Why the Second Law of Thermodynamics Doesn't Prove that God Exists

"But we don't live in an isolated system." This is always the response I hear when a Christian tries to argue that the Second Law of Thermodynamics proves that Evolution doesn't work.  The idea of the argument is that things go to disorder and evolution means that more order is introduced into the world. It's usually accompanied by a metaphor about leaving your room to sit for twenty years and how if you came back it would be in a more disordered state than when you left it.

The Problem

There's a few problems with this. One, I would say the Second Law of Thermodynamics doesn't really speak to evolution... I think it has more to say about the origin of life. More on that in a second. The second problem is the one that people are so quick to point out--we don't live in an isolated system.

The thing is, it is true that entropy must increase in an isolated system from irreversible processes. Say what? This means that disorder/randomness in a space that is not exchanging mass or energy with its surroundings increases. So basically things naturally get messy. But see, the world is not an isolated system. There is a constant flow of energy into our atmosphere from our beloved Sun. 

Life and Equilibrium

Another thing about entropy is that it doesn't necessarily increase for processes already in equilibrium. And life is not in equilibrium. When you die, your mass and energy dissipates, reaching equilibrium with your surroundings. That's why people can look at the world, thriving with life, and say, "Wow, look at all this order."

So what I'm saying is, life, almost by definition, doesn't have to obey the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The earth, and life, because they are not isolated systems all require a constant input of energy to stay ordered and far away from equilibrium. If they get that input of energy, they can maintain or even increase in order. This is why we eat. Om nom nom.

But Wait...

But life requires one more step: a way to put that energy to work. (This moves away from the topic of thermodynamics into kinetics) If the sun shone on me all day, all I'd get is a sunburn. Not exactly life-giving. But some living things have systems that can take light from the sun and put it to work changing molecules into forms they can metabolize. We then eat those things, and there are systems in our bodies that break down those molecules and build them back into something we can use. It's beautiful, really. All this is possible because the Sun is providing our world with energy.

So let's talk about how this wonderful system came into being and how, at some point in time life came out of non-life. What did we need? We needed:

1. Energy... enough not just to hold the system at a distance from equilibrium, but enough to take something that is already in equilibrium, and build that system from scratch, which leads us to...

2. A way to use that energy.

Who Set Up the System?

Our ecosystem is so incredibly webbed... and the world took less than 800 million years from the time it formed to become teeming with life. That sounds like a lot of time and a lot of energy, but where did the system come from capable of organizing prebiotic material into systems that can metabolize and use energy? We have a system today--the cell. Before the cell, what put RNA together in a code that communicates with proteins--that functions on layered, overlapping levels? Random chance? I don't think so. I think the level of organization in the world suggests an outside source of intelligence. I think it begs for an outside source of intelligence.

I think that's where the argument is.

I have my own complicated perspective on Evolution, but it's more scientifically than theologically based and I don't think "disproving" Evolution is anywhere close to the best way to affirm our faith or break down intellectual barriers to faith. But the origin of life? That's what confirms my belief in God.

The Gist

So to my Christian friends who argue for the existence of God with the Second Law of Thermodynamics, don't be discouraged when your arguments are shot to the ground. And I'm going to be really blunt here: please stop using it in conversations--it's one of the quickest ways to destroy your credibility as a rational believer and lose whatever rapport you've built with someone seeking God. 

To my not Christian friends who believe the answer is as simple as the world not being an isolated system, I have significant questions for you. What is it that funneled that first nonliving material into the brilliantly complex systems we see today? Would it be so impossible to believe that it was an Intelligent Being?

(One last thought I had... is the Universe a closed system? Doesn't it seem strange that the Universe started with an explosion, and instead of going immediately to equilibrium, produced a tiny tiny tiny speck of superbly organized life floating for a quarter of the time the Universe has existed far from equilibrium? How do we explain that?)