First Things First!

So the question is was the Universe created? How do we ever find out if it was or not?

This to me is the fundamental question. If the Universe wasn't created ... it simply always has been ... then it throws the whole "God" question into a mighty mess. At a minimum it puts God and the Universe on equal footing vis a vis eternal existence. That, good friend, throws a mighty monkee wrench into the doctrine of sovereignty. Or it wipes God from the whiteboard entirely.

If, on the other hand, the Universe is indeed created, then something or someone created it. I can't see how it could be reasonably argued that something was created, but that nothing acted as the agent of creation. That seems to me a contradiction.

There is no way to find out. We're back to choosing what to believe.