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Lee Smolin avoids the fact of a beginning.

And do most people that believe in a god.

So, did God have a beginning? If you say "no" then why do you think the universe had to have one?

Because of entropy.

So, did God have a beginning? If you say "no" then why do you think the universe had to have one?

The most widely accepted cosmological theory predicts that the universe did, indeed have a beginning. And that is not for lack of trying to find a model that said otherwise.

When the universe came in to being, it wasn't a bunch of matter and energy spewing forth into space and time. It was matter and energy AND space AND time, which came into being simultaneously. None of that existed before the beginning of the universe.

The question of if God had a beginning is meaningless. Pretty neat that they got all of that right in the Bible, a few thousand years ago, huh? (course, they had help)

Thank you so much for your reply and your question!

So, did God have a beginning? If you say "no" then why do you think the universe had to have one?

Actually, I have meditated on this subject rather extensively and wrote the article on this link.

There is a specific heading "Did God have a beginning?" but the information preceding it is important to "building up" to the answer in my musings.

So, did God have a beginning? If you say "no" then why do you think the universe had to have one?

No.

Material things were created by God as He has revealed in the Bible. Science evidently concurs.

I have finished reading "The Case for a Creator" 2004 by Lee Strobel. He covers the fact that most scientists see a transcendent cause for the origin of the Universe. "Not everything has a cause, but whatever begins to exist has a cause."

One scientist he interviews says that "there cannot be a scientific explanation of the first state of the universe. Since it's the first state, it simply cannot be explained in terms of earlier initial conditions and the natural laws leading up to it. So if there is an explanation of the first state of the universe, it has to be a personal explanation--that is, an agent who has volition to create it. That would be the first reason that the cause of the universe must be personal....a second reason is that because the cause of the universe trancends time and space, it cannot be a physical reality. Instead, it must be nonphysical or immaterial...only two types of things can be timeless and immaterial. One would be abstract objects, like numbers or mathematical entities. However, abstract objects can't cause anything to happen. The second kind of immaterial reality would be a mind. A mind can be a cause, and so it make sense that the universe is the product of an unembodied mind that brought it into existence.

"How do you explain, then, the origin of a finite universe from a timeless cause? I can only think of one explanation: that the cause of the universe is a personal agent who has freedom of will. He can create a new effect without any antecedent determining conditions. he could decide to say, 'Let there be light,' and the universe would spring into existence..." (pp.110-111)

So, did God have a beginning? If you say "no" then why do you think the universe had to have one?

Isa 43:10 Ye [are] my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I [am] he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. (emphasis added)

He can hurl galaxies, instanly stretch light across the universe, and all kinds of other supernatural things like:
1. Accurately tell the future (demonstrating His eternal habitation).
2. Preform supernatural miracles (raise dead, instantly heal the sick, feed thousands with a few fish & a couple loaves, water-to-wine, walk on water, single handedly conquer death ...).
3. Predict scientific discoveries before they happen (check here).
4. Transform reprobates into good dads, moms, employees, friends...