six_strings - No offense, I also believe in God, a supreme being, who intelligently designed our universe, and specifically fine tuned the expansion rate such that our universe coult contain stars, and life.<br /><br />I do not know if inflation models are correct or not - the other posters and the article do present accurately a popular model with inflation after the big bang.<br /><br />On how fine tuned the expansion rate is:<br /><br />"Even if we are neither professional astronomers nor amateurs, we can see that an expanding universe would have profound implications about our past—and perhaps our personal future too. Something must have started the process—a force powerful enough to overcome the immense gravity of the entire universe. You have good reason to ask, ‘What could be the source of such dynamic energy?’<br /><br />Although most scientists trace the universe back to a very small, dense beginning (a singularity), we cannot avoid this key issue: “If at some point in the past, the Universe was once close to a singular state of infinitely small size and infinite density, we have to ask what was there before and what was outside the Universe. . . . We have to face the problem of a Beginning.”—Sir Bernard Lovell.<br /><br />This implies more than just a source of vast energy. Foresight and intelligence are also needed because the rate of expansion seems very finely tuned. “If the Universe had expanded one million millionth part faster,” said Lovell, “then all the material in the Universe would have dispersed by now. . . . And if it had been a million millionth part slower, then gravitational forces would have caused the Universe to collapse within the first thousand million years or so of its existence. Again, there would have been no long-lived stars and no life.” - "Is there a Creatpr Who Cares About You?", pp. 12-14