Well I have to say that Orientation is tiring

After attending three colleges/universities previously, the first orientation that I didn't get out of has worn me out. It wasn't until this afternoon that I discovered away to get online. And I felt like I was doing something wrong and kept looking over my shoulder.

I stayed on campus for three days and two nights. I was able to rent a room for the two nights for only $45 and it was a nice room. About the only complaint was that if I rolled at all I would have fallen out of bed. Luckily I realized that while sleeping because I never fell.

I arrived shortly before a community cookout and since I hadn't ate since 9 that morning I was pretty happy to find food. I sat around for about an hour and talked to a few people. After I noticed that it was time for the Pirates, I headed to my room and turned on the game. It was quickly 5-0 reds and I opened up my suitcase and out came the John Grisham novel, the Broker, that I bought earlier in the day. I quickly read over half the book and fell asleep around two in the morning.

At 7:00 I woke to the horrible sound of an alarm clock and I crawled out of bed to the first bit of orientation at 8:00. Yes it took an hour to convince me to get up. We heard about the business office, the security, the computer system.

Next up was a skit about the things you never expected to hear at seminary. It was things like Hebrew is hard, Moses didn't write the Books of Moses, ect. Of course they're wrong about Moses.

Next was a talk about the curriculum and we heard from the registar. The moral was take the classes in order.

Next was chapel and communion.

Finally we had a workshop on sexual harrasment and racism. I'd rather have my fingernails pulled then go through that again. Or go to the zoo where the students family's got to go.

Finally a tour of the library. The third best theological library in North America. And I think I remember hearing top ten in the world.

Then it was back to the room for the rest of the John Grisham novel. Unfortunately it only lasted about an hour and a half. So I pulled out Jurassic Park after discovering Fox Sports Pittsburgh had the feed from the Steeler's preseason game on. Like anyone in their right mind wanted to watch a bunch of people destined for the cut list. And fell asleep around 12:45.

Then this morning was a Financial Aid presentation which I found out I still had to do some stuff. Sigh.

Then it was meet with my advisor and get my schedule set. A very fast meeting. Lasted only eight minutes. Good thing I finally got around to filling out the schedule instead of waiting until the meeting like I planned. I happily was able to talk my way into the Ezekiel class I really wanted to take.

Then a writing assessment. I figure they'll hate it since I tend to edit things I turn in about twenty times and this was a handwritten rough draft.

Then I ran to the parking lot and headed home. Collapsed on my bed and the cat found me and joined me on my bed.

Here's an odd photo to article combination

Link

The article is about former ISraelii PM Sharon and his unchanged condition since suffering a stroke 2 years ago. And we have a photo of Rice in her typical snarling at anyone nearby pose.

I wonder if he had not had the stroke and was still PM if the Palestinian-Israel battleground would be better or worse. I personally don't think giving land for "peace" will work since the more you give, the more they'll want.

Florida Democrats to be left out of Democrat Primary

Link

Florida Democrats would forfeit their votes in selecting a presidential nominee unless they delay their state election by at least a week, the national party said in a stern action Saturday meant to discourage others from leapfrogging ahead to earlier dates.

The Florida party has 30 days to submit an alternative to its planned Jan. 29 primary or lose its 210 delegates to the nominating convention in Denver next summer.

Isn't that great? I wonder if Flordians will remember this for the general election.

Party rules say states cannot hold their 2008 primary contests before Feb. 5, except for Iowa on Jan. 14, Nevada on Jan. 19, New Hampshire on Jan. 22 and South Carolina on Jan. 29.

So basically the national Democratic party likes to discriminate with stupid rules? My suggestion would be for the national Democratic party to run its own elections, pay for their own polling machines, and set their own date. Otherwise shut up and let the people paying for the election make up their own minds when to hold it.

Church Politics: Progressives vs. Conservatives

One of the claims by the Progressives is that Conservatives are ignorant. We take the Bible too seriously. Its also something they take pot shots at the church in the developing world like Africa. "They're backward right now. Wait until they learn and then they will be like us"

What do you suppose the Catholic Church thought of those "foolish" reformers throwing away 1000 years of Church tradition to go back to the basics? Before they started setting them on fire and all the other fun stuff that was done back then.

