But your decision to believe all of the above, is your private judgment telling you what you believe, is it not? If not, did someone else decide for you? You have no volition? You exercised no judgment whatsoever in becoming Catholic? Extraordinary!
How I converted? I was baptized as an infant into the Russian Orthodox Church; I grew up in an environment interested and sympathetic to Christianity (despite the official hostility to it in the USSR). I however, did not practice my faith and did not study it in depth. When I immigrated I discovered a Catholic Church across the park from where I lived, in Portland, Maine -- the Sacred Heart. I loved coming to Mass. I was especially impressed by how people received the Holy Community: they were not overly reverent, surely not externally so, but they came purposefully, and having eaten they looked like their purpose was accomplished. Not thinking much, I went for it myself. That began to speak to me, but I could not understand clearly what it was. After a year I asked to be converted formally, received some catechism and next Easter I became Catholic. The deeper theological knowledge and the ability to defend the Faith came along later. Peace of Christ and the presence of Christ was the first attraction. I never doubted I was in the Church where God was.
My wife, by the way, was at the time not yet my wife, -- and she was practicing Protestant. I was very curious of the Protestant religion because I expected it to be THE America's religion, and visited with her gladly. But the house was empty; the interest faded away as I listened to a variety of sermons and did not see any point being there, rather than to spend time with Ann. Naturally, she converted to Catholicism as well, -- it took her over ten years of frustration in Protestant houses of worship to do so, but I did not want to pressure her. She now wishes I were more forceful.
So yeah, in that sense, it was the experience of faith first for both of us, and that gave me the desire to know Christ's gospel. But there are many stories of conversion from reason as well. Marcus Grodi, himself a former Presbyterian minister, runs an organization helping converts, chiefly from Protestantism, and their stories tend to begin as intellectual conversions, from reason and scripture. I think the latter is to be expected from the Protestant mentality.
The RC case is one in which,
1.. The Catholic makes a fallible human decision to render implicit assent of faith to an infallible magisterium.
2. As Rome cannot be wrong when she assuredly says she is right, Scripture history and tradition, only what she says they mean is authoritative and correct, and thus Scripture history and tradition must support her.
3. Appeal is thus made to Scripture history and tradition as supporting Rome as being the one true infallible church. Having promises of Divine guidance and presence necessitates infallible magisterium.
perpetual infallible magisterium. Historical descent as the steward of Scripture verifies she is this infallible magisterium.
4. This is held as needed as fallible human reasoning cannot provide assurance of Truth. Which explains away your rejection of the RC argument on the basis of evidence.
By such reasoning the church itself is rendered invalid, as this was not the basis upon which the NT began.