A rising tide lifts all boats
I could take you to a couple that stay put☺ for there are boats that can not float and so the coming and going of the tide for them is of no consequence but boats they are...yes boats they are...they were boats to get to their place and although not afloat they have only one description.
However that observation may suit you☺... so a retort could be " well some boats dont float with a rising tide which reflects their inability to serve their purpose and present as an example of not doing what a boat is designed to do and yet such judgement neglects recognition that they are indeed are or ever were boats...I think I could build a sermon here...But I dont like saying this is like this or that and offer a parrallel that takes another tack ( boat reference) in which we can question if to talk about boats at all is useful given they are not natural being conceived and built by men and merely a product of human invention much the same as God is the product of human invention and yet our boat floats or sinks in evidence of its undeniable reality an observation that is less available when we invent a god.
Perhaps you should talk about fish or perhaps drop parrallels and reference to the subject rather than saying its like this or that...all things are what they are and recognition that most folk do not need comparisions fit to help a child understand ones words would be something wonderful to embrace.
Atheists, et al, also get to chatter freely, and do their (apparently exciting) gig to boot
And that is positive for in times past and still in some parts of the world they are not allowed any input.
Imagine if it is the atheist who is correct in their analysis think of the horrors that a non existent entity has brought to the world.
It would be bad enough if real but to think in reasonable probability all the suffering and all the horror has only been about something that never existed except in the minds of those who accept the invention and reject calls for some little support to the unsupported claims.
I do wish you could be right about there being a god as that would allow me to abdicate personal responsibilty and think that all is in the hands of someone greater than myself...but really who could be greater than oneself ☺ or at least be better placed to determine my personal action and accept responsibility for such outcomes perhaps more than an entity that may not actually care.. well even if we grant it existence it seems not to care.
I think your continued support for your beliefs, although held most private, is admirable in the face of so much that suggests you are the victim of a universal con job perpetrated on many folk I suppose I feel compassion because unlike the catasrophes one sees on tv here I know a little of one of the victims and chatted such that this victim is more than a number.
What I do find curious is your unwavering support for something that you never seem to meaningfuly explain. It seems that you are sure of your position notwithstanding your inability to explain it to others leaving aside if or if not but merely the situation we observe has been capable of observation or at least to content ourselves that such a premise may be so but then perhaps this is not the proper way to approach the matter because as you observe we have failed to define that which we seek to discuss or not discuss as many claim is your position...well not many perhaps only one but no doubt others feel similar even though they have not come forward. Perhaps they have I really dont notice.
No doubt you know things that mere mortals such as myself will never know☺
However the more I think about it the more I find benefit in religion for folk who need an answer and do not need to consider it right or wrong.
Such acceptance without more than acceptance saves actually realising the answer has not solved all that much.
Thank goodness believers never think to ask "well where did God come from" as not making such enquirey leaves them content that all has been explained and answered to their complete satisfaction.
And for you ...you can not accept an eternal universe but seem content with an eternal God coming out of eternity to construct a material yet finite universe and to be both present in eternity and our finite universe with no conflict between the strange propositions that would seem to conflict.
Alex