Mike's Life

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Entropy - Where did it come from

So, I am reading a book called "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. It is really good so far, and it explores what Heaven is, where it is, and what we have to look forward to. So, now you are asking yourself, "So, why is this post called Entropy?" First off, I should define entropy. Entropy comes from the second law of Thermodynamics and states - "the entropy of any totally isolated system not at thermal equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value." And entropy is defined as - In thermodynamics, thermodynamic entropy (or simply entropy) is a measure of the amount of energy in a physical system that cannot be used to do work. In statistical mechanics, entropy is defined as a measure of the probability that a system would be in such a state, which is usually referred to as "disorder" or "randomness" present in a system.

Basically, it is that all things must tend towards disorder, or simply all must devolve.

So the book points out that this must not be as it was when God created everything. He originally created everything to be perfect and stay perfect. So, things could not devolve - go to disorder. Therefore stars wouldn't someday explode (entropy is the reason why supernovas occur). So, entropy must have come into existence why the fall occurred. So, Adam and Eve caused entropy. We are told that all was cursed (And would die) when the fall occurred, and entropy is the eventual death of all things. Entropy is why we get old and die (if from natural causes). It is the reason animals grow old and die. Star, planets, galaxies, the universe, will eventually die because of entropy.

So, what does this mean. Well, because of Christ's sacrifice, believers, planets, stars, animals, the universe won't "die." All will be restored one day.

Isn't that a great thing to think about. I also find it amazing that something that we consider one of the fundamental laws of the universe - entropy - was all caused by the Fall. And that all will be reconciled when Christ returns.