The Bible is reliable in its understanding of the impact of Entropy on Matter
The proof of this comes from the Laws of Thermodynamics:
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1st Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Conservation): Matter and Energy cannot be created or destroyed - it merely changes form
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2nd Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Entropy): As time advances, the Universe is moving from a state of order to disorder and from complexity to chaos
In short, these Laws state that the universe is running out of available energy!
Scripture also argues that no additional acts of creation are occurring which would produce a system- wide introduction of more matter/energy (or for that matter, a reduction thereof). Note the following passages that are in keeping with the 1st Law of Thermodynamics:
"Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." Genesis 2: 1-3
"You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all" Nehemiah 9: 6a
Further, Scripture testifies that the universe is winding down. The following passages are in keeping with the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics:
"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now." Romans 8: 19-22
"Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed." Psalm 102: 25-26
Robert Jastrow is a well-known astrophysicist who was chosen by President Reagan to head up research on the Space-Based Defense Initiative (SDI). This well-known agnostic may have summed up the ramifications of this best:
"The essence of the strange developments is that the universe had, in some sense, a beginning-that it began at a certain moment in time. Some scientists are unhappy with the idea that the world began in this way. Until recently, many of my colleagues preferred the 'Steady State' theory, which holds that the universe had no beginning and is eternal. Theologians generally are delighted with the proof that the universe had a beginning, but scientists are curiously upset. Their reactions provide an interesting demonstration of the response of the scientific mind-supposedly a very objective mind-when evidence uncovered by science itself leads to a conflict with the articles of faith in our profession.
"Now three lines of evidence-the motions of the galaxies, the laws of thermodynamics, and the life story of the stars-pointed to one conclusion; all indicated that the universe had a beginning. There is no ground for supposing that matter and energy existed before and was suddenly galvanized into action. It is simpler to postulate creation ex nihilo. Scientists cannot bear the thought of a natural phenomenon, which cannot be explained, even with unlimited time and money. There is a kind of religion in science. This religious faith of the scientist is violated by the discovery that the world had a beginning. Science has proven that the universe exploded into being at a certain moment. It asks, what cause produced this effect? Who or what put matter and energy into the universe? Was the Universe created out of nothing or was it gathered together out of pre-existing materials? And science cannot answer these questions. The scientist's pursuit of the past ends in the moment of creation. This is an exceedingly strange development, unexpected by all but the theologians. They have always accepted the word of the Bible: 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth.'"
Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers
