Hi Gerald. Happy New Year, if such a thing is possible in covid times.

It's not quite true that I have questioned your commitment to the universe having an origin. I've questioned whether the Big Bang is the correct explanation for the origin. And it all depends on what we mean by 'universe'. I would say, like you, that the material universe did not always exist, but was brought into being through the mind of 'God' (or Elohim, God in its plural form), as explained in Genesis 1. In my view it is the Ultimate Source (of the universe) which is eternal. As the Hindus say, there is an outbreathing of Brahman, the period when all the lower levels are manifested, followed by a period of inbreathing, when everything is drawn back to the source. The cycle is then repeated (probably with a different version of the universe).

I'm comfortable with the idea of intention, but don't necessarily ascribe this to the Ultimate Source which, according to various mystics/gurus, is a void/emptiness/nothingness. I merely suggest that intention comes in at a lower level in some of its emanations/manifestations (possibly what the Hindus call Brahma). So all we're really doing is quibbling over the precise theology/cosmology, not the fact of intention.