CREATION and the LAWS of SCIENCE

adapted from an article by

David Rosevear

Ph.D., C.Chem.

The study of science is possible only because the structures and interactions of matter are governed by immutable laws. We are able to predict the timing of the tides because the moon is subject to the unchanging laws of motion and gravity. We can set up a manufacturing plant secure in the knowledge that the behaviour of the materials and machinery involved will not unexpectedly change. The laws of science have been time-tested. No one has observed a situation where they do not apply. Even, the weightlessness of the astronaut is not due to a break-down of the law of gravity; it stems from the weakness of the earth's gravitational field far above the surface of the planet.

But science deals in theories as well as laws. A theory is a proposed explanation for a class of phenomena whose status is still conjectural.^* When a theory is unable to explain all relevant observations, it needs to be modified or even scrapped.

Creation and evolution are both theoretical attempts to explain the origin of the universe and of life. The creationist sees the laws of science as the expression of an unchanging Creator who has revealed Himself. To the evolutionist, however, the consistency of natural laws is a mystery. For him, matter and energy came into being by chance and were organized by random events, yet they somehow obey immutable laws.

In this article, we shall consider some assertions of creation theory and evolution theory to see whether or not they obey the laws of science.

The Law of Cause-and-Effect

The law of cause-and-effect states that every effect must have a cause. It also states that the effect cannot be greater, in size or in kind, than its cause. This law is embodied in Newton's laws of motion. No exceptions to the law of cause-and-effect have ever been observed. It follows, then, that every effect we see in the universe must have had a cause, and we can trace all effects back to a First Cause; for the creationist, this is the Creator.

The First Cause of time must be greater than time; namely, eternel. The First Cause had no origin, not in the normal, temporal sense of the word. (This answers those who ask where God came from.)

Space stretches beyond the limits of detection, so the First Cause of space must exceed it; the First Cause must be infinite. There can be no place free from the influence of the First Cause of space.

The universe contains an incalculable amount of energy. The sum total of all nuclear energy, radiant energy, kinetic energy, etc., is staggering; in fact, it is unimaginably great. According to the law of cause-and-effect, the First Cause of all of the energy in the universe cannot be less than all of this energy added together. The First Cause is, therefore, omnipotent - i.e., all-powerful.

Consider the staggering amount of information in the universe. In addition to the billions of bits of information governing the myriad properties of matter and energy, there is mind-boggling amount of genetic information in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, as well. All of this information must have originated somewhere. Logically, then, the First Cause must be omniscient - i.e., all-knowing.

The evolutionist is constrained to ignore the spiritual aspects of both this life and the next, even though it is apparent that every human being possesses a personality and a will. In order to create personalities, the First Cause must have a personality, for the effect cannot be greater than the cause. As personalities, we are interested in other personalities. Therefore, it is reasonable to suppose that the First Cause created us so that He (a personal Creator) could have fellowship with us, and we with Him. Our sense of right and wrong in our personal lives, in our games, and in our judicial systems, suggests further that the First Cause is righteous.

The Laws of Thermodynamics

The laws governing the relationship between heat and work (thermodynamics in the jargon of science) were formulated during the nineteenth century. Men like Joule and Lavoisier measured the conversion of mechanical energy into heat and weighed the products of combustion. It turned out that the laws they discovered could be expressed in a variety of ways and had applications beyond classical thermodynamics. Some of these extensions, such as in the field of information theory, are useful in the study of origins. Only one or two versions of the laws of thermodynamics will be needed here.

The First Law of Thermodynamics

— a law of conservation —

The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Energy can be converted from one form to another, such as from electrical energy to light and heat, but the change does not result in any net gain or loss of energy. Similarly, when the energy state known as matter changes form, such as when wood and oxygen burn to ash and gases, there is no overall gain or loss of matter. Even when it was found in the twentieth century that matter could be converted into raw energy by a nuclear reaction, the fixed equivalency between the two (E=mc²) meant that the combined total of matter and energy is unchanging.

The First Law of thermodynamics can be applied to the question of how the universe originated. Since energy (and hence, matter) cannot be created or destroyed, it follows that nothing inside the universe would have been capable of bringing the universe into being; that is, the universe could not have created itself. So, if the universe had a beginning, it must have been created by something outside the universe. This is the creationist's postulate.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics

— a law of decay —

The Second Law of Thermodynamics, formulated in the nineteenth century as a result of studies by scientists such as Carnot and Clausius, states that in an isolated, closed system, spontaneous processes lead to a decrease in order: in other words, left to themselves, things tend to become disordered. Energy, while remaining constant in quantity, tends to move to a state of lower potential, where it is less available to do work.

