In the 7th grade, in physical science class, I got a hard paddling with a wooden paddle with holes in it. Our physical science teacher had just explained that the universe was created by a big bang. I asked if God created the big bang. I was the only one in class with a question weighing heavily on my heart as my parents had raised me in church, and my belief was in direct conflict with what the teacher was saying. I was not rude, I didn't ask with a smirk on my face, or with ill intent. I asked as a question of curiosity. I was beaten so hard that I cried - in the 7th grade. I still wonder and marvel at the origin of the universe, often reflecting about it in my mind. Scientists thought all the stars in the universe would be pulled back together into a ball every so often, and tremendous forces would cause it to explode apart again. This way the universe was forever a constantly repeating explosion and contraction that had always been this way. Around 2017 the greatest minds in the world decided after analyzing their collected data that the universe does not go back together in a "big crunch" after the "big bang" but that it is expanding forever. Scientists then decided that to explain the big bang that the universe was empty, but b/c it was so empty the possibility for matter to exist was very high, so all the matter in the universe created itself out of nothing... That's the current theory of the creation of the universe. It just appeared out of "thin air" so to speak... I call that magic, and I am aware of the famous saying that "All significantly advanced technology will appear as magic to primitive people". In some ways the bible and science are similiar. Science says in the beginning was a tiny spark of light that exploded into all matter and all things. The bible says in the beginning God said "Let there be light..." Religion is often the way of primitive people to explain the world around them, and where you are born in the world can largely determine what you believe. I have a book that lists over 4,327 Gods and Goddesses in the world, each bound to the geographic area of their worshippers, except where the boundaries move due to war, or evangelism. That's not counting the over 2,000,000 hindu indian gods, they have a new one every so many months, e.g. a person born with a long tail. We are biological entities in a physical universe. Lifeforms, but we are also very special, we are gifted with knowledge & wisdom, and with knowledge comes the knowing of right & wrong. It's the same in most all religions, but here again opinions vary, and that's ok. We are all entitled to our own opinion. Because nobody knows for sure, if there's a God, if there's a krishna, ra, zeus, odin, big bang theory, etc. It's ALL a belief. The evidence seems to favor a big bang theory, and scientists looking up say everything is flying apart which supports the explosion idea. When I look up at night, I see stars that swirl imperceptibly slowly in the celestial realm. I know that more people have been killed in religious wars, than in all world wars combined. I know earth is a small blue ball of water, precariously suspended near a giant fireball. Last night I didn't sleep. I had been sick for days with a cold, and was literally up all night scripting things to help people as many people come to me all the time asking for help scripting something. At 5:30 am eastern standard time, I woke my partner and drove him to the hospital in the dark for colon cancer surgery. It was raining, the windows fogged up. The hospital was more like a sprawling university campus of buildings. There were no signs, and finding the right building involved parking in various parking lots walking a quarter mile to a building in the pouring rain, only to find we were at the wrong building yet again. My glasses were covered on the inside by rain, as I had forgotten my umbrella. I could not see clearly, and had nothing dry to wipe them with. Frustrations ran high as we had made it to the hospital at 6:30 am after a long drive on the interstate. We walked around the hospital in the cold rain for 50 minutes. It was 7:20 am and his surgery was supposed to start at 6:45. Headlights cutting us off on the campus and cars blocking the path to the next building. My partner started yelling and cursing at me. I started yelling and cursing back. Finally I just stopped and said "God please help me."