In the field of science, a “law” is a statementconcerningsomebehavior or phenomenon in nature that has been repeatedly observed, and its conclusion is strongly supported by rigorous experimentation. The law of gravity is one such law that most people are familiar with. Likewise, the laws of thermodynamics are four separate laws that describe how energy behaves and its ability to do useful work. In particular, the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that heat always flows from a hotter object to a colder one. For instance, hot coffee always gives up heat to the cooler air in the room, making the coffee “cold.”
Another aspect of the Second Law is that all closed systems tend toward entropy. Systems always move naturally from an ordered to a disordered state. As it concerns energy, an increase in disorder is observed when a hot object transfers its heat to a cooler object, because that transfer of energy is never 100 percent efficient. That loss creates disorder (entropy). In other words, disorder is the natural and inevitable state of everything. I can mow and tend my lawn, but in its natural state, it is tall, overgrown, and full of weeds; it tends toward disorder. The swimming pool tends toward a mossy green rather than a clean, clear color. My office is cluttered and dusty and tends toward disorder. These are examples of the Second Law of Thermodynamics at work: systems tending toward, by natural phenomena, entropy, or disorder. The only way entropy can be halted orreversedisbytheintentionalinput of energy. In order for my lawn to look orderly, I have to mow it, and weed it, and water it. I have to invest energy into the system that is my lawn in order to hold off the disorder that naturally comes with entropy.
The Second Law is also used to argue that the universe had a beginning in past history. All of the stars intheuniverseareburningtheirfuel, and in exchange, they are giving off starlight (heat). The fact that the stars, having a limited amount of fuel, have not yet burned all of their fuel tells us that the universe had a beginning when all of the stars were “gassed up.” Someday, millions of years from now, the stars will have burned all their fuel, entropy and disorder will reign, and the “heat death of the universe” will occur. Why? Because the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that all closed systems inevitably tend toward disorder and chaos.
However, it is not just the stars. Biological systems behave the same way,constantlymovingfromordered to disordered. In humans, older individuals naturally show more biological disorder than younger individuals. At the same time, the young enjoy youthful eyesight; the old struggle with dry eye from diminished tear production, cloudy vision from cataracts, and poor night vision from changes in the health and number of rods in the retina. All systems tend toward disorder. Older adults suffer from all sorts of age-related diseases: memory loss, hair loss, tooth loss, hormone loss, loss of elastin in the skin, high blood pressure, and incontinence, just to name a few on a long list of “disorders” predominately affecting older individuals. It is nothing less than the natural progression from order to disorder that occurs in all closed systems, without exception, whether it be stellar burning of a star or the workings of the human body.
Now, it seems to me there are two things that are relatively clear-cut and straightforward. First, Charles Darwin says of evolution that random, unguided genetic mutations occurring in an organism are “selected for” by that organism if the mutation provides an advantage to the survival of the species. According to the theory, these random genetic mutations, all adding one to another, eventually give rise to new, more highly developed, and sophisticated species. Accordingly, human beings began as a single-celled speck in a warm, gooey pond millions of years ago. That little cell eventually evolved into a swimming blob that eventually, through random genetic mutation, sprouted legs and crawled ashore. There it further evolved eventually into the primitive primates, then finally to homo sapiens and into Darwin himself. That is pretty straightforward and clear-cut.
The second thing that strikes me as straightforward and clear-cut is theSecondLawofThermodynamics, remember? “All things tend toward disorder.” Now tell me, how is it that the Second Law works on every system in all of creation, whether closed or not, except when it comes to evolution? Why is it that in evolutionary systems, random genetic mutations are supposed to lead to more order, not less? How is it that the human body is constantly de-evolving and moving toward disorder, even in open systems, while Darwinists say evolution advances the species and makes it more complex and more ordered? It seems to me that one or the other of these foundational scientific theories is wrong. Either Darwinian evolution is wrong, or the Second Law of Thermodynamics is wrong. They are, in fact, mutually exclusive: only one can possibly be true. Now, I may not know too much, but I do know one thing. In the time I have spent writing this article, my lawn has grown, my coffee has gone cold, the stars have burned a little more fuel, and my human body has not evolved into something higher but has grown just a little more disordered. And if that is true, then Darwin is wrong.
Join us next week as we continue lookingatDarwin’salternativetothe Divine creation of man. Until then, is God dead?
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics, and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife Vicki are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore. You can contact him at: dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.