Yes to your last point about such individuals using pseudo-intellectual reasons as a cover for abandoning their faith. According to Paul (Romans) moral rebellion is always the reason!

I agree with you. What matters is not our experience, but the objective truth of God’s existence and the resurrection of Jesus. Either Jesus was who He claimed to be, and rose from the dead in confirmation of those claims, or He is not and didn’t. Everything else is a side issue. What your friend needs to do is spend more time looking at the evidence for theism and Christianity, and the evidence for his own just-so stories. It’s doubtful, however, that he will. In my experience, people who talk like him use pseudo-intellectual reasons as a cover for abandoning their faith. The real reason is their moral rebellion.