This Book in PDF - Gary North

Introduction 9a special miracle ofGod. Are we then prisoners in a world burdenedby a constant curse? Is this curse a uniformitarian phenomenon,meaning the same during all periods of history and under all knowncircumstances? Can it accelerate or be retarded as a result of scientificactivity or ethical activity?When we bring up the question of uniformitarian rates ofchange, we thereby raise the issue ofnatural law. To what extent is aprocess of nature a "law"? To what extent is it a reliable regularity ofnature? This is a fundamental question regarding the nature of reality.Death, aging, and the decay of nature are regularities that weobserve and use to formulate our plans and institutions. But are theyuniformitarian processes? Are they inescapable? Are they constants?To what extent are they tied to God's curse ofman and nature? Ifthecurse should be steadily (or even sporadically) lifted, will these "constants"also change? Of course they will change: this is how we willknow that the curse has been lifted. Then how can we legitimatelydescribe them as uniformitarian processes? For that matter, is anyprocess ultimately uniformitarian- the same, yesterday, today, andtomorrow? The Bible says no. The scientists say ... ?EntropySome Christians have argued that the curse of aging is an aspectof the phenomenon that scientists call entropy. Or better put, theyargue that death, aging, and entropy are all the result ofGod's curseon man and nature. The physical degeneration and death of mencertainly are part of the curse. But what about entropy, the supposedlyuniversal "wearing out" of the universe? Is the curse ofGenesis3 the origin of entropy? For that matter, what exactly is thephenomenon of entropy?Henry Morris, one ofthe founders ofthe post-1960 revival ofcreationism,or the Scientific Creation movement, places heavy relianceon the concept of entropy, which he equates with the second law ofthermodynamics. He writes thatthere are three basic vehicles of physical reality associated with the entropyconcept. In the structure of all systems, entropy is a measure of disorder. Inthe maintenance of all processes, entropy is a measure of wasted energy. Inthe transmission of all information, entropy is a measure of useless noise.Each of these concepts is basically equivalent to the other two, even thoughit expresses a distinct concept.