I imagine a civil questioning would have went something like "Why on why would you want to go back to that primitive church? And use the book that we have outgrown? Look at the great wealth we have that can be used for the splender of God. And people should be happy and indulgences give them peace of mind for themselves and loved ones."

Of course I doubt such an encounter occurred. What with them killing each other and trying to kill.

But doesn't that sound like progressives today? Just replace indulgences with something else.

PCUSA Minister found Guilty

Link

A veteran Presbyterian minister was found guilty of violating church law for officiating the weddings of two lesbian couples, the minister's defense team said Friday.

A regional judicial committee of the Presbyterian Church (USA) ruled 6-2 that while the Rev. Jane Spahr of San Rafael "acted with conscience and conviction," her actions were still at odds with the church's constitution, her defense team said in a statement.

The ruling, which was delivered late Thursday by certified mail to lawyers for Spahr and the church, reverses a lower court's decision in March 2006 that she acted within her rights as an ordained minister when she married two lesbian couples in 2004 and 2005.

Some public school memories

I remember a day when I was in high school where a teacher went off on a rant about the "stupid Christians" and other colorful language throughout his rant. It was a fairly lengthy rant from what I remember. I heard it from several classrooms away because he was screaming it.

Later that same day, another teacher said she heard about the rant that one of the other teachers had. She said that if you believed him then you must think that she is a fool as well because she is a Christian.

So what happened?

Nothing happened to the teacher that went on the rant.

The other teacher got suspended for a week from what I remember and wasn't around the next year.

Was that Fair?

Or is this the result of bad memory? or a dream that I somehow made real in my memory?

I also remember people trying to read their Bibles during study hall and the teachers confiscating them. Is that neutral? Is that infringing on First Amendment Rights?

Is calling God Allah wrong for Christians?

Link

Not in the Arab world because in Arabic, the word allah means god and many Christian Arabs use the word to refer to God.

Now for the rest of the world, the word allah means nothing so calling God Allah makes little or no sense.

And if someone is going to argue that Christians deciding to change from God to Allah would somehow lesson tensions with Muslims, then one has to point to the fact that Christians in these Arabs countries are not teated well. Look at our great friends Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Look at Iraq where the Christians that have lived there are being driven out or Gaza which has Christians flooding out because of Islamic threats on their life. All these Christians call God Allah because they are Arabs or speak Arabic. They are also second class citizens who are brutally treated and under constant threat of attack.

For the west to start using a meaningless word to them is absurd. And for anyone to suggest it, it shows how uttlerly out of touch they are.

Statement of Faith

Over at Backwoods, Ben has posted his preliminary statement of faith, it got me working on updating my own and I've incorporated a great deal from his while also trying to keep my own's uniqueness. My previous one focused squarely on Jesus and did not deal alot with the Trinity, or the Scriptures themselves.

So without further ado...

I believe that the Holy Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation to be the inerrant and holy Word of God, the only infallible rule for faith and practice for all true believers. Man's works, councils. or synods shall never overrule the authority of Scripture.

I believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the original authors to write the perfect infallible Bible so that humanity can know God. This means that books of the Bible in their original form are without error.

I believe in the Doctrine of the Trinity as spoken in the confessions and drawn from the Scriptures. The Trinity consists of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This means that Jesus, Holy Spirit, and The Father are all equal and all God but at the same time separate and individuals.

I believe that without Jesus there would be nothing. The Gospel of John tells us that through him all things were made by the Father. This means that everyone and every thing in the universe are here because of the work of Jesus Christ, the son of God who while man, is also God. Everything around us is here because of him.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one, no matter how good they may appear can come to the Father and therefore receive eternal life apart from Faith in Jesus Christ alone. He is the connection to God that humanity needs to be redeemed from original sin.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah of Israel born of the virgin and while fully God, he is also fully man. He is Immanuel or God with Us.

