Re: Bible stories to be interpreted literally??

Something I have never been able to wrap my mind around is the idea that the Cosmos has simply always existed.  When you cut through all the theories of different dimensions and universes and such, to my simple mind everything has to have a beginning and ultimately an end. Neither have I been able to accept the idea that the universe is infinite, even though it may appear to be infinite to our finite minds and understanding. 

Everything I can observe here in my universe demonstrably had such a beginning and it is demonstrable that such things also have an end.  Thus that is my frame of reference and the question to me is "How did the matter that lead to the creation of the universe come to be in the very beginning".  Saying that there never was a beginning defies what logic I possess.  Likewise, when I look out at my yard, I see a finite number of trees, just as there are a finite number here on my world.  When I look up at space, it may seem infinite alright, but in fact there are a limited number of stars out there.  New ones are being created and old ones destroyed constantly, but the same is true about those trees and they are still finite in number.

Even if one were to accept the idea of an infinite universe, is not "changing" and "becoming new" terms that could be called "creating".  If I take a lump of clay, sculpt it and bake it and make a statue I have changed it and it has become something new - and I have created that statue as well.  In that example, I was the "force" which took matter and created something new.  I was the creator.  So what do we call the forces that created the universe and continue to create on a cosmic scale?  And what about all the "laws" science has ascribed to the cosmic forces?  Forces which create according to rules . . . sounds to me like there is a plan in there somewhere - even if our infinitessimally small intellects cannot come close to grasping it.

I consider the scientific idea of time, space and matter never having a beginning and being truly infinite to be as much of a scientific cop-out as the "miracle card" is.  It conveniently explains away the concept of creation, but what it really does is provide a cover for the fact that is a very great deal that our limited intelligence and science simply don't know.  If you accept the idea that life was not uniquely created on this one tiny speck of a planet then you would have to consider that the odds are that there is life out there which is millions of years more advanced than we are, which perhaps had our level of technology and science millions of years ago.  Only a few hundred years ago, we thought the earth was flat and that the sun and rest of the universe revolved around us and look how we have advanced in our knowledge in a relative blink of time.  Another way of looking at that is that our current "scientific" understanding is really only a blink of an eye more advanced that fundamental creation theory.

Compared to those who are perhaps millions of years farther along, we might be mere amoebas.  And yet we pretend to have the answers outside our little petri dish regarding the creation and secrets of the entire universe?