The Second Law and the Universe

Applying the Second Law to the universe, we can reason that if the universe had no beginning (i.e., it is infinitely old and in a steady state), it should have reached a state of complete disorder by now, with no more available energy. If the universe were infinitely old, it should have already died the “heat death” predicted by astronomers who believe in evolution. But since we see ordered matter on the earth, in the solar system, and in galaxies, and energy at a high potential everywhere, it follows that the universe is not infinitely old - it had a beginning.

The Second Law and Evolution

Another way of stating the Second Law of Thermodynamics is that, in a closed system, spontaneous processes lead to a decrease in order. But the supposed evolution of matter (from sub-atomic particles to atoms, then to molecules, to simple life, and eventually to the creature whose brain is the most complex, organized material known - man) would involve an increase in order. Since evolution is said to result from chance changes, with no directing force other than natural selection (which is incapable of producing anything truly new), it is evident that the theory of evolution is at odds with the Second Law.

Some evolutionist protest that the earth-sun system is actually an open system and, consequently, the Second Law does not apply. The Third Law of Thermodynamics has something to say to them.

The Third Law of Thermodynamics

— a law of intelligence —

One formulation of the Third Law of Thermodynamics says that the addition of energy to an open system decreases order - the opposite of what we see in closed systems. The addition of raw energy to an open system is a recipe for decreased order in the same way that a bull in a china shop puts in energy and produces only chaos! The Third Law tells us that to increase order in an open system, energy needs to be directed - harnessed and manipulated - by information.

The Third Law and Information

We see an increase in order whenever directed energy is applied to open systems. On a building site, materials are assembled with the application of a great deal of disciplined energy under the guidance of the plans issued by the architects and engineers. The building has more order than its constituent parts alone, but the process is far from spontaneous. Energy and information are invested in the building materials, which themselves result from the application of energy in accordance with designed and controlled manufacturing processes. An acorn growing into an oak tree represents an increase in the organization of natural materials. The genetic information in the seed directs nutrients, water, and solar energy into the higher state of order represented by the plant. Of course, such increases in order are local and temporary. Both the building and the tree will eventually succumb to the ravages of the Second Law.

Although evolutionists would never think the mere application of raw energy to matter would produce a mechanical device, they nevertheless imagine that sunlight and electrical discharges would suffice to spontaneously produce the first living cell in a warm pond of primeval soup. By its very nature, the behavior of the hypothetical primeval soup would be determined solely by the physical and chemical properties of its contents. The soup would not contain information about how to manufacture the complex chemicals of life and then organize them into a living cell. Since the primeval soup would not possess the information needed to produce life, the Third Law rules it out as life's cradle.

The Third Law and the Logos

According to the Bible, God's act of Creation involved an input of directed energy. The First Cause created time (the beginning), space (the heavens), and matter (the earth). The earth was formless and empty at first, but God went on to organize a world of immense complexity. Jeremiah 10:12 alludes to this infusion of energy and information. “He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion (emphasis added). The first chapter of John's Gospel refers to the Creator as the “Word” (Greek: logos), and words do indeed convey information.

The more power and wisdom a worker has at his disposal, the quicker he will do a job and the better will be the result. It is reasonable, therefore, to suppose that an omnipotent and omniscient First Cause could create things instantaneously and to perfection. Indeed, Psalm 33 says He spoke and it was done, and the Genesis account reports that it was good.

As it relates to information theory, the Second Law says that random changes do not result in a gain of information, as evolution theory suggests, but causes a loss of information - a decrease in signal-to-noise ratio, if you will. Biological mutations have long been considered by evolutionists to be the source of new genetic information for natural selection to use in evolving “higher” forms of life. But mutations are random changes in the existing genes, and according to the Second Law inevitably lead to a loss of information. No mutational advance has ever been reported, and most mutations are clearly deleterious to the viability of the organisms in which they occur.

Randomness is the opposite of design, and mutation is the enemy of information. Put simply, information theory confirms the obvious: information can only come from an intelligent source. And this means that the creation of genetic information required a Logos.

Conclusion

The idea is put about that evolution theory is the scientific view of origins and creationism is an abuse of science. But the evolutionist's explanations for origins - the steady-state (eternal) universe or the creation of the universe out of the Big Bang and the creation of life out of primeval soup - pay no attention to the law of cause-and-effect.

They also violate the First Law by creating matter and energy out of nothing. The evolutionist then ignores the Second Law by expecting an ordered universe to be created out of an explosion. Further, evolutionists wish to contradict the Third Law by insisting that mere matter transformed itself into life without the aid of informational controls.

Evolution seems to be scientifically unsound at every turn. Creation theory, on the other hand, is in harmony with the fundamental laws of science. Which, then, is the more unscientific theory? It would seem that the answer is evolution.

The very existence of laws points to a faithful Creator, the One who said, “I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

* The Random House Dictionary of the English Language: The Unabridged Edition, s.v “theory.”

Scripture quotations are from the King James Bible.