I believe that Jesus brings truth to the world and through him the world of believers may be saved from themselves. All of humanity, created first perfect in Adam and Eve, shares in their rebellion to God’s perfect will. It is only through Christ's sacrifice that we are freed from the punishment for this rebellion.

I believe that Jesus will return physically and bring about the end of history as we know it as the Book of Revelation reveals in its prophesies as well as other parts of Scripture. And at that time, I believe that Jesus will act as judge over all of humanity.

I believe that God brings believers to himself and that none will truly believe except for those that he chooses by his grace and not by the works done. This means that no one can choose to save themselves.

Kitten Massacre

I live in an area where people decide to throw out unwanted cats because there's three farms within a mile of me so I put food out for them and the ones that choose my place keep the rodent population down. This morning I had 9 kittens when it was feeding time at 7:30. A half hour later, five were dead from some type of attack. No idea what it was but it occured without making a sound that was heard in the house.

My dad thinks it was probably a dog or coyote.

New Jersey threatens to seize control of church property for refusing to allow civil union

Link

New Jersey officials are threatening to declare a historic United Methodist Church a public place because it refuses to allow a civil union in its facilities. Civil Unions are not allowed to be performed according to the United Methodist Constitution but the lesbians that want to get married in the church went to the state. Now the state is threatening the church

The church has replied by suing the state to prevent them from seizing the property which has been owned by the church since 1870.

Certainly is nice watching the country become a totalitarian regime. Right or Left really doesn't matter. They both seem to think you should live their way or its the highway.

Sometimes I wonder

Link

In Iraq there was a largescale attack by the Sunni militia on a group called the Yazidis. When it was over, 250 Yazidis were killed in multiple truck bombs. The Post Gazette has an editorial on it. In the editorial it mentions,

The Yazidis are a largely peaceful religious minority, concentrated in the Kurdish north of Iraq, an area that since 2003 has been less troubled by attacks than the rest of the country.

Ok that makes the attack all the worse.

But then it mentions a little further:

The Yazidis recently quarreled with the Sunnis, who killed 23 Yazidi men after Yazidis had stoned to death a woman who had a relationship with a Sunni man.

I for one have trouble labeling any group peaceful that would stone a woman for dating someone. Now if the Yazidis largely condemned the stoning, then ok. But if they didn't utter a single protest then I'm afraid they don't qualify as peaceful.

Just saw on KDKA my Alma Mater has a Problem

Geneva College is overflowing with people that want to attend. They now have a waiting list for those that want to attend but the college doesn't have room for. What a great problem for a great college to have.

I recommend Geneva to anyone that wants a great education.

In my perfect world scenario, I would be hired at Geneva to teach Biblical Studies someday.

Egyptian Doctor and Christian finally freed from Saudi Arabia

Link

One of our so called allies in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, has been holding a Christian doctor hostage because he would not convert to Islam after Muslims coworkers pressured him to do so. He finally said he was a Christian and wouldn't be converting. So he was taunted and accused of being a missionary and held for 6 months.

Unfortunately, he returns to Egypt which is just about as hostile to Christians as Saudi Arabia. Presently there is a court case being heard from someone that wants to convert to Christianity but the government won't allow him. The public response has been to call for his death. How these two countries can be allies to the United States is beyond be. Both are at the top of list of abusers of freedoms.

Neither country should receive a dime in aid from the United States.

This didn't take Long

Link

Barry Bonds has bolstered his legal team and could be preparing to slap a lawsuit on Curt Schilling, the New York Daily News reported on its web site Thursday.

Wow! Crosshairs right on the loud mouth in Boston already.

MegaChurch being Harassed

Link

A Texas Megachurch is being harassed after backing out of hosting a funeral for a member's brother. The member is mentally handicapped and worked as a janitor for the church.

They received photos from the family to be put in a presentation that showed a man grasping his genitals. The family also wanted there to be an open microphone so that anyone could speak. Since it became apparent that the funeral was going to be an openly homosexual service that celebrated and emphasized homosexuality, they did not want it hosted in their church.

