THE PRIME OF LIFE
ENTROPY
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. – 2 Corinthians 4:16 (NIV)
In a creation awaiting deliverance from “bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:21), and as humans conceived with a sinful condition and destined for the grave, we might think we have been dying sin
ce we first breathed air. Yet this is untrue. In our early development and growth, despite a flawed DNA program and imperfect nutrition, our bodies made remarkable progress: traits and features took form, intellectual knowledge, skills, and mental acuity progressed, strength increased, and, surviving puberty, we became physically mature men and women.
So what happened since then? Most seasoned adults can identify a “prime” in their lives, through hindsight; it seems few of us were aware of our primes or appreciated them fully as they came and went! Researchers find that mental quickness and memory seem to peak at some time in the 20s, while in spite of that diminished ability, other mental abilities are enhanced, peaking later. Similarly, physical quickness, flexibility, and libido peak in the late teens or early 20s, while strength and endurance continue to progress, though also reaching an eventual peak. As a “master’s” runner, I’ve befriended the WAVA (World Association of Veteran Athletes) “age grading” tables, which allow me to compare my running performance at age 41 with my college-aged mark, or even with the time of a 31-year old.
But back to the question: What happened? After all that astonishing growth toward our various peaks, why can we not maintain them? Some would say the answer lies in the “Second Law of Thermodynamics”, otherwise known as the “Law of Entropy.” Entropy is the formal scientific understanding of disorder, and this law basically guarantees it. There are various expressions of the law, but regarding energy, it essentially says that no process is 100% efficient, and regarding order, it essentially says that order is only brought about at the expense of energy. So, while any single process may produce order or useful work, the universe as a whole is ultimately “running down.” Isaiah 51:6 says “the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment.” After Adam’s sin, God pronounced that the human body would return to the dust (Genesis 3:19), and He had warned earlier that “in the day you eat of it [the forbidden tree’s fruit] you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17), literally in the Hebrew “dying you shall die.” So understandably, one might assume that the Fall of Man brought on the entropy itself. But it’s not that straightforward.
We need entropy: for digestion, for all processes involving diffusion (of which there are many, including breathing itself), for things to melt, for things to mix properly, for the soil to be renewed, for the sun to generate light, and even for blue skies. So disorder is not the problem. To understand this we need to look at the Second Law of Thermodynamics a bit more closely. In a given system, energy can be captured and order produced, providing that an intelligent or intelligently-
designed mechanism exists to do so. This is true when plants photosynthesize, or when I file papers and tidy my home office. The sun pays the entropy cost for both of these processes: it powered the plant’s organelles to perform their chemistry, and it powered my muscles and neurons (via food that I ate, which ultimately came from plants) to organize my world. If we step outside plants and persons and look at the whole planet, it is a similar scenario. The earth supports life and a variety of remarkably ordered cycles and systems, all at an outside expense. So, supposing that everything ran perfectly here on the planet, entropy would be of little consequence other than a relatively small cost to the rest of the universe. Now, the fact that the universe as a whole is running down may indeed be a post-Fall matter, but how little would it have taken for God, who presently sustains the world He created (Jeremiah 23:24, Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:17), to make up that difference with a tiny bit more of his sustaining influence? After all, he did just that with the Hebrew people during their desert wandering: “Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years” (Deuteronomy 8:4). The issue then, is not so much the disordering process, but the imperfection and degree of the ordering mechanisms. It’s about disequilibrium of the two.
Picture this scenario: You visit the Snake River and enjoy fishing from its banks. You decide, though, that it would be nice to get out on the river itself and maybe throw in a line from a canoe. So you return the following weekend and do just that. But is it the same river? Sure, it’s still the Snake, but most of that water you enjoyed last week has made its way to the ocean or to some place in the ground between here and the Pacific. Some has evaporated into the atmosphere, some drunk in by thirsty creatures, and some drawn into roots along the bank, perhaps giving a plant turgor pressure to stand, or contributing its hydrogen and oxygen molecules toward sugars and growth. The “river” is an abstraction; it is a description of what the canyon does with flowing water. Similarly, our bodies are rivers of material, continually rebuilding, continually breaking down. Osteoclasts destroy bone material so that osteoblasts can build it right back (this is why the stresses we put on our bodies can eventually reshape our bones). Every second, several million red blood cells are produced in each of us. These replace the several million decommissioned by entropy in that same second. At this rate, our bodies contain an entirely different set of red blood cells in less than three months’ time. Our skin cells replenish likewise, such that the persons we know and love, though they remain recognizable, are covered with an entirely new outer skin layer every four to five weeks! We recognize a person’s physical form due to the “channel” of DNA instructions, even though he or she is quite literally a river of changing material.
