JustHuman: Like the materialistic pop-metaphysic problem "where did all the material come from?"
Of which the theistic counterpart is "where did God come from?"
I don't believe you are getting it. Let's drop the "where the universe's source or God came from" question, for a moment.
The first thing to consider is the absolutes involved in the question. The fact is, NOTHING comes from a non-existing thing. EVERYTHING came from or is derived from something other existing thing, as EVERY existing thing has this necessity of origin - EXCEPT that first thing. There is only one option for how that first thing exists: As there were no previously existing things to create that first thing or Source: As it could not create itself (a logical impossibility). Therefore, that "thing" had to have been eternal - that is the only solution. Part of why this is hard to fathom is because we are finite beings - and we and every other physical thing that exists had a beginning and a cause. We can't conceive of anything that did not - because there is nothing that did not.
This "thing" or Source of the universe has characteristics: OK, I've covered why it is necessary it be eternal. It was also not physical. As before the universe, science asserts that nothing physical existed - not even space. Yes, space is also a thing. So, this first thing existed in another realm - another dimension, that wasn't physical. What else? Well, we know that what instantly arrived, at the moment of the Big Bang, was all matter and energy, in an unfathomable burst of energy - but it wasn't some chaotic, big explosion - as the name would suggest.
Astronomer Hugh Ross describes it:
"This “bang” represents an immensely powerful yet carefully planned and controlled release of matter, energy, space, and time within the strict confines of very carefully fine-tuned physical constants and laws which govern their behavior and interactions.4 The power and care this explosion reveals exceeds human potential for design by multiple orders of magnitude."
Ross continues: "The space-time theorem of general relativity states that matter, energy, and all the space-time dimensions associated with the universe began in finite time, and that the Cause of the universe brings all the matter, energy, and space-time dimensions of the universe into existence from a reality beyond matter, energy, space, and time. The extreme fine-tuning of the big bang parameters that are necessary for physical life to be possible in the universe exceeds by many orders of magnitude the design capabilities of human beings."
The above leads to other characteristics of the Source of the universe. It immediately revealed itself to be supremely powerful and intelligent.
From CERN / the European Organization for Nuclear Research, physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the universe:
"In the first
moments after the Big Bang, the universe was extremely hot and dense. As the universe cooled, conditions became just right to give rise to the building blocks of matter – the quarks and electrons
of which we are all made.
A few millionths of a second later, quarks aggregated to produce protons and neutrons. Within minutes, these protons and neutrons combined into nuclei."
So, RANDOM things did not show up, but precisely the things needed for all that now exists. This source had the intelligence and power to
instantly create all of the building blocks of all that exists, with the instantly existing quarks and electrons, and subsequently (not even a second long), these combined to created protons and neutrons -
minutes later, creating nuclei. Anyone believing these things could happen without a Designer of supreme intelligence - who thinks it was just blind chance - really, that makes no sense whatsoever. Every hallmark of what we would consider evidence of a SuperIntelligence, stupendous design, and unparalleled power, immediately revealed itself at the moment the universe - which, mere moments before nothing physical existed - burst forth with just the right complex universe and life-building components, roaring into existence, wit a stunning array of marvels we still can scarcely understand.
So, those are the characteristics and evidences of the non-physical, eternal, all-powerful source of the universe. These are facts - both the necessary characteristics for the Beginner and what He is capable of and what He actually did. Thus, the question concerning where the universe's Beginner came from is truly silly - as the Beginner COULD HAVE NO SOURCE! To thing that some eternal but blind, non-intelligence source has filled all of the astronomy and physics books over the past 100+ - really, how preposterous to believe.
The next question should be, what clues to we have to the identity of the Beginner?