So now they are getting harassed in email.

If I was GM of the Pirates

Since the Pirates played the Giants and I enjoy watching Bonds hit Homeruns, I started watching the Pirates again for the first time since two days after the all star break ended. And despite their winning against the Giants I can't say I'm at all impressed with the on field product. So I've decided to do a what if I was the GM of the Pirates post:

I would trade: Jason Bay for top level prospects, Ryan Doumit for prospects, Jack Wilson for prospects, Freddy Sanchez for high level prospects, Chris Duffy for whatever I could get, Ronny Paulino for cash, Matt Morris for cash, buyout Armis, Bryan Bullington for prospects, Van Ben Schoten for prospects, and maybe a few others.

Planned Field:

1b Adam LaRoche
2b Jose Castillo
3b Xavier Nady
SS Bixler
C Josh Phelps
RF Jose Bautista
CF Andrew McCutchen
LF ?

Neil Walker would be given an opportunity to beat out Phelps in Spring Training for the starting catcher. And there would be competition for 2b and RF as well as LF which would be hopefully filled by a prospect obtained for Bay or Sanchez. Ideally he would have the same upside that McCutchen is claimed to have. McCutchen would remain in CF regardless of his average for the entire year.

Planned Bench
David Parrish C
Nate McClouth OF
Michael Ryan OF
?
?
Honestly don't know much about either of those minor leaguers other than they probably aren't going to be starters so try them on the bench.

Planned Rotation:
Ian Snell
Tom Gorzellany
?
?
?
Potentiala for the Rotation
Shane Yoman
Zack Duke
Paul Maholm
Sean Burnett
Yoslan Herrera
(The bottom two would have to pitch poorly not to get in because I am tired of the top three)

So basically I would rip the team apart and go young. There would be no veteran over the hill players signed as mentors. It would be 97 all over again. Or the last time the Pirates actually showed any type of desire to win. And if any of the players kept over from this pathetic 2007 team have a bad attitude they're history. I want rid of this loser atmosphere. Nady stays because he tries, LaRoche stays because of his experience in Atlanta. Bautista and Castillo are on short leashes.

Bonds decides enough is enough

Link

Ever hear anyone say if Bonds didn't do it, then why doesn't he sue those that say he did? Well... Bonds is going to do just that. Its about time. I look forward to the backpeddling of the big mouth in Boston.

On another Bonds note, I was quite surprised at the reception Bonds received in Pittsburgh yesterday. I never thought he would be cheered let alone a standing ovation.

The tribune review had a nice question and answer session with Bonds.

Question: Was there any realistic shot you could have stayed in Pittsburgh?

Bonds: No. There was never even an offer. There was never even talk. It was the same situation with Bobby (Bonilla). Same situation with Dougie (Drabek).

Still amazes me even after all these years of cheapness.

And at the time I still remember them proclaiming how the franchise wouldn't lose much sense they were replacing Bonds with Al Martin, Kevin Young, and Carlose Garcia. Three for the price of one was their rhetoric.

Call me crazy but...

if someone says that if Jesus were to appear to him and tell him that something is sin and that if he continues he will go to hell and that his response would be "go ahead and send me because you are wrong Jesus" then that person has most assuredly broken away from Christianity and has no business being a minister.

Jesus is Lord.

American Bible Society defends newspaper Bibles

Link

The International Bible Society's new initiative to distribute New Testament Bibles with newspapers has been criticized by Christians because they fear the Bibles will be thrown out. The American Bible Society has issued a response to this outcry in support of the International Bible Society's plans

I also like these plans. My only concern is the Old Testament is left out.

After all, what do you suppose happens to many Bibles that are handed out to students on campuses across the nation. Many undoubtedly also end up in the trash but some plant seeds in the students and begin to grow. How much greater will the harvest be on the grander scale of newspaper distribution?

Starters not to see much action in Steelers game

Link

Tomlin said Roethlisberger and most of the other starters will play about as much as they did Sunday night in the Hall of Fame Game victory against the New Orleans Saints.

