[nbulka]

We think the universe had to "begin" because we "began" and tend to anthropomorphize. Is that necessarily true? The universe is under no obligation to have a beginning. Sail around the Earth and you might just end up right where you started.

[yencabulator]

Current observations make it likely that our observable universe expands (think "stretches"), and the expansion will continue forever.

If it's expanding, then it was smaller earlier. Asking about the far past is a natural reaction, and the Big Bang theory is a pretty good attempt at explaining that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_of_the_universe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_the_universe

[mc32]

The Sun had to begin. At one point it was just accreting gasses, then at some point gained enough mass to ignite. People also start at some point they begin as a daughter and grow eventually into a viable life. But also our galaxies had to form before our sun. So, yes there are beginnings to things. At one point they weren’t, at another point they were.

[jungturk]

Yes, but earth still had a beginning.

I agree with you, though - causal explanations are compelling and confer a sense of certainty and humans seem to like that, but it doesn't make them necessary.