“Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up” (Hebrews 1:10-12a). “The stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.”
Matthew 24:29

The issue of whether the world is getting better or worse has given rise to differing opinions. Is the world moving toward utopia or destruction? Even those with a belief in God come to different conclusions on this matter.

Evolution versus Entropy

Evolution according to the dictionary is a “process of development as from a simple to a complex form.” Evolution is understood as “a gradual change upward and outward.” Though evolution is considered to be secular science, some reveal traits of religious faith by statements such as “in the new world order” man will make “a quantum leap forward.”

Opinions about the future often change according to the times. In times of peace and economic prosperity, some thanked God and worshipped Him. But others saw the “heyday” of evolution. Secularists, who believe in evolution from amoeba to man by way of the monkey, naturally believed these (unbelievable) advances would continue.

However, in times of war, man’s futuristic view has often been that Armageddon and the end is upon them. In recent years the optimism about invincible evolution has also been frustrated by the real fact of regression in our earth. Extinction is the rule among species, and large areas of land have become polluted and useless. Ecology has become the theme, and millions of dollars are poured into a paradoxical effort to “save our earth.”

Entropy is “the measure of disorder in a system.” According to the dictionary “entropy always increases and available energy diminishes in a closed system such as the universe.” This law states that the energy/matter component of the universe is inward and downward. All energy moves to a less usable form. In our anthracite coal-mining region of eastern Pennsylvania, garbage is being returned, building mountains of covered waste. Secular scientists have tried to ignore entropy and to disprove this law of God at times, but it stands.

The Founding Fathers

Men like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine were deists. They were instrumental in incorporating God as an original cause into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Deists (like intelligent-design people today) are inclined to be optimistic, believing that a Supreme Being began the universe and everything will turn out all right.

However, those who take God at His Word (the Bible) understand that the earth ages and that humanity itself will become vile and violent. “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Matthew 24:22). God will need to conclude the age in a worldwide judgment like He did before in Noah’s Flood (Luke 17:26-29). Only this time it will be by fire (2 Peter 3:7). Benjamin Franklin’s optimistic view of a rising world order was given a blow in 1736 when his four-year-old son Franky died. Franklin sided at that time with the deistic, rationalist scientists of the “enlightenment.” Consequently he had rejected a Christian friend’s advice to inoculate Franky against a smallpox epidemic. Franklin showed a different spirit over fifty years later, in 1787, when he called for prayer at the constitutional convention. When the delegates seemed to be embroiled in hopeless controversy, Franklin asked that the personal guidance of the One who cares for the sparrows be sought.

Clashing Ideologies

Suffering, pain, and death are facts of our existence that are seen by believers and nonbelievers. Evolutionists see the struggle as constructive. The best survive and produce new species in the upward struggle of evolution. This anti-God perspective has been used to justify heartless Nazism and ruthless Communism. Evolution also had detrimental effects on the environment such as Britain’s overharvesting of codfish in the North Atlantic. Thomas Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog,” said the stress on the population would cause the fittest to survive, a win-win situation! Rather the population dynamics of the codfish were crushed.

The Christian principle is “If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (Galatians 5:15). Christian virtue and stewardship moderates the effects of the curse. The love and compassion of Christ causes a service perspective that relieves the grief of the unfortunate. But when Christian virtue is lost, civilized society degenerates to jungle existence.

The Fall

The earth was not always like this. We have God’s record that it was created “very good” (Genesis 1:31). We can see evidence of this all around us. Through complexity and cooperation, working biological organisms and systems accomplish amazing things.

But we also see some very bad things that bring fear, pain, and death, The answer to “what happened?” is “the Fall” (See Genesis 3). Satan had a vested interest in destroying God’s work in His “very good” creation. When Satan, through the serpent, got Eve, then Adam, to sin by rebelling against God’s good rule, a curse came upon the whole creation. Evolution’s crushing of the weak and survival of the strongest is just glorifying the prevalence of death by which Satan takes souls for himself.

The reality of the degenerative curse on creation is seen in nature. Witness a pack of wolves with a moose and her calf, or a dog with a groundhog—it’s not a pretty thing.

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22).

This groaning and travailing is seen in …

The increase of degenerative life-shortening diseases. The “miraculous” medical advances for the rich in higher society deceptively hide the plight of the poor masses. Yet cancer and other metabolic diseases are cutting lives short. Appalling statistics report that a high percentage of 14-year-old youth in South Africa will never reach the age of 20 because of AIDS. Communities in Thailand built around Buddhist temples also have hospitals for dying HIV victims. The idyllic view often presented of pagan cultures is a lie.

The continued extinction of animal species. It is estimated that only 1/3 of the species are alive today that are in the fossil record from before the Flood. It is also claimed that dozens of species go extinct each year. When these genetic codes written by God are lost, they are gone forever!

The increasing bank of genetic mutations. God created the original genetic codes perfectly. Brothers and sisters could safely marry in the first generations after Adam and Eve. However, with the curse came genetic deterioration. In the propagation of life, there are trillions of duplications of DNA information in the chromosomes of the cells of our bodies. In all this copying of information and cell division, there are some mistakes of duplication, blocking, and corruption. The products, such as multiple heads and legs disfigurement, are usually eliminated before birth or in the population afterwards. However, there are enough mutations on the human genome today that it is not safe for siblings to marry. Genetic defects would be combined and reproduced. This increasing bank of mutations on the genome, of course points back to an original correct genetic code and—Creation!

The expenditure of earth’s resources. Man has mined and taped earth’s resources of coal, oil, and metals, and there is much there yet. However, these resources are limited and are being depleted. In return, the strip mines are being filled with ash from regeneration plants; and large garbage dumps are created, such as the lined area of shallow sea by India.

The decrease of farmable land for food production. Human exploitation strips vegetation off the land in poor countries such as Haiti and India. Heavy rains then remove the topsoil. Brazilian rain forests are threatened. Growing deserts and pollution from overpopulation are decreasing earth’s productive land. Some countries are scarred by war.

The violence of man. The earth responds according to man’s spiritual condition (Deuteronomy 28:15, 23). Terrorism is again a common occurrence as fanatical religion binds people with the fear of death.

“In dying thou shalt die”

“Not only they [the natural world], but ... we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). Constant effort is needed to hold off sickness, starvation, and death. The very life force in metabolism is a wasting process that finally yields to the degeneration principle. Adam was forewarned about this curse. “In dying thou shalt die!” (Genesis 2:17c—original Hebrew).

For man, the process of aging and death kept him from living forever in his sinful condition. In dying and birth [new beginnings], God would preserve a righteous remnant in a pagan world. This dying process is finally removed in the immortal body (Luke 24:41-43 [Jesus’ body]). The entropy principle will cease when Christ defeats the last enemy—death (1 Corinthians 15:28), and all things are made new (Revelation 21:5). Then for those who are right with God, “our vile body” will be changed and “fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).

Resources:
World Book Encyclopedia, “Deism”
Acts & Facts, “Misreading Earth’s Groanings” (Institute of Creation Research)

From: Reaching Out

Language

English

Number of Pages

3

Author

Elvin Stauffer

Publisher

Reaching Out

Topics

Science and the Bible