Greetings Pastor Ken,

I read a couple of your articles on Tzemach and saw that you have a physics and nuclear engineering background. Below I pose a question I hope you can respond to:

Romans 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

3153 mataiotes {mat-ah-yot'-ace}
from 3152; TDNT - 4:523,571; n f
AV - vanity 3; 3

1) what is devoid of truth and appropriateness
2) perverseness, depravity
3) frailty, want of vigor

I believe this verse "in context" refers to the state of creation in the very beginning. As I have contemplated it, I see a clear reference to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, although it is in reference to the "spiritual state of man".

Some have declared that the Garden of Eden was "perfect", but nowhere in the scriptures is that found, and neither was Adam and Eve created "perfect", but what IS said is that on the 6th day, God looked over ALL His hands had created and saw that it was "GOOD" (for His purposes). Notice I append a parenthetical phrase.

It is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics that allows everything to WORK through the expenditure of energy or materials, however, it also depletes the source and eventually will no longer be able to produce the energy to perform the work. This is true with water flow or cellular replication of our bodies. The source of energy always depletes itself until no more useful work can be done.

Not so with God the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit and even the angels. Angels do not fall within the scope of the above verse because they are "spirit". The "law" of "vanity" was intended ONLY for this material world, to bring forth from it, even from the dust, a "living" creature who would be raised up to be like our very God Himself.

So the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics was a necessary "evil(?)" in order to bring about God's plan of salvation.

I realize some of this might require more explanation, and perhaps even more thought, but I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this.

Blessings,

Ernest Long

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Dear Mr. Long,

Thank you for your inquiry. I believe that we are basically in agreement concerning this matter although with some differences in opinion. It is my understanding that the 2nd law of thermodynamics describes the degrading of the usability of energy. Hence, we understand that the universe is moving toward a uniform temperature where no energy transfer is possible. The 2nd law of thermodynamics can also be seen as the only true measure of time. My interpretation of the Genesis (creation and early history) account is that God linked Himself and His creative abilities to the physical creation through man. This linkage provided a continual creative input or, in other words, a continual reordering of energy sources that counterbalanced the degrading effect of usage. As a result the system existed essentially in a timeless state. When man chose to rebel, the result was his separation from God (death in a Biblical sense). This impacted not only man but the physical universe which God had placed under his authority. So man, who had previously been the conduit of God's recreative powers, was no longer able to bring this balancing creative energy into the system, leaving it with the continual degeneration of energy sources which we know as the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. Hence, time as we know it began. This situation is what I believe Paul was speaking about when he spoke of the creation being subjected to "vanity", i.e., subjected to man who had lost his capacity to couple God's creative abilities into the physical universe.

The Bible also speaks of a New Creation. In this New Creation God will once again be coupled directly to the universe and again His creative abilities will offset the degrading effects of usage and, therefore, the system will be timeless or "eternal". Thus the Bible speaks of eternal life, i.e., eternal existence in the presence of God.

I hope that I have been able to express myself clearly enough that you can follow my thoughts. I appreciate your questions and comments. I do not get such questions very often. It is refreshing to know that someone else is thinking along these lines.

Shalom,