Does the Universe Have a Purpose?

Most of this was posted as a comment on Rabbi Wolpe's report on Huffington Post about a conference of a very diverse group of wonderfully intelligent men considering the question that is the subject of this post.  They would not allow me to say as much as I wanted so here it is.

My observation may already have been made by Craig and Geivett, and having scanned the comments below, it is clear that a strong bias exists against faith, nonetheless this seems clear even for a total rationalist.  No man makes something without a purpose, either utilitarian or artistic. Since the universe began at a particular point in time (and no one argues with this), the rational question of an unbiased mind would be how did a uniform emptiness 13-14 billion years ago "develop" the tremendous potential of the universe we see.  There was nothing there to act on other things that were not there...unless there was some "thing" that was not a "thing".

Some men hold that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.  These men, like other men, often err but personal (or group) failures can not invalidate any truth they found accidentally or truth that was revealed to them.   Science may presume to describe the mechanism of how sub atomic particles acted at the moment of insemination but science has no tools to examine the attributes of someone who transcends the laws of this universe.  Men of faith can not present God to you on a petri dish for your examination but God has presented you with a dilemma and wiggle with all your might but you wrestle against truths you already hold inviolate, 1) all closed systems tend to disorder rather than order, 2) the universe being all there is, admits of nothing outside itself and is thus a "closed system" 3) scientists (not men of faith) have proven that the universe is headed for a cold death so the universe will not recreate itself...So...it looks like it was MADE.  Can we believe that we act with more purpose than someone who transcends the laws of this universe?  Only if we abandon all reason.  Can it be that the purpose is to "rub our noses" in the fact of his existence?