"What is the origin of matter?"

I was contacted by a Christian to discuss the origin of matter. Mark is his name, and I'll email this link to him if my readers wish to add anything. He said:
I am a Christian and I hope you'll discuss this topic with me. I want to discuss what is the origin of matter? Wouldn't it have to be either natural, nothingness/null/void, supernatural, or paranormal? One might argue "we don't know" which I can appreciate, but it would have to fall in one of those four categories, right? I enjoy researching this stuff and I thank you in advance for your response.
I lost my initial response to him, but I stressed that science was still in its infancy, that we may never know the answer because scientists are looking for material evidence of something before material evidence existed, that it seems impossible a spiritual being can be the creator of a material universe, and I questioned the reliability of an ancient pre-scientific set of writings to tell us where matter came from. Mark responded:
John, I appreciate your comments and willingness to discuss the Bible, medicine, supernatural creating natural, etc. I would like to discuss those topics with you, but for the sake of focusing on the topic of the origin of matter can we discuss that first? For example, regarding our discussion on the origin of matter, I won’t reference the Bible at all. Fair enough?
My response:

Neither you nor I are competent in discussing scientific questions like this one. Nature continues to surprise us, so anything can end up being the case.

The reason you want to discuss something science hasn't yet solved is because your faith rests in the Bible in the first place. If you really want to leave the Bible out of it then really leave the Bible out of it. Hypothetically imagine it does not exist, and as a consequence you don't believe anything it says. You have no beliefs in Adam & Eve or original sin or any of the miracles reported in its pages.

So begin by telling me why you even want to discuss this issue. If you are merely curious then ask a scientist not me, someone who also agrees to leave the Bible out of it by imagining it doesn't exist.

Otherwise, your motivation concerning this issue is due to the Bible, which if I'm correct, its veracity is indeed relevant to the origin of matter since you accept its answers over science. That's your problem. You want to circumvent the slow but sure scientific process by going back to a pre-scientific time, and that's unacceptable if you really want to know the truth.

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