"We want to approach this thing the same way," Tomlin said. "This is our first preseason game of the official four, so we're taking the same approach that we really kind of took from that standpoint last week."

More evidence that preseason games are pointless. The Hall of Fame game was basically unwatchable because of the lack of playing time for the starters.

The Big Bang Theory III

I wrote about the Big Bang Theory here and here and this is a continuation of it.

This is an illustration of exactly why the Big Bang Theory doesn't explain what people are really wanting to know about origins.

Someone walks into a computer room and plugs a disk that was sitting on the desk into the computer. He looks at the contents.

"Hey where is this disk from?"

"I found it in the drawer over there. It was pretty much unreadable."

"No who made it?"

"I did. I found it in the drawer and found that the disk was no longer readable by the computer so I reformatted it and started using it. I have no idea what was on it before."

"No who manufactured it? I wouldn't mind getting a few disks and I like it."

"I have no idea."

"Well you're a lot of help."

Now read the description of the Big Bang theory from the second link. When they say they don't know what came before the explosion, are they really answering what you want to know? They certainly aren't answering what I want to know.

In order to explain the beginnings of the universe, you have to start from nothing or a vacuum because if you're going to explain the beginnings of the universe you have to explain the beginnings of everything in the universe: chemicals, gases, ect. You cannot explain the beginnings of the universe by using something that exists in the universe. Science cannot do that so it cannot come up with a real theory that explains the origins of the universe.

Instead of admitting as much, they come up with a theory that "reformats" the universe that was already there and claims it explains the origins of the universe. But when you read their description you see that they do admit there was something there before but they cannot describe it because they have no way of knowing what was there before. Similar to a disk that has been reformatted. Unless you have a special tool that recovers lost disk fragments.

Perhaps its time for the New Republic to close its doors

Link

First Steven Glass creates fictional stories for the magazine over the course of three years. And now they just print the ramblings of a wannabee fictional writer as true events in Iraq. When I originally read about this soldier, I failed to recognize this magazine as the one that allowed the Glass fiasco.

Why would anyone bother with this magazine after not once but twice they've printed fiction as fact?

Atheist Group loses court case

Link

An atheist group tried to prevent the city of Detroit from reimbursing a church the money it used to make itself look good for the Superbowl that the PITTSBURGH STEELERS won. The city decided it needed to improve its looks and promised to pay for part of the renovations. Well after the church did its part, the atheists group went to court to prevent the city from paying the church the promised money.

But the federal court said that churches can't be treated like second class citizens and that they can take part in community renovation programs.

Could this be a turn to fairness?

Barry Bonds vs. Hank Aaron HRs

Hank Aaron's Homeruns
Barry Bonds' Homeruns

Barry
9 leading off the game (I believe a Pirates Franchise Record)
10 Game Ending
259 Go Ahead
86 Tying

Hank
0 Leading off the game
9 Game Ending
238 Go Ahead
68 Tying

Barry Bonds and 756

Once again Bonds shows what a bunch of boneheads the Pirates ownership has been over the last forever.(Even if the people have changed, it remains the same) Imagine the difference if they had offered him salary arbitration like he said he would accept. But because they knew he'd done everything he could to earn the contract he wanted they decided to just let him go. Heaven forbid they offer a contract to the BEST PLAYER IN BASEBALL at the time. Oh no the Pirates had to be cheap and now 15 years later they keep losing and losing and losing.

In contrast, if he had been signed like he should have been, the Pirates might have a few more NL East championships and Central Championships. Maybe even a World Series. But nope, let the best all around player in baseball go off to San Francisco without even trying to keep him.

As for the people around here that go "the throw that didn't beat Bream...", if it hadn't been for Bonds, the Pirates never would have been near the NL championship series. He proved that when he left and the Pirates have sucked ever since. So get over it and thank him on the 13th of August by getting up and cheering him for the three division titles he brought to Pittsburgh.

