Isn't it easier to explain faith to a person who never had it than it is to someone who THOUGHT they had it but didn't?

Yeah. Definetly. Because the people who thought they had it reckoned they knew everything there was to it. And it's hard when they say stuff like "well, I tried God, but He didn't show up for me." Cause it's like...you don't want to insult them, but it sounds like their faith was pretty crap. I don't think anyone who's really on a journey with Jesus could ever leave Him.

"FAITH. No one word personifies the absolute worst and most wicked properties of religion better than that. Faith is mind-rot. It’s the poison that destroys critical thinking, undermines evidence, and leads people into lives dedicated to absurdity. It’s a parasite regarded as a virtue." -- PZ Myers

Everybody operates on faith.

I refer to those who state that they were once believers.

If you are at a place where you are searching for God...He is working with you...and you can find Him.

there is no magical component to your faith........you're just pretending......

How can you think you have it but not have it? How can you be unaware of your own beliefs?