Critical thinking...or the lack thereof

[tonechaser77]

I don't think a frontal assault very often deconverts anyone.  From personal experience with the deconverted and from reading those who have ceased to believe, there are three ways people rise out of faith: either they have naturally inquiring minds and get there all on their own; or they are asked why they believe and left to mull over the inadequacy of the answer in peace; or they begin reading debates between the faithful and the skeptical and reach their own conclusion. 

This is such a key point Jenny! For me it was actually a slight combination of both. I started questioning the impetus of my set of beliefs but in an extremely low key, even back burner type of way if you will. The questions were the lurking trolls in my brain. However, that coupled with someone taking a more Socratic method of questioning me in a very non-combative way, allowed me to push forward and start questioning further. I can also attribute my general sense of curiosity and analytical mind that had been smothered since childhood from my abysmal indoctrination as a variable that finally stood up and said, WTF do you believe and why? You have been on autopilot for years. This was essentially the genesis for me. But also, I will admit, I had a strong desire to know what I believed so that I could prove it in times of testing so when I started studying years ago my goal was to strengthen my knowledge in early bible history, biblical criticism, philosophy and ancient world history. Little did I know what was in store for me. Instead of finding an order of systematic lucid reasoning, I found the exact opposite.