However, experts who I trust have read them and I trust their scholarly conclusions.

I do not have the scholarly background to come to any valid conclusion on the authenticity of these works on my own. Even if I did read them, all I could do would be to give a layman's opinion on whether they are consistent or inconsistent with the canon. I would not be able to give a "learned" opinion on subtle discrepancies, nor would I be able to make any statement on their claims of historical accuracy based on the work's provenance and what was going on in history in the first 2-300 years of the Christian Church.

Experts who study such matters have weighed in on the issue many times over the last 17 centuries. By and large they have rejected attempts to include the gnostic works into the canon. Until I enroll in seminary and gain the expertise to form my own learned opinion, or enough experts stand up and say "woah, it's time to rethink this," I'm not going to give it much thought. If you want ME to invest the time and energy needed to change my mind, get enough experts on your side first. You don't have to have the majority opinion among scholars to get my attention, but you do have to have a significant minority. You aren't there yet.