[Zorobabel]

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I suppose by "vacumn" you mean a "void" of non-existence out of which this mathematical singularity arose, since even a vacumn is a some-thing, and this void is a no-thing. So many of these concepts are counter-intuitive and hard to imagine. Something springing from nothing does seem as impossible as infinite turtles. So perhaps, "In the beginning God.... " is just as apt a way of explaining "it" to a layman as any.

[PatrickHenry]

So many of these concepts are counter-intuitive and hard to imagine. Something springing from nothing does seem as impossible as infinite turtles.

Indeed, the concepts are difficult when first encountered.

So perhaps, "In the beginning God.... " is just as apt a way of explaining "it" to a layman as any.

I would suggest that it's the very worst way of explaining it. There are several reasons why:

1. It's not an explanation at all; it's the declaration that it's in inexplicable miracle.
2. When a physical event is declared to be a miracle, it is culturally closed off from all rational inquiry.
3. That sets up an unnecessary conflict between religion and science, which isn't good for either.
4. By linking one's religion so closely to fairy tales about natural events, it is inevitable that one's religion will look silly as science makes progress. Society needs the ethical benefits religion, but these benefits are few when religion is subject to ridicule.