>Old is a relative term. Considering the US national debt is $7.5 trillion, a universe that is 13.7 billion years old doesn’t seem that old to me.

What does this have to do with anything?!? Just becuase you can imagine a bigger number doesn't have any bearing on anything.


>These guys keep discussing Creation vs. Evolution of life on Earth. However one feels about that, there is almost universal agreement among scientist that the universe had a distinct beginning. Before that there was no time. Time did not exist. This is beyond my comprehension. But, unlike evolution, it is has been tested and verified and is as close to a scientific fact as anything can be.

1) The idea of a beginning has not been "tested" and "verified". It's simply impossible to "test" such a thing. We can only build a theory for it.

2) Models and theories are developed which explain, model, predict, and so forth, what we observe and what we can infer. Theories are used until either (a) it is proven to be false or (b) we develop a better one.

3) There is a model of the universe which does not require a "beginning".


>So given that we know the universe had a beginning, the question is how did it get here?

That is a question which requires much more time, thought, and study than this post could provide :) If the answer could be written in this post it would not be the answer.



>>>>There appears to be quite a concensus amongst the scientific community in this regard. What I have read appears to make sense to me as a layman. <
>>>
>>>
>>>I think 13.7 billion is the current estimate, but it could be anywhere between 10 and 20 billion.
>>>
>>>http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/age.html
>>
>>Thats what I have read. Its old :)