The second law of thermodynamics is an unscalable wall for evolution. The theory of evolution, as classically understood, envisions a process by which simple, undirected beginnings have given rise, over time, to highly complex and organized biological systems. From single-celled organisms to the human brain, the narrative is one of progressive complexity, functionality, and information. However, this trajectory stands in direct tension with one of the most universal laws of nature: the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
This article explores the profound contradictions between evolutionary theory and thermodynamic law, particularly focusing on entropy, the concept of information, and the nature of self-organization. Drawing from respected scientists across disciplines, it will demonstrate that evolution’s central claims defy both physical law and reason—pointing, instead, to the need for divine agency.
I. The Second Law of Thermodynamics: A Brief Overview
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is one of the most universally accepted and foundational principles in all of science. In its simplest formulation, it states that in any closed system, the total entropy—or disorder—will tend to increase over time. Entropy, in thermodynamic terms, measures the degree of energy dispersion or randomness in a system. A more ordered system has low entropy; a more chaotic one has high entropy.
Sir Arthur Eddington, the eminent physicist and astronomer, emphasized the absolute nature of this principle:
“The law that entropy always increases—the Second Law of Thermodynamics—holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature… if your theory is found to be against the Second Law of Thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.”¹
Entropy is not merely a scientific abstraction; it is observable in everyday life. Buildings decay, metals rust, organisms age and die. In all of these, energy becomes increasingly unavailable for doing useful work, and systems degrade toward equilibrium and disorder.
II. Evolution and Entropy: A Contradiction in Trajectory
Evolution claims that, over time, matter has spontaneously organized itself into increasingly complex, energy-efficient, and functionally rich structures. This notion of a long, upward trajectory—from hydrogen atoms to human minds—seems, at face value, to directly contradict the Second Law.
Harold Blum, a biochemist and proponent of evolution, acknowledged the severity of this paradox:
“The second law of thermodynamics states that the general direction of any change is toward greater entropy, or greater randomness and disorder… The situation we confront in biology is this: the organism is a machine that builds itself, and this self-building process appears to contradict the very laws of physics that underlie it.”²
This contradiction is not merely semantic. Biological organisms are structured systems of exceedingly low entropy. The development of such systems, particularly from undirected natural processes, is a thermodynamic anomaly.
III. The Open System Rebuttal: Adequate or Avoidance?
The most common rebuttal to the entropy argument is the claim that the Earth is not a closed system—it receives a continuous supply of energy from the Sun. Therefore, it is argued, the Second Law does not apply in the same way.
Technically, it is true that the Earth is an open system. But this assertion misses the deeper issue: entropy can increase in open systems as well. The Second Law does not merely apply to closed systems—it applies universally to energy transformations, whether in isolated, closed, or open systems. The presence of energy input alone does not explain how ordered systems arise unless there exists a mechanism for harnessing and directing that energy into useful work.
As Dr. John Ross of Harvard University states:
“…there are no known violations of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Ordinarily the Second Law is stated for isolated systems, but the Second Law applies equally well to open systems.”³
In other words, openness alone does not explain increasing complexity. In fact, energy without organization typically accelerates disorder. Sunlight causes paint to peel, wood to rot, and corpses to decompose—it does not spontaneously build complex, information-rich structures.
IV. The Problem of Information
Another dimension of the entropy problem is the question of biological information. Life is not merely ordered; it is specified. DNA, the central molecule of heredity and function in all known life, contains vast amounts of digitally encoded information. This is not “order” in the sense of snowflakes or crystals—it is instruction-based, purposeful complexity.
Dr. Werner Gitt, former Director at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology, summarizes:
“There is no known law of nature, no known process and no known sequence of events which can cause information to originate by itself in matter.”⁴
Natural processes can degrade or rearrange existing information, but no known process has ever been observed to generate new, functionally specified information from non-information. And yet, evolution posits just that: the spontaneous and continual increase of biological information over time.
Bill Gates put the matter in lay terms:
“DNA is like a computer program, but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.”⁵
But no one claims that software programs arise from sunlight or chance mutations. They are designed by intelligent minds. Why, then, should we believe that DNA arose by accident and was self-amplifying?
