When an atheist understands the impossibility of his belief that nothing made everything, he often defaults to the belief that the universal is eternal. But that won’t work. It’s a scientific impossibility. The Law of Thermodynamics proves that the universe cannot be eternal. Everything material runs down in time (even the sun will wear out). Leave a rock for a billion years and it will crumble to dust.
There are only a couple of things wrong with the above:
1) The atheist doesn't necessarily think that the universe is eternal (and the atheist certainly doesn't "believe" like Ray believes. Ray's meaning of belief has to do with faith, which is belief in a proposition without any evidence. This is opposed to "belief" or accepting tentatively a proposition which could be proven wrong. The point: Faith can't be proven wrong.).
2) Now Ray seems to misunderstand the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. What is the second law of thermodynamics (you may be asking)?
"No process is possible in which the sole result is the transfer of energy from a cooler to a hotter body." [Atkins, 1984, The Second Law, pg. 25]
I don't know what the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics has to do with whether the universe is eternal or not. The universe is expanding (what is expanding it, we aren't sure yet) and it is possible that the universe will keep expanding, possibly forever. Even if the universe stopped expanding and all the energy in the universe turned to heat and became unusable, it wouldn't mean that the universe isn't eternal. The universe would have just reached maximum entropy/randomness. At that point, who knows what would happen. There are theories that the universe has "banged" and collapsed over and over again. The point is, we just don't know enough about what makes up the universe to know all of what is going on (yet?).
Below is an example of how the 2nd Law works when applying it to Earth:
Energy and Order in Biological Systems
The concept of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics suggests that systems naturally progress from order to disorder. If so, how do biological systems develop and maintain such a high degree of order? Is this a violation of the second law of thermodynamics?
Order can be produced with an expenditure of energy, and the order associated with life on the earth is produced with the aid of energy from the sun.
For example, plants use energy from the sun in tiny energy factories called chloroplasts. Using chlorophyll in the process called photosynthesis, they convert the sun's energy into storable form in ordered sugar molecules. In this way, carbon and water in a more disordered state are combined to form the more ordered sugar molecules.
In animal systems there are also small structures within the cells called mitochondria which use the energy stored in sugar molecules from food to form more highly ordered structures.
(Diagram from: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/bioentropy.html#c1)
Also, for a more in depth explanation of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics see:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/thermo.html
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/thermo/creationism.html
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/seclaw.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics
Ray goes even further:
If the universe was eternal, it would be a trillion billion (plus infinite time) years old, and would have turned to dust a thousand billion trillion years ago. Only that which is non-material, dwelling outside the dimension of time, can be eternal. God qualifies for both. He is Spirit (non-material), and He dwells outside of time.
1) The universe would be infinitely old and would have turned to dust a thousand billion trillion years ago. Funny, he doesn't show any mathematical formula for this nor does he show any sources. Don't believe me? See it for yourself (http://www.pulltheplugonatheism.com/art16.shtml)
2) Ray goes for the jugular and states that god beats his own laws of entropy because he is non-material and dwells outside of time. Though, Ray doesn't give much thought to the theological implications to this statement. If god is outside of time - space, then there is no way for anything within time - space to know of, let alone communicate with such a being. Even if we allow Ray's premise, there is no way to prove that it is his god that made the universe.
And Ray finishes with this whopper:
If we believe that there is no Hell, we will live our life accordingly. If we believe Hell exists and that there will be divine retribution (ultimate justice), then we need a Savior to wash our sins away before the Day of Judgment. God provided one. Read the Gospel of John to see the details.
The above will be tackled tomorrow, so..........same time, same station!!
D
For further reading on the Big Bang and space-time check out:
Big Bang by Simon Singh
Fabric of The Cosmos by Brian Greene
Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Universe In a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking
Road To Reality by Rodger Penrose
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