Any other atheists here? Some frustration

[SadisticNature]

Why does the universe have to begin or end?

If time is cyclical it could just go expand-collapse forever without beginning or end.

Our understanding of time is very limited.

Much the way when you stand on a sphere (i.e. the earth) the surface around you appears to be flat and you might think the entire earth was flat, from a specific point in time it appears that the past and future are distinct things, but what if 10,000,000,000 years in the future (from a local perspective) the universe has finished its collapse, expands under the previous initial conditions and the same process repeats. We are back to the same point in time, you are still standing there 'making' the exact same decision. (Note this model assumes predestination over free-will).

I might even have a very bad way of explaining something like this as no one has been able to test anything like this. My point is merely that first cause is hardly an established principle of absolute truth on infinite time scales.

[Thorne]

Why does the universe have to begin or end?....

Why does there only have to be one universe? There could be an infinite number of universes out there, all expanding or contracting or exploding or undergoing heat death all at the same time. The fact that we happen to be here, on this planet, in this universe, at this particular instant of time, is simply a cosmic accident. Even as this universe eventually comes to an end, some of the matter and energy from it could interact with matter and energy from one, or two, or countless other universes, eventually collapsing into another cosmic egg, slowly building as it absorbs yet more energy and matter, until finally, billions of years down the road, that one last electron, or one last atom, or one last neutrino, plunges through the event horizon and pushes the egg into another big bang. A new universe is born, comprised of material from countless other universes, like a child with genes from dozens of parents.

And all without any need for sky fairies.

[DuncanONeil]

Whether the universe would expand forever ot collapse on itself has been an issue in astronomy for some time. Recent calculations have concluded that a colapse is not possible.

Why does the universe have to begin or end?

If time is cyclical it could just go expand-collapse forever without beginning or end.

Our understanding of time is very limited.

Much the way when you stand on a sphere (i.e. the earth) the surface around you appears to be flat and you might think the entire earth was flat, from a specific point in time it appears that the past and future are distinct things, but what if 10,000,000,000 years in the future (from a local perspective) the universe has finished its collapse, expands under the previous initial conditions and the same process repeats. We are back to the same point in time, you are still standing there 'making' the exact same decision. (Note this model assumes predestination over free-will).

I might even have a very bad way of explaining something like this as no one has been able to test anything like this. My point is merely that first cause is hardly an established principle of absolute truth on infinite time scales.