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Science and the Bible by Bolton Davidbeiser Chairman, Science Division Biola College (
A Worthy Companion to Bunyan’s PILGRIM’S PROGRESS THE HOLY WAR by John Bunyan
THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAM IC S
A ccording to the second law of thermodynamics, the universe is like a clock that is running down. The scientists are sure that, unless there is a creative force which is operating, the time will come when the sun and the stars are burned out and the universe will have run down. This running down of the universe poses a real problem for the athe ists, for how could it have gotten “wound up” in the first place so that it can now be in the process of run ning down? Another way of looking at the second law of thermodynamics is that there is a trend toward ran domness in the universe. That is, the trend is toward forming less complex distributions of matter from more complex. This is just the oppo site of evolution, for according to the theory of evolution, more com plex forms have developed from less complex forms. Therefore it has been said that the theory of evolution is contrary to the second law of ther modynamics. Arthur Eddington, the renowned physicist, said that this law holds the supreme position among the laws of nature. After saying that prac tically any difficulty need not neces sarily be fatal to a theory, he says, “ But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermo dynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to col lapse in deepest humiliation.” Since the theory of evolution is very much in vogue today and has not collapsed in deepest humiliation, and since the second law o f thermo dynamics has not been discredited, it follows that the evolutionists must have been able to convince them selves that evolution is not contrary to this law. A human being can overcome ran domness by doing such things as ar ranging pigments to represent a landscape or letters to form a sign saying, “ Keep off the grass.” To do these t h i ng s requires intelligence and the expenditure of energy. The energy comes from food and can be traced back to the sun as its origin. A bird can overcome randomness by
building a nest from scattered ma terials. This also requires the ex penditure of energy plus an ability which may be called an expression of instinct. An egg developing into an individual increases in complex ity. This requires an expenditure of energy and a genetic makeup which determines how development will take place in the particular environ ment. There are men of science who pro fess to be Bible-believing Christians who nevertheless accept and teach a certain amount of evolution. Some of these criticize anti-evolutionists for invoking the second law of ther modynamics as an evidence against the theory of evolution. They say that there is no contradiction here because plenty of energy is supplied by an external source, namely the sun. The sun is “ running down,” but while doing so it has supplied the energy necessary to build more com plex animals and plants from less complex ones. However, a source of energy is not in itself sufficient to do this. In the examples mentioned here there was also required an intelligence, an instinct, or a genetic makeup. If the parts of a watch are put into a box and shaken, more energy may be expended than is actually required to assemble the watch, but this will not put the watch together. The in telligence and skill of a watchmaker are also necessary. A Christian man of Science who says that the second law of thermo dynamics does not contradict the theory of evolution was asked about the watch-in-the-box analogy. He said that to make the analogy com parable to the evolution of animals and plants it would need to be as sumed that certain parts had an af finity for each other so that when they came in contact in the right way they would stay together, while other combinations would separate again. (Permission to quote directly was requested but was not granted.) It appears that Christians are still free to say that the second law of thermodynamics does contradict the theory of evolution, without fear of being called uninformed.
the eternal war for the soul of man. A timeless classic deserving a place in every home, every library. Hand somely produced. 378 pages. A t Your Favorite Bookseller OR WRITE TO MOODY PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60610
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OCTOBER, 1964
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