Nuggets from "An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith" by Dave Hunt

Nuggets from “An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith” by Dave Hunt

Eternity. What does it mean, and why should one even embrace the concept, particularly with regard to human destiny? We know from personal experience and simple observation that material things wear out. The second law of thermodynamics tells us that the entire universe is wearing out, running down like a wind-up toy, and will not last indefinitely. Obviously then, it must have had a beginning, exactly as the Bible declares.

We know that the sun has not been in the sky forever or it would have burned out by now. The same is true of every other sun. Very clearly, there was a time when this universe did not exist; nothing existed, not even the energy out of which the universe seems to be made.

Why couldn’t the universe have its source in some mysterious cosmic energy that existed from eternity past? The answer is simple—because of the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy. Energy could not have existed forever, building up to a “big bang” that created the stars and planets. It would have entropied before it “banged”—and explosions do not create order. Had the universe been here forever, everything should now be the same temperature; heat always moves to something cooler.

Furthermore, energy has neither the intellect nor personal qualities to bring about the incredible design in life and the existence of personal beings. Intelligence and personality are nonphysical and could not have arisen out of energy or matter so must have preceded them.