I hope that one day in eternity future, we’ll be able to sit back and marvel on God’s grace in this struggle of doubt.

I’ll share a couple things that have helped me in my own journey. 1) I’ve studied personalities and the way analytical personalities are inclined think, and it’s made me realize that part of my problem may be a hyper-skepticism. I hold the evidences of Xianity to a higher standard than I do other truths. I tend to play “devils advocate” in my head with the truth claims of Christianity. If you’ve never done it, take one of the simple “true colors” personality tests on the internet and see if it doesn’t describe you as well as it did me. There is a negative side to my “green” personality that causes me to take pride in my analysis and often think of other less skeptical thinkers as incompetent. Moreover, I can get bogged down in the analysis and avoid making a decision for long periods of time (years).

2) I find that I’m most skeptical of scripture when I’m not “in it” in a meditative sort of way. When I spend quality time in the Word, it seems to permeate my thought processes and I find scripture to, once again, have the “ring of truth”.

3) I was intrigued to learn that Francis Schaeffer (of L’abri) had a crisis of faith in his later years. He put everything on hold and analyzed the truth claims of scripture once again. He re-examined the way (as you note in your comment) that Christianity really does seem to explain the world around us, and the teachings of Christ REALLY do seem to work in the world (if practiced). Schaeffer decided that the truth claims stand up to scrutiny and Christianity (both philosophically and practically) really works in this world better than any other system. He renewed his personal faith and continued on in his ministry. He called this analysis his “gothic arch of faith”. I found it helpful to read about this period of doubt in his life.

I wish you peace and success in your search. I’ll continue to follow your progress as I continue in my own journey.