At least, some treat the First Law of Thermodynamics as a sort of commandment which they seek to employ in a self-serving manner. Such was the case with Brian Sapient of the Rational Response Squad (during his, and Kelly’s, debate with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron).
Two quick things to point out: he made the slight misstatement of referring to the Law as being the Third rather than First. Also, some mistakenly claim that he argued that the universe is eternal but he did not. Rather, he argued that eternal uncaused energy/matter brought our universe into being. Thus, according to his argument our universe is finite but energy/matter is infinite.
Here is the crux of his statements in this regard:
“Science has a law, it’s called the third law of thermodynamics; which shows us, and it’s one of the most tested laws in science, that matter or energy can neither be created nor destroyed. That we always have the same amount of matter and energy.
We could blow up this building, and while it would look completely different, there would be the exact same amount of matter and energy in the universe.
That tells us scientifically, if we were to use a more scientific approach, that the components of our world today, our universe, have always existed.
And we have real science to lend credence to that.”1
It was evident that Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron were simply unprepared to even attempt to respond to this point.
Yet, the crucial non sequitur here seems to be that the First Law is relevant to the universe in which it functions. As obvious as this seems, it does appear as if this is what is being overlooked: “we always have the same amount of matter and energy.” Who is “we”? It is us, here, this, universe.
Thus, the disconnect, the non sequitur, is to conclude that “the components of our world today, our universe, have always existed.” This is sort of like sealing a box and stating that nothing can go into the box and nothing can come out. Yes, but this is within the box. Let us think outside of the box.
We know that within the universe energy/matter is neither created nor destroyed but only changed. We are dealing with conservation of energy within a system. We have real science to lend credence to this but not to the assertion that energy/matter is the uncaused eternal first cause.
The fact that the universe is not eternal leads us to the rational conclusion that energy/matter came into being at the moment of the universe’s inception (along with space/time). Furthermore, it is reasonable to conclude that whatever existed “before” that, whatever brought the universe into being, was without matter, or immaterial, or spirit (and timeless, or eternal and space-less or without spatial restrictions).2 Thus, we have real science that supports the conclusion that energy/matter came into existence at a finite point having not existed previously.
Therefore, real science does not demand that energy/matter cannot be created or destroyed any”where” any”time” but only within our universe, within the box in which the Law functions.
The Bible predicted the First Law of Thermodynamics:
Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”
“beginning” = time.
“heavens” = space.
“earth” = matter.
“In the beginning” = the finite creation of the universe.
“God” = a preexistent time-less, space-less, matter-less being or; eternal, not confined to locality nor subject to natural laws, immaterial or spirit.
“created” = brought into being, infused with energy/matter, designed.
Genesis 2:1-3
“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Thus, the Bible stated that energy/matter were brought into being, placed within the box (the universe) and that no more energy/matter is being created.
Moreover, due to entropy, the amount of usable energy is constantly being depleted so that if the universe was eternal the usable energy would have been depleted an eternity ago. This is another way of knowing that the universe had a beginning.