ICANT, Nemesis and others ...
I think I will repeat what has been pointed out to you by others a number of times on this thread. The big bang and the nature of the first mind bogglingly tiny fraction of a second before which the standard models of physics break down is one of the hardest - possibly the hardest - sciences that is being studied. This makes it impossible for scientists to explain the field to the public in a way that lets them really understand it. But it is not only hard, it is also extremely counterintuitive. Relativity and quantum mechanics are just the beginning of what makes "common sense" arguments and analogies break down. So not only is it impossible to teach a layperson to have a deep understanding, it is very difficult for cosmologists to explain this stuff in a way that even gives them a general sense of how things are.
There are resources for the layperson out there. As you have discovered, Brian Greene and Hawking have tried to use analogies and extreme simplifications to explain to the public how early cosmology works. On this board, experts such as Cavediver and Son Goku answer questions and do their best to clear up obvious misconceptions. But no matter how much you talk to them or read books by Hawking, you won't understand it at anything resembling a fundamental level, and you won't understand it well enough to make any headway in the philosophical questions you’re pursuing. You won't know how to ask the right questions, and you won't even begin to understand the answers - you have to learn a lot of math and underlying physics to go as deeply as you are trying to go.
If you really are serious about this, you have to learn the background material. There are no shortcuts. It may not require a university education anymore. All that you need to know is taught on the web. This
site gives you a set of lessons to follow if you are serious about learning. The following topics off the lesson list are essential to understand if you want to be able to talk intelligently with cosmologists about what happened in the first fractions of a second:
-primary mathematics
-classical mechanics
-optics
-statistical mechanics and thermo
-electromagnetism
-quantum mechanics
-atoms and molecules
-special relativity
-general relativity
-You probably need to know some of the advanced quantum, quantum field theory, and phenomenology information as well
-Nuclear and plasma physics are pretty important for this, but less essential
-No need to bother with the electronics and solid state lessons unless you truly want to become a physicist
Good luck if you try to work through them. If you do, then these discussions could get a lot more fruitful for everyone. But if that sounds like too much work, then I think you'd better set your standards lower than understanding the nature of the big bang and what it means for God.
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