". . . everything that has a beginning must have a cause."

Prima facie that looks to be true, but it's a tough one to prove, Pete. We make the assumption that there is a cause, but how can that be demonstrated? I suppose that eventually every interaction that transpires has a cause and a cause before that, etc, but at what point in the interactions does God/god/G-d enter the equation? And what is god? If god is the ignition switch then god's job is finished once the motor starts running. It often boils down to the questions of riddle and paradox. Can god devise a question he is unable to answer?