Some of the information in this is kind of interesting.
I guess the idea is: if you're buying "science," look what it points to. Or might point to.
That is the "big" argument of the YEC faction. If
that is correct, or just widely believed, then the Bible is false!
No, actually, it's not. Disbelief in God's existence (never mind the Creator part) has been attacked for centuries now. The Earth being round and not flat and a geo-centric Earth were attacked as 'anti-Biblical'. They're not.
hengesthorsa said:
As a non-physicist theist, it's hard for me to take a lot from this, though I appreciate the spirit in which it was posted. I mean, just speaking for myself, I haven't ever in my life for one moment studied any of the math that goes into interpreting the observable interstellar universe. I have literally no idea how these people do their work. So I just feel kind of like "well, what do I know?"
What an honest statement! You could read some of the 'popular' books about the Universe - beginning, structure and foreseeable end. Those books also deal with the 'science' (observations and conclusions based on those observations) that form the concepts.
hengesthorsa said:
Apart from that...well, I don't know. Science is always limited.
Yes, it is. And 'science' - which takes in a wide range of things - has NEVER claimed otherwise. Yes, there are some witlings who claim they have the ultimate secret to the Universe, or anti-matter or how women think; they are the opposite numbers of those who name a date for the Second Coming and both groups are worthy the same amount of time.
hengesthorsa said:
So they're not sure what to say about the pre-singularity state of things.
That is correct. They are not sure what to say and they admit it without reservation.
hengesthorsa said:
Maybe they're just not up to it yet.
More or less. No one has any real information about 'before' the expansion started.
The YEC faction has a similar limited approach, but pretend they have all the answers. The claim is "God did it!" and point to a very superficial view of the first two chapters of Genesis. That approach really doesn't explain anything. And it leaves all sorts of open questions like "Why did God create the Universe" and other questions of interpretation and understanding.
hengesthorsa said:
Why imagine that this "points to" a supernatural creator when I could just guess that it points to...present limitations of speculation about the origin of the observable universe?
I think the only answer to your initial question here is the 'Cosmic Egg' concept and the abrupt beginning recorded in Genesis is very similar. It all "started" at once.
In fact, Fred Hoyle (later, Sir Fred) was so exercised about the Cosmic Egg theory - because in his words, it was so similar to the Biblical account - Hoyle came up with the "Steady State" theory to counter the overly religious version and made up the derogatory "Big Bang" phrase.
However, I think you have a point. The science of Cosmology cannot simply 'make up' an explanation for an event with no information known. The initial expansion (improperly but popularly referred to as an 'explosion') cannot be explained now. Possibly never will.
As a Christian, I have no doubt God is the thinker, designer, architect, construction crew and maintenance team for the entire Universe. So in a nutshell, God created the whole shebang from nothing.
I don't think anyone was holding a stopwatch on Him while He did it.