The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics and the Meaning of LIfe

I volunteer for a local middle school's Science Olympiad team.

What is Science Olympiad?  Check it out from this site!

I coach Thermodynamics, which is a real event.  Yes, that thermodynamics that many mechanical and chemical engineers take during their studies.  It's one of those subjects where if you are going to design race cars, be a rocket scientist, or solve the meaning of life through thermo, this is what you need.

Speaking about the meaning of life, one of my students pointed out an article that the 2nd law of thermodynamics could be responsible for the life on this planet.  If you read through the article, in summary, a force (such as sun energy) cooked the chemicals on earth to the point where the atoms and molecules start to bond until there are organisms on earth.

It's a good theory but reading on into the article, this theory of the origins of life doesn't explain how one day, animals began to reason about their environment around them and how humans began to communicate thoughts and ideas through drawing things on walls and making noises.

It's one of those things I have to think about.  As a Christian, learning the Creation story in the Bible and meshing science into this is tricky.  Many cite scripture in two spots that "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."  (2 Peter 3:8, Psalm 90:4)  Although some argue that these verses points that the Bible does state that God's days might be really a thousand years, one has to be careful not to take these verses out of context.  These verses, like many verses in the Bible, sometimes show simile or stress a point using time references to show our perception versus God's perception.  It just seems a long time to wait on the long but the Lord is quick to show compassion.

Anyways, it's a good point to ponder.