V. The Myth of Self-Organization
To solve the contradiction between entropy and complexity, some theorists have proposed the idea of “self-organization.” According to this view, under certain conditions, matter can spontaneously form ordered patterns—such as snowflakes, crystal lattices, or Benard convection cells.
But these examples, while visually appealing, are irrelevant to the kind of functional order observed in biology. Snowflakes and crystals are examples of symmetrical order, not specified complexity. They do not contain instructional blueprints or encode functional relationships between parts.
A.E. Wilder-Smith, a distinguished scientist with three earned doctorates in the natural sciences, wrote:
“The spontaneous formation of a highly ordered structure from unordered building blocks represents a major contradiction to the Second Law of Thermodynamics… Such a process could only be maintained in defiance of the Second Law by continual input of intelligence and information.”⁶
The claim that life arose through self-organization is not a scientific explanation—it is a sleight of hand that hides behind terminological confusion.
VI. Thermodynamics and the Origin of Life
The entropy problem is most acute when we consider the origin of life—abiogenesis. The very first life form, even at its simplest, would require:
A functioning cell membrane
Self-replicating genetic material
A system of metabolism
Hundreds of interdependent protein molecules
These structures represent an astronomical decrease in entropy, one that could not have occurred without the injection of vast amounts of organized information.
Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine, though himself a proponent of evolution, admitted:
“The idea of spontaneous genesis of life in its present form is therefore highly improbable, even on the scale of the billions of years postulated by evolutionists.”⁷
Abiogenesis presents a thermodynamic wall which evolution cannot scale. If natural processes tend toward disorder, how did the first intricate, highly ordered system appear?
VII. Biblical Implications
The Bible provides the framework that reconciles complexity, information, and order. It attributes the origin of life not to chaotic energy transformations but to an intelligent Creator.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
— Genesis 1:1
“All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”
— John 1:3
Order, in the biblical worldview, is the result of divine decree. The structure of DNA, the elegance of physical laws, and the harmony of ecosystems reflect the craftsmanship of the Logos, the eternal Word.
This framework also explains the universal presence of entropy: a fallen world subjected to futility, awaiting redemption:
“For the creation was subjected to futility… in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption…”
— Romans 8:20–21
Far from being a tool for evolution, entropy is a signpost pointing to a universe in decay—a universe that was once “very good” but is now in decline.
VIII. Conclusion: An Entropic Dilemma for Evolution
The Second Law of Thermodynamics casts a long shadow over the theory of evolution. While evolutionary theory claims a steady upward march from simplicity to complexity, the Second Law insists that the natural tendency of all systems is toward disorder.
This tension cannot be resolved by superficial appeals to sunlight, open systems, or self-organization. None of these mechanisms explains the appearance of functional, specified information—nor do they override the universal drift toward entropy.
As Dr. Henry Morris concluded:
“The Second Law is the death knell of all evolutionary theories. It establishes the fact that the universe is decaying, not evolving.”⁸
Biological complexity is not the result of thermodynamic miracles, but of supernatural creation. The testimony of both science and Scripture point to the same conclusion: In the beginning, God created—and only God could have.
References
Arthur Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928), p. 74.
Harold Blum, Time’s Arrow and Evolution (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962), p. 178.
John Ross, “Chemical and Engineering News,” C&EN Archives, July 7, 1980, p. 40.
Werner Gitt, In the Beginning Was Information (Bielefeld, Germany: CLV, 1997), p. 79.
Bill Gates, The Road Ahead (New York: Viking, 1995), p. 228.
A.E. Wilder-Smith, The Scientific Alternative to Neo-Darwinian Evolutionary Theory (Costa Mesa, CA: TWFT Publishers, 1970), p. 96.
Ilya Prigogine, Gregoire Nicolis, and Agnes Babloyantz, “Thermodynamics of Evolution,” Physics Today, Vol. 25, No. 11 (1972), pp. 23–28.
Henry Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1984), p. 471.