“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14, NASB95)

Man’s Propensity Toward Anarchy, Disorder, Death

Entropy requires that over time systems will move from order to disorder, from perfection to randomness. Our science, our culture, our literature, and our art subsume and often highlight the misconception that man is evolving, becoming more complex, even becoming like God (or at least Satan). Book after book and movie after movie tell a story about man ascending to another level of existence.

Evolution is a lie. Evolution as an explanation for man is contrary to the laws of entropy. Man is not evolving to  become more. He is becoming more prone to decay, he is becoming less. Anecdotally this can be seen by man’s DNA. Adam, Eve, and their immediate progeny lived long lives. Scripture records that marriage between close family members was practiced without adversely affected progeny. This is consistent with near error free DNA. Examination of virtually every highly organized system demonstrates the same applicability of the law of entropy. This includes what man has learned of the cosmos, from geology, from biology, and from the sociological life cycle of civilizations throughout history.

Time after time, a civilization becomes highly organized, efficient, successful and prosperous. Inevitably, there are different factors that facilitate a society’s step up in organization and development, but the inexorable forces of decline are present before, during and after the spark and fire of advancement periods. The spark and step up in organization can come from many sources. Advancement in technology, historically weaponry, has been identified most often as the biggest reason for the build up of civilizations. Other factors which have fed advances in civilizations include individual personality and the ability to prosper from trade. Whatever the escalation in level of organization a society enjoys, the decline of organization has followed as sure as gravity draws water from the mountains to the sea.

Like gravity, the effect of entropy is unstoppable on the individual, an organization, a civilization, or even a galaxy. Yet planes can fly, hills can be climbed and water moves from the sea to the mountains. However, it takes action from outside the system to increase the level of entropy, the order, of any given system. This can be seen in our planet’s water cycle where energy from the sun moves water from the sea to the mountains again and again.

The creator of entropy is the Creator of existence itself. Scripture speaks of God’s role in not only creating the universe, a highly ordered entity, but of sustaining it. It is proper to consider that God is the source of all order. To a follower of Christ the thought that God drives the water cycle is not merely scientific. God created our solar system, including our sun, by speaking it into existence. He can use what He created to do what He desires. The spiritual and the scientific overlap, they are not exclusive of each other. The universe is not a closed system.

For the spiritual man, including one who has enjoyed years or decades of spiritual life with the Creator, the concept of God being the source of order is important. A man can be filled to overflowing with the joy of the Lord again and again. One can step out and operate in maturity and strength in various areas of life. Just as one leaving the protection of the parents’ home, one can venture out into the world with independence. Yet, the best student, the strongest Christian, or the most mature saint, needs continued fellowship with God. Only then may his mind, heart, body and spirit be renewed and replenished from wear caused by inevitable entropic forces at work in this universe.