Kids prefer McDonalds wrappers

Link

Preschoolers preferred the taste of burgers and fries when they came in McDonald's wrappers over the same food in plain wrapping, U.S. researchers said, suggesting fast-food marketing reaches the very young.

They were offered five pairs of foods and asked if they tasted the same or to point to the one that tasted better.

The food -- taken from the same order -- was wrapped in either McDonald's packaging or unbranded packages in the same color and style.

In about 60 percent of the tastings, the kids preferred food in the McDonald's wrapper.

Personally I prefer the Burger King wrapper. Flame broiled yum...

How Liberal/Conservative are you

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 60% Conservative, 40% Liberal Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal Ethics: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

How Republican/Democrat are you?

You Are 32% Republican

You're a bit Republican, and probably more conservative than you realize. If you're still voting Democrat, maybe it's time that you stop.

How Republican Are You?

You Are 28% Democrat

You're a bit Democrat, and probably more liberal than you realize. If you're still voting Republican, maybe it's time that you stop.

How Democrat Are You?

You know.... I'll never figure out why they both annoy me so...

Bad Thai cops to endure Kitty shame

Link

Thai police officers who break rules will be forced to wear hot pink armbands featuring "Hello Kitty," the Japanese icon of cute, as a mark of shame, a senior officer said Monday.
Police officers caught littering, parking in a prohibited area, or arriving late — among other misdemeanors — will be forced to stay in the division office and wear the armband all day, said Police Col. Pongpat Chayaphan. The officers won't wear the armband in public.
"(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It's not something macho police officers want covering their biceps," Pongpat said.

So I guess Thailand police are acting like high school kids eh?

Pirates Rant: Jack Wilson II

While watching the Cleveland Indians tonight with my dad, he started switching the channels between games and we came across the Pirates just in time to see the great Pitching coach and Wilson going at it in the dogout again when the announcers were running through the highlights up till that point.

Isn't it about time for Colborn to be run out of town? The Pirates have the worst pitching in baseball and he's barking at the shortstop. Who quite frankly is not the teams greatest problem. Some very good contenders would be:

The catcher that can't catch
The pitchers who can't pitch
The first basemen that whiffs at everthing
The second basemen who doesn't want to turn double plays do to runners running into him
The complete lack of a center fielder
The supposed superstar that wants to walk all the time and takes strike three

Other than that the Pirates are a decent team.

VA Episcopal Bishop fires Priests who already resigned and joined the CANA

Link

The wonderful Bishop Peter James Lee, of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, "depose[d] clergy who were barred in January from performing priestly duties in the diocese. The clergy, however, have already quit, noted Jim Oakes, vice chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) - an association of conservative Anglican congregations."

Congregations from 15 churches voted overwhelmingly in December to sever ties with The Episcopal Church, citing the denomination's departure from Anglican tradition and Christian orthodoxy. They essentially removed themselves from the Episcopal ministry and placed themselves under the authority of the Church of Nigeria.

Maybe next week the Pope can excommunicate the breakaway priests.

The Big Bang Theory II

Link

And another explanation:

About 15 billion years ago a tremendous explosion started the expansion of the universe. This explosion is known as the Big Bang. At the point of this event all of the matter and energy of space was contained at one point. What exisisted prior to this event is completely unknown and is a matter of pure speculation. This occurance was not a conventional explosion but rather an event filling all of space with all of the particles of the embryonic universe rushing away from each other. The Big Bang actually consisted of an explosion of space within itself unlike an explosion of a bomb were fragments are thrown outward. The galaxies were not all clumped together, but rather the Big Bang lay the foundations for the universe.

As I said at the end of the other post, without dealing with where the matter came from before the explosion, its a pretty poor explanation for the beginnings of the universe. The matter had to come from something. If the thing that caused the universe is part of the universe, then the theory is quite useless for explaining the origins.

Since the Big Bang, the universe has been continuously expanding and, thus, there has been more and more distance between clusters of galaxies. This phenomenon of galaxies moving farther away from each other is known as the red shift. As light from distant galaxies approach earth there is an increase of space between earth and the galaxy, which leads to wavelengths being stretched.

