Lucas Mix, college chaplain and astrobiologist writes on Entropy: the second law of thermodynamics and Christian hope:
There was an article in the Onion in 2000 with the wonderful title, “Christian Right Lobbies to Overturn Second Law of Thermodynamics.” For those of you not in the know, the second law states that the disorder of a system can only increase or stay the same unless you put work into it. Properly, the law speaks about heat transfer, but the the practical effect is that order comes from organizing things – putting energy in – and if you don’t put energy in, they run down. ….
Evolutionary biologists, like myself, find the Onion article funny because Entropy should be just as disturbing to fundamentalists as evolution. …
Today I want to talk about competing narratives about the world. If you are concerned that science and religion have different stories about the world, I share your concern. They do. Christianity has always, and always will recognize that it presents a different picture. This only becomes problematic when you feel you can only look at one picture at a time (an issue that will recur over and over in Wednesday’s Christian). I’m happy having both, or many, and using them as appropriate. I’m even willing for them to be incompatible (much as the wave and particle formalisms for light are incompatible in optics). I can have that kind of flexibility precisely because I seek knowledge for the sake of understanding rather than for it’s own sake. I have no vested interest in discovering a truth that I can hit people over the head with and force them to agree with me. I do have an interest in discovering truths that help me interact with the world in a productive way (science) and discovering truths that help me connect to God and neighbor (Christianity)….
What is the good news? The good news is that the whole physical world will pass away, but you, the very essence of you will not. The good news is that you have the ability to understand and work in a limited, and therefore precious, universe. We must not forget the story of death – it happens all the time, but even more importantly, we have a story of resurrection.
Read it all here.
h/t to Arizona’s Dean Nick Knisely who blogs at Entangled States.