On the other hand, who knows how many times an embryonic “Big Bangs” occurred (with each collapsing back onto itself) before yielding the one that produced our universe?
Even with a Creator, one can ask: What created the Creator?
Well, not really.
A creator of the universe and all creation stands outside His creation and outside time.
Who created the Creator? This assumes that the Creator was created. The Creator who created time, space and matter had to exist outside of time, space and matter.
Valid question but this is not Greek mythology.
Exodus 3:14: And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
“On the other hand, who knows how many times an embryonic “Big Bangs” occurred (with each collapsing back onto itself) before yielding the one that produced our universe?”
The universe existed before the big bang in the form of a plasma.