In the fallen world, in our fallen condition, we reach a point in which the ordering mechanisms no longer keep pace with entropy. In my understanding this is primarily the result of the genetic bottle
neck that occurred through the Great Flood. Whereas the original earth was populated with Adam and Eve’s largely intact and greatly diverse (“heterozygous”) DNA information, the post-Flood earth was repopulated by the degraded and much less diverse gene pool of Noah’s three sons and their wives. This is why we see a marked drop-off in human life spans after the Flood. Furthermore, the Babel dispersion isolated humans into what eventually became ethnic groups (for which God has a strategic purpose, see Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 17:26), and this has further limited the expression of genetic information. The familial inbreeding that first produced a healthy human population has today become harmful, and as a result, taboo. Extremes of this were first observed in European inbreeding among royal families. Environmental conditions and the degradation among plants (upon which creatures depend) may also be contributing factors as to why ordering mechanisms are limited in counteracting entropy. So today, most living organisms reach a peak, or prime of life, and are subject to a typical lifespan.
The need for entropy to be actively countered has apparently sparked the interest of those producing educational television. Recently, a series entitled “Life After People” aired an episode projecting what would happen to New York City’s infrastructure in, dramatically enough, a world extinct of humans. In fascinating computer-generated graphics it depicted the reign of entropy without the ordering mechanism of human intelligence and effort. Without maintenance, majestic skyscrapers would eventually fall, literally, to entropy. Similarly, the series “Modern Marvels” aired an episode examining the immense amount of order and energy required to keep mega-structures intact and functional.
Is it discouraging to recognize the deficiency of mechanisms—that we move beyond our prime and toward the expiration of our earthly bodies? It sure could be. Job lamented in Job 21 that even those in relatively good health to the end, free of bitterness and struggle, nonetheless “lie down alike in the dust, and worms cover them” (v. 26). Yet t
he matter need not dishearten us. Firstly, because the understanding that entropy is continually countered, though imperfectly, helps us realize God’s idealized and mysterious plan for sustaining us in our prime eternally. Our heavenly bodies will exist always in the prime of life. We can infer how God will accomplish this: The processes that bring development, growth, and healing here on earth are likely the same in a heaven even without deficiency and wounding. We might say that in heaven we will not only be healed, but continually healing. Health will be the norm—something we are not accustomed to. A person whose vision has deteriorated is surprised by new-found clarity when he or she updates the eyeglass prescription. We will, I think, be amazed at what we are when in our true prime! Secondly, in this life we need not define our prime by physical ability or mental acuity, but rather by spiritual maturity. Paul instructed Timothy that “physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). This growth, energized by the Holy Spirit in us, can usurp spiritual entropy. “For the Lord does not see [evaluate] as man sees; for a man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
We can certainly seek to live out our years with minimal breakdown. This is accomplished through physical activity, a healthy diet, good relationships, and the basic principle of moderation. We can fear the Lord and enjoy the health and nourishment that correlates (Proverbs 3:7-8, 4:22). We can remain teachable so that we are not destroyed by regret and foolishness (Proverbs 5:11). Furthermore, rejecting envy and living peacefully brings us life (Proverbs 14:30). Yet in Psalm 31:9-10, David speaks of his weakened eyes, anguish, and groaning as a result of affliction and persecution. And we may know of saints who walked in the Lord increasingly while finishing out their lives in turmoil and physical trial. So while we try to live strongly, we must never lament, but rather pursue godliness and anticipate the heavenly perfection that waits. And while we have vigor, let us use it fully for God’s glory. Lastly, when we see the vibrancy of youth around us, we ought to draw it out for God’s glory as well; encourage the enthusiasm and energy of the young person who wants to start a ministry, write music, become a leader, or minister overseas. Those of us who find our minds and bodies going south have a mantle to pass on; God is always in His prime and his work in this world must reflect this.
All Scriptures NKJV unless otherwise noted.
Over the Hill?
This month’s essay explores the idea of entropy, or disorder, and the reality that we may find ourselves sliding downhill from our prime of life. Please give it a read, and I’m interested in hearing any comments from those who have abandoned the “good ole’ days” or “I can remember when…” thoughts for greener spiritual pastures. We need not live in the past! Also, in light of my April essay on metamorphosis and this month’s read, I’d like to know to what degree the hope of heaven’s beauty and perfection motivates us day-to-day. Whom of you indeed “consider that the present sufferings are nothing to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed”? God bless and enjoy the essay! - Chard