Need some understanding
Richard Masoner (richardm@cd.com)
Fri, 27 Sep 1996 17:15:06 -0500 (CDT)
> I am just writing to see if anyone on the list can help me understand a
> certain subject. It is the 2nd Law Of Thermodynamics. I heard a preacher
> speak on this law and related it to the Bible and God. I am a Mechanical
In summary, a closed system will move to entropy, from order to chaos.
You must have an external energy source for things to become ordered.
For example, if you leave a house and don't maintain it, after awhile
it will fall apart.
This law is used by Christians as an argument against abiogenesis and
evolution. How did a random soup of chemicals become ordered at
suddenly become life? Furthermore, why is there progressively more
order from these simple, virus-like organisms to the complex
multicellular organisms we have today?
A classic analogy: a non-theistic view of life coming to existence is
akin to believing a 747 is the result of a tornado hitting a junkyard.
The standard rebuttal is "The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics only applies to
*CLOSED* systems. And the earth is not a closed system: it has the sun
supplying great amounts of energy!"
So I guess if you drop a hydrogen-bomb on the junkyard, *that* will
yield you a 747. Right. Or, a more apt analogy: drop a million H-
bombs on a million junk-yards for a million years, *then* you'll get
your 747. I remain unconvinced of that.
Richard Masoner