I think that chapter 3 is one of my favorite chapters, because I wanted to dispel the common misconception promoted by creationists that the 2nd law precludes evolution or development of more complex life forms. But thermodynamics is a rather “deep” topic, and difficult to understand. I certainly do not even consider myself an expert.

But the idea that randomness is counterintuitive to order is a flawed idea. The truth is that in the most remarkable and paradoxical ways, it is actually this tendency toward randomness in our world that makes all structure, order, beauty and life itself possible. The deeper levels of this take us to quantum theory and probability and statistics,which at he deeper levels begin to lose me because of the mathematics. But nevertheless, the message is very clear: We live in a statistical world of probabilities and opportunities. And within this world, the possibility for choice. That comes later in the book.

If you and/or your readers have not seen the free DVD that I offer on my website, I hope everyone will request a copy. This two-part (2 hour) talk was given to our university faculty and students not long after the book came out in our colloquium series. Here, I try to break these concepts down with illustrations and examples. It always is easier to teach face to face, rather than being limited just to written text. (or email dialogue like this) We could get down the road so much more effectively if we were just talking together.
Just as example, a few people take notice of the image on the cover of Random Designer. It is a fractal – a mathematical representation of randomness. It is easy to see that out of apparent random forces, beauty, structure, purpose, and meaning can arise. Maybe we really do see through a glass darkly…
So the message I am trying to convey is this: Let’s walk this road together, learning, living, and loving along the way. Perhaps there really is much much more to discover.

I am getting older (53), and you can always tell a veteran professor: Everything reminds them of something else, and they can go on and on and on and on. So for now, I will stop.

Thanks for the interest and discussion. It is fun. I will try to come back soon. Feel free (you or readers) to pose questions or email me if you like. (rcolling@olivet.edu)

Rick Colling

There are certainly ways in which organic materials can be recycled apart from death. I see plenty of it around at the moment: leaves shed by trees which remain alive; the dust which I am not too good at cleaning away, which is largely from my own skin while I am alive; even the carbon dioxide which I breathe out. Obviously there would be some differences in the ecological niches, and so in the progress of evolution (for those of us who accept it as a mechanism) in a hypothetical world in which organisms did not die. But there is certainly no scientific impossibility here. Indeed I suspect that the contribution to our ecology of the bodies of dead animals is a rather marginal one, and no one is really talking about plant death. So life could continue much as it does now in a world in which neither humans nor animals die.

Of course there is then an issue about birth. Will there be no children or young animals in this new creation? Maybe no children on the basis of Matthew 22:30. But Isaiah 11:6-9 if taken literally implies that there will be young animals as well as children, and if this situation continues for eternity and there is no animal death the earth will be filled not only with the knowledge of the LORD but also with an infinite number of animals. But I suspect we are being rather too literalistic here!

It sounds a lot like what theologian John Haught has said in “God After Darwin”: that the argument from design (natural theology) is still with us, but it must be backed up to the origins of the cosmos itself. We shouldn’t be looking for God’s supernatural actions within nature, since he is the author of all nature. Rather than asking where God fits in with evolution, we should just take evolution to be God’s plan. Then we can fruitfully ask what evolution tells us about God and creation.

Online, I know that Peter Kirk has written some about this in his Kingdom Thermodynamics series, part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. I’ve read it and found it interesting, but I haven’t quite processed it completely. I’m sure Peter would be happy to discuss it.