In addition to the understanding of the velocity of galaxies emanating from a single point, there is further evidence for the Big Bang. In 1964, two astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, in an attempt to detect microwaves from outer space, inadvertently discovered a noise of extraterrestrial origin. The noise did not seem to emanate from one location but instead, it came from all directions at once. It became obvious that what they heard was radiation from the farthest reaches of the universe which had been left over from the Big Bang. This discovery of the radioactive aftermath of the initial explosion lent much credence to the Big Bang theory.

Even more recently, NASAs COBE satellite was able to detect cosmic microwaves eminating from the outer reaches of the universe. These microwaves were remarkably uniform which illustrated the homogenity of the early stages of the universe. However, the satillite also discovered that as the universe began to cool and was still expanding, small fluctuations began to exist due to temperature differences. These flucuatuations verified prior calculations of the possible cooling and development of the universe just fractions of a second after its creation. These fluctuations in the universe provided a more detailed description of the first moments after the Big Bang. They also helped to tell the story of the formation of galaxies which will be discussed in the next chapter.

The Big Bang theory provides a viable solution to one of the most pressing questions of all time. It is important to understand, however, that the theory itself is constantly being revised. As more observations are made and more research conducted, the Big Bang theory becomes more complete and our knowledge of the origins of the universe more substantial.

No it explains why the universe is expanding. Not how it was created.

The Big Bang Theory

Link

The link doesn't shy away from the holes that exist in the theory:

Our universe is thought to have begun as an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense, something - a singularity. Where did it come from? We don't know. Why did it appear? We don't know.

So where and in what did the singularity appear if not in space? We don't know. We don't know where it came from, why it's here, or even where it is. All we really know is that we are inside of it and at one time it didn't exist and neither did we.

Big Bang Theory - Evidence for the Theory

What are the major evidences which support the Big Bang theory?
First of all, we are reasonably certain that the universe had a beginning.
Second, galaxies appear to be moving away from us at speeds proportional to their distance. This is called "Hubble's Law," named after Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) who discovered this phenomenon in 1929. This observation supports the expansion of the universe and suggests that the universe was once compacted.
Third, if the universe was initially very, very hot as the Big Bang suggests, we should be able to find some remnant of this heat. In 1965, Radioastronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered a 2.725 degree Kelvin (-454.765 degree Fahrenheit, -270.425 degree Celsius) Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) which pervades the observable universe. This is thought to be the remnant which scientists were looking for. Penzias and Wilson shared in the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery.
Finally, the abundance of the "light elements" Hydrogen and Helium found in the observable universe are thought to support the Big Bang model of origins.

Is the standard Big Bang theory the only model consistent with these evidences? No, it's just the most popular one. Internationally renown Astrophysicist George F. R. Ellis explains: "People need to be aware that there is a range of models that could explain the observations….For instance, I can construct you a spherically symmetrical universe with Earth at its center, and you cannot disprove it based on observations….You can only exclude it on philosophical grounds. In my view there is absolutely nothing wrong in that. What I want to bring into the open is the fact that we are using philosophical criteria in choosing our models. A lot of cosmology tries to hide that."

So one has to wonder how often things just appear out of thin air in the natural world and start expanding. Seems rather illogical to me that something will just appear without someone/thing forcing the issue.

Any discussion of the Big Bang theory would be incomplete without asking the question, what about God? This is because cosmogony (the study of the origin of the universe) is an area where science and theology meet. Creation was a supernatural event. That is, it took place outside of the natural realm. This fact begs the question: is there anything else which exists outside of the natural realm? Specifically, is there a master Architect out there? We know that this universe had a beginning. Was God the "First Cause"? We won't attempt to answer that question in this short article. We just ask the question

And it seems to me that without explaining the where it came from, the theory does a pretty bad job of explaining the universe's origins. It would sorta be like assuming a baby was formed as it entered the world from the womb instead of back when the sperm met the egg.