This is from Loren Haarsma’s book When Did Sin Begin?, where he has a really refreshing discussion about entropy. This is one of those topics that comes up in YEC conversations I’ve overheard in the church foyer between services – you know the discussions that revolve around the need for the basic laws of nature to have been different before the Fall in order to accommodate the views of YEC.
Haarsma’s discussion is a breath of fresh air:
At first impression, the second law of thermodynamics sounds like a bad thing. It implies that closed natural systems (and the universe as a whole) are always changing from order to disorder. But the second law of thermodynamics is an inevitable statistical result of the fact that there are many particles moving and interacting with one another.
Haarsma, Loren. When Did Sin Begin? (p. 66). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
The second law of thermodynamics plays a vital role in many natural processes that we would call good. When heat spontaneously flows from a hot object to a cold object, entropy increases. When a flower opens and its scent diffuses into the air so that the whole area is perfumed and bees can be guided to the blossom, entropy increases. When our sun converts nuclear energy into sunlight, entropy increases. When ice melts, entropy increases. When winds blow and rain falls, entropy increases. When oxygen passes from our lungs into our bloodstreams, entropy increases. When we see and hear things and store memories in our brains, entropy increases. The second law of thermodynamics appears to be part of God’s good creation and God’s original intention for the world.
Haarsma, Loren. When Did Sin Begin? (pp. 66-67). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
The second law of thermodynamics tells us that this whole universe is also finite in time, just like all of God’s creatures. But God promises that the end of life in this universe, or the end of this universe itself, is not the end for us. A new creation awaits.
Haarsma, Loren. When Did Sin Begin? (p. 67). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
So far, I’ve enjoyed the book. The reading level is appropriate for high-school students through maybe undergrads. Haarsma does a very good job of making the concepts accessible to American’s with a typical science education, who are easily duped by groups like AIG. If the pastoral staff would tolerate such material in a church library, this would be a very good candidate. I think it could be a good book to share with YEC friends, who feel cornered theologically, even if they present themselves as relying on the “scientific” evidence presented by you-know-who.