I've been exploring the relationship between Original Sin and entropy. This process is rather complex and is based on some presumptions others don't typically make, so I'll try to cover them appropriately. My process is analytical, intuitive, somewhat haphazard, but I hope it will congeal over time into something more complete and sound.

Let me begin by asserting the Bible and what it says and implies doctrinally (as interpreted by the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit) is absolute truth. With this basic axiom, if you will, there is a clear implication that the real, natural world will necessarily reflect and demonstrate the truth of Scriptures. Put another way, we could say the hypothesis is that the Bible is true and that the observable universe should provide evidence, possibly even proof, to this effect.

To be sure, all non-Biblical (or skewed-from-Biblical) worldviews produce internal inconsistencies when used to interpret the observable world or universe. As an overused example, the [easily demonstrably] false worldview known as naturalism, which includes evolution, is fraught with inconsistencies--so many it cannot possibly stand on its own. Likewise for Islam, atheism, countless other cults, etc. If the Biblical worldview is correct, then the world, the universe, humanity, and all of reality should confirm, support, and reinforce (or even prove) its truth.

Without digressing much more than we already have, we can assuredly claim the reality of the human condition at least partially supports the doctrine of Original Sin, for example. Those New Age, feel-good, pansy worldviews claiming inherent goodness in mankind are so obviously proved false by humanity's history. The naturalistic view that morality is an evolutionary trait should also be reflected in humanity's gross trends, but the mass murder (of hundreds of millions) just in the last century easily disproves this, too. It doesn't take much creativity to suggest man's depravity grows as he departs from a Bible-based lifestyle.

Before I dive into a basic framework for an eventual proof relating entropy and Original Sin, I want to set the historical stage for entropy. What is entropy, besides merely the Second Law of Thermodynamics? (See the dictionary and wikipedia.) In the briefest terms, entropy is the tendency toward disorder. Entropy is why things break down (poor craftsmanship notwithstanding), a component of why our bodies fall apart as we age, why things get dirtier rather spontaneously but why they don't get just as spontaneously cleaner. Entropy is why a teacup that has fallen to the floor and broken into many pieces cannot leap back off the floor and reassemble itself even if all the Newtonian forces were exactly reversed. In this sense, entropy--as Stephen Hawking wrote--can be considered an "arrow of time", a phenomenon that tends to keep time moving ever only forward.

In reading about the Garden of Eden (e.g., the lack of death, the possibility for man to live forever had he not sinned), it seems entropy before The Fall (supra lapsum, "before The Fall") was quite different than entropy appears today (infra lapsum, "after the fall"). There had to be at least some level of entropy before The Fall in order for certain physical processes to work at all (ref.), but it seems entropy was somehow restrained or limited. Another perspective yielding the same result would be that while entropy itself was not any different, there were [supernaturally] constructive forces counteracting entropy locally (even if the universe's entropy as a whole were still increasing) but on the coarse scale, allowing friction to exist (entropy on the fine scale), but preventing aging, for example. For example, even though our factories increase local order by putting randomness and chaos into organized packages (e.g., weaving shirts, building TVs), entropy of the larger system is still increased by the production of heat, not to mention waste, byproducts, and such. The Lord's restraint of local entropy could be viewed as a supernatural factory keeping death at bay by continually "reconstructing" Adam and co. Proceeding from the perspective that the removal of entropy's restraint or the increase in entropy's effects (depending upon the perspective with which you're comfortable) took place at The Fall, there is an obvious coincidence with the first sin. The Bible makes it clear this coincidence is, in fact, a causal relationship, a consequence of Adam's poor choice.

But what do we make of the doctrine of Original Sin, a result of the first sin? Original Sin as a doctrine differs from the original sin, the first sin, in that it is a state that is somehow inherited by all of Adam's descendants (therefore all of humanity) as a result of that first sin. That is to say, you and I have inherited Original Sin, and so we are inherently and inevitably sinful by our very nature. Might the physical world point to and confirm (prove?) the doctrine of Original Sin? Below is an attempt to show the scientific and physical nature of Original Sin, that it's not just a spiritual doctrine but a physical reality.

Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins and was my starting place in this analysis. (The other categories of sins should be similarly analyzed but have not been at this time.) Sloth is essentially laziness. How might laziness be described in physical terms? My proposal is to describe laziness in terms of inertia, or resistance to change in momentum. Objects in motion tend to want to remain at that constant velocity, and objects at rest tend to want to remain at rest. To change momentum, an outside force is required. This force applied over a distance (work) per unit time is power, or it can be expressed as energy per unit time. It seems clear laziness is an avoidance of work and so an avoidance of the application of force and therefore a resistance to change in momentum, or inertia. Without added power, inertia suggests a moving body will remain at constant velocity/momentum. However, ubiquitous entropy will tend to "bleed off" that velocity (e.g., friction), draining the local system of momentum. Without entropy (or with a supernatural counter-agent), momentum could otherwise be maintained without outside application of energy/force/power.

We've already established the physical world requires some level of entropy, at least on the very fine level, for basic physical processes to operate properly. However, were entropy limited from acting on coarser levels or larger systems, supra lapsum conditions might again be realized. All this is not meant to suggest an equivalence between entropy and sin, per sé, as sinful actions are our choice. However, there may be an equivalence between entropy and Original Sin, the state of sinfulness which we have inherited. In other words, I propose the physical nature of Original Sin, that which we all now inherit, is the infra lapsum entropy under which we now suffer.

The implication of this assertion is that Original Sin is a way of describing the entropic nature of the universe (and therefore us). Just as the doctrine of creation is confirmed by the structure of the universe, so the doctrine of Original Sin is confirmed by our entropic state, the extent and manner of entropy as we now experience it. Entropy is no more escapable--barring the aforementioned supernatural intervention--than our sinful nature.

How does Original Sin or entropy lead to actually acted sin? As I proposed, the difference bewteen supra lapsum entropy and infra lapsum entropy is one of scope or scale. In the Garden, entropy must have acted on the fine scale for basic physical processes to work, but it must have been limited on the coarser scale. Let's use an analogy. Imagine entropy as being like a traffic. For traffic to proceed without incident, certain restrictions on its movement must be made (e.g., stop signs, stop lights). For any given intersection, entropy (traffic control) must be at work, else bad things happen (accidents, traffic comes to a complete stop). However, just because traffic may be stopped at a given intersection does not necessarily imply that city-wide traffic is completely halted. On the fine scale--that intersection--traffic may be controlled; but with expert design and coordination (obviously exceeding that of human city planners), traffic across the entire city can still be flowing with great efficiency. This would be akin to supra lapsum entropy, before Original Sin was introduced. In the case of infra lapsum entropy, imagine that expert design and coordination being removed. In this way, the traffic all over the city can indeed be affected by a halt in traffic at even a single intersection. Without superior coordination, traffic stopped at one light will back up and block the previous intersection, and so forth until a ripple effect is felt throughout the city. Infra lapsum entropy, then, is not just fine (single intersection) but also coarse (entire city) in its effects.

By analogy, a single intersection is like a microscopic physical process, e.g., friction. The entire city can be likened to the complex processes within a human mind. Original sin, a coarser scope of entropy, leads to acts of sin just as a deadlocked intersection can lead to poor or even unmoving traffic across an entire city. Without supernatural traffic coordination, choosing sin is much easier, much more likely than smoothly flowing traffic city-wide.

Were our minds not battling entropy, might we be less prone to succumbing to sin? With supernatural coordination, our tendency toward depravity can be held at bay. This is the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Insofar as we yield to His Spirit, we disciples are in individual bubbles of restrained entropy. We may be immersed in a world cursed by Original Sin, but we may also be able to escape certain personal effects of it by consistently choosing to yield to the Traffic Coordinator's wisdom and control.