Athesists how do you explain the beginning of time and the solar system? Did matter just come about?

You are bang on. The big bang that is--time as Albert E said is related to a frame of reference. With no frame of reference the question of time is a non sequiter. In the beginning, the sinularity let loose with the big bang and there was light-and gamma radiation, bosons, mesons. Verily as this infant universe cooled-it cooled till atoms could be formed. Eddys in the clouds of basically hydrogen caused local concentrations of mass. Gravity attractted more and more hydrogen to concentration. Eventually gravity created enough pressure and temperature to fuse the hydrogen into helium-and so on and verily the light elements were born. Many of the new stars were gobblers of mass -huge--and when they died the resulting supernova created elements above iron.

In our own case, verily, the rotating interstellar gas cloud had a number of eddys (verily from the gravitational shock waves of detonating supernovae) which eventually coalesced into planets. You really did well--matter did condense out of the massive energy given off when God denotated the big bang.

I don't know how time began. It is an interesting question to ponder and the scientific exploration of that question has led to all sorts of re-examinations of what time actually is, which is facinating. I suggest reading "The Elegant Universe" for a look into the topic.

Your question about the solar system is much easier to answer but that should be in another question.

BTW, if you are a Christian, your religion doesn't explain the beginning of time. So, I guess you are lost.

There are several ideas on this. One is that the matter/energy was always there. Another is that it was formed form another universe. One thing is known, before the universe existed, time didn't exist either. A universe needs to be present for time to exist, since it is the 4th dimension. As for the solar system, it is inevitable that solar systems will form in a universe given the amount of "stuff" there is in it.

Who really cares?

When I die I know I am dead and there is nothing more, And to add to that, Every thing will die and there will be no one left to worry how everything started.

So what does it really matter?

How much money does religious groups stand to loose if they can't get the rest of us? I guess a lot. To pay dues and offerings to a man in a church to make them rich is not in my beliefs.

The only source for crediting the god of Abraham with creation is Moses. Do you have faith in Moses? Or do you sometimes wonder if he had a grudge against Egypt and made a plan to skive off with their working class, using their superstitions to help him do it?

I don't know.

We haven't figured that out yet.

As for the solar system - that was a function of gravitational force pulling chunks of matter into orbit around a ball of white hot gas.

I do not know. Even if I consider some sort of intelligence starting life, that does not prove God. It does not prove the bible to be true. All this states is that it was intelligence. It does not have to be all loving or have thoughts. It can function like bacteria for all I know.

we are actually not particular of how the photograph voltaic gadget got here into existence, yet there are theories that recommend some innovations of the way it got here to existence such because of the fact the great bang thought and God created it.

that's because you expect everything to come about through matter. The latest in physics says that even matter is made of nothing but pure energy. The energy didn't come from anywhere, it simply IS. Energy has no beginning because it has no end.

energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred from one medium to another. All we know right now is that universe is immensely old and outrageously large. We don't yet have the capability to pinpoint exact time and process, but give it time