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Science In The Bible

               For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21)

                But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. (II Peter 3:10)

According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the universe is slowly approaching equilibrium, when there will be no more energy available for us, and the universe will suffer “heat death.” This means that everything in the universe will approach absolute zero and cease to function.

We often hear that the Bible isn’t a science book. It’s not. But that doesn’t mean there’s no science in it. In today’s passage, we read about creation being subjected to frustration (NIV) or futility (NASB). That isn’t exactly scientific language, and it doesn’t follow the scientific method involving repeated controlled experiments, but then again, I strongly doubt that Lord Kelvin repeatedly followed the universe to its end. Scripture may describe somewhat poetically what he extrapolated. I’ve heard scientists refer to Nature choosing, so they really don’t have a strong argument against poetic depictions.

In the verse from 2 Peter, it refers to creation being subjected to fire. Fire was used to purify things. Since everything has been corrupted, it all needs to be purified. But the other thing about the fire is that it is new energy. The suggestion is that it is intense energy, meaning that in addition to purifying everything, it will energize everything – bringing what was growing colder and colder back up to a proper temperature. In other words, God will do to and for the universe what the universe is not able to do to and for itself. He will either heal it or resurrect it from its near dead, frustrated, futile state so that it can function as it should have all along. This can only happen because something outside of the universe with enough power to (so to speak) recharge all the batteries brings it about. 

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