Beginnings

[Ben Davis]

Hi Jeff, have to call you out on this one.

Christians get a lot of "guff" for trying to explain the beginning of the universe.

That's because the typical explanations are supernatural.

It got me to thinking, what would be your explanation for the beginnings of the universe?

I don't have my own, personal explanation nor should anyone. Instead I pay attention to the facts/evidence and take advantage of the consequent explanations put forward by knowledgable experts.

Given that atheism is true, how did this universe begin?

Atheism has nothing to do with the origins of the universe. Your question could be better phrased thusly: 'regarding what we can perceive as 'the universe', given the observable/measurable facts available, what is the best, current explanation for it's origin (if the term is applicable)'. You'd need to include definitions of the terms 'perceive' (to illustrate what techniques are available for gathering data), 'universe' (to cross-reference existing knowledge regarding it's state, age etc.), 'best' (how would an observer tell that the explanation is the most comprehensive) and 'origin' (what is the scope of the explanation).

Also please keep in mind that science has proven that the universe did in fact have a beginning.

No it hasn't. Don't be ridiculous. This indicates that you don't know what you're talking about.

Three leading cosmologists, Arvin Borde, Alan Guth, and Alexander Vilenkin, were able to prove that any universe which has, on average, been expanding throughout its history cannot be infinite in the past but must have a past space-time boundary.

Ahhhhh, this explains where your misinformation is coming from. You're using WLC's failed arguments. This one has been debunked many times. Here are some examples:

http://debunkingwlc.wordpress.com/2010/0...-vilenkin/
http://www.theaunicornist.com/2012/02/mi...cists.html