Abe - Have you read "A Universe From Nothing" by Lawrence Krauss?
"The lesson is quite clear: quantum gravity not only appears to allow universes to be created from nothing - meaning, in this case, I emphasise, the absence of space and time - it may require them. "Nothing" - in this case no space, no time, no anything! - is unstable"
"A Universe From Nothing" by Lawrence Krauss p170