Rational Responders # 7 - Premise 1

The 2nd law of thermodynamics is a well established and confirmed law of science. The natural tendency of things is to run down, to go to a state of disorder, unless energy and design are introduced into the system. The Bible alludes to this in a prayer to God recorded in the book of Psalms .....

I say, "O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days, Your years are throughout all generations. Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end." (Psalm 102: 24 - 27)

The 2nd law and the resulting, eventual death of the universe is also addressed in Henry Morris' book The Long War Against God:

"The second law (decay of energy) recognizes that this power is always becoming less and less available to maintain the systems and processes of the universe. Thus, the universe must eventually die if the second law continues to function. Since the universe is not yet dead, it must have been created at some point of time in the past, with its tremendous power imparted to it then by its eternal Creator."

Rational Responders # 6 - Premise 1

The problem of the existence of complex organisms in a world where the natural tendency of things is from a state of order to disorder is noted in Ravi Zacharias' book The Shattered Visage:

"...how do biological systems climb the ladder of intricacy and order, while the natural world descends to entropy and disorder? Scientists have attempted to deal with this conundrum in their studies in dissipative structures, which show that biological organisms maintain their structure at the expense of the system, returning heat to the environment. However, as other scientists point out, this still does not explain nor answer the question of how it was that such highly ordered systems as living organisms could ever have come into existence in a world in which irreversible processes always tend to lead to an increase in entropy and thus, to disorder."

Zacharias then goes on to describe a seminar that he sat in under eminent theoretical physicist John Polkinghorne (a colleague of Stephen Hawking). Polkinghorne was "... commenting on the built-in factors within this universe, with particular reference to Quantum Theory, he said, with a grin, 'There is no free lunch. Somebody has to pay, and only God has the resources to put in what was needed to get what we've got.' " (Pages 41 and 44, Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., Brentwood, Tennessee, 1990.)

Only God has the resources to generate the level of complexity observable in the universe!

Rational Responders # 5 - Premise 1

Stephen Hawking discusses the 2nd law of thermodynamics in his book A Brief History of Time:

"The explanation that is usually given as to why we don't see broken cups gathering themselves together off the floor and jumping back onto the table is that it is forbidden by the second law of thermodynamics. This says that in any closed system disorder, or entropy, always increases with time. In other words, it is a form of Murphy's law: Things always tend to go wrong! An intact cup on the table is a state of high order, but a broken cup on the floor is a disordered state. One can go readily from the cup on the table in the past to the broken cup on the floor in the future, but not the other way round." (Page 144, Bantam Books, New York, 1988.)

As stated in the previous posting, the only way to circumvent the second law is to introduce energy and design into the system. Complex structures like the sun, a cell, a strand of DNA, or an eye must have their origin in a powerful God who has a vast amount of energy and design ability at his disposal.

To quote Henry Morris: "Local and temporary increases in complexity are only possible when driven by designed programs and directed energies, neither of which is possessed by the purely speculative notion of vertically-upward evolution."

Rational Responders # 4 - Premise 1

I have to confess that massive office towers impress me. I've lived pretty close to uptown Charlotte for more than 10 years and whenever I'm in the city I still think they're pretty cool. They're awesome and they seem like they're going to last forever.

But they won't. Their natural tendency is to wear down and become more disorderly. They require on-going repair. This downward trend is described by a law of physics called the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.

In the Smithsonian Institution Journal in 1970 Isaac Asimov described the 2nd Law this way ...

"Another way of stating the second law then is, 'The universe is constantly getting more disorderly!' Viewed that way we can see the second law all about us. We have to work hard to straighten a room, but left to itself it becomes a mess again very quickly and very easily....How difficult to maintain houses, and machinery, and our own bodies in perfect working order: how easy to let them deteriorate."

So the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics says that the natural tendency is for systems to go from a state of order to a state of disorder. However outside influences can fight against the 2nd Law, for a time, and win! What are those outside forces that can make things go from disorder to order? They are energy and design. If my daughter's room is a pigsty she can expend energy to clean it up (carrying dirty clothes to the hamper). She can utilize intelligence (design) to eliminate the disorder. She's smart enough to know that the clothes go in the hamper, that books go on the shelf, and the sheets are to be laid across the bed before the comforter.

The natural progression of all things is to a state of disorder and yet we have complexity in the universe. The solar system is a complex system. The earth is uniquely capable of supporting complex biological forms. The human brain is a complex computer. Where did the complexity in the universe come from? Energy and design were a necessary ingredient for a universe with complexity.

I believe that there is a God who is interested in the world because there must have been a force of energy and design to have created a universe with complexity in the first place.