Why do things tend to degenerate instead of staying at their peak?
Things tend to degenerate because entropy moves everything into a less usable state; very seldom does something reach a peak of perfection and remain there. That downward drift also affected Judaism: from the Law given to Moses it fell into constant degeneration, ending in a dead, man-made religion.
Les explains that from the Law given to Moses about 1500 B.C. in the desert, Judaism as a religion was in a constant state of degeneration. Usually things do degenerate, and very seldom does something reach a peak of more or less perfection and stay there; it always generates down. Entropy, as science uses the word, means everything is always going into a less usable state. By the time of Christ's earthly ministry, it was nothing but a dead, man-made religion with no power of God left in it. They still went through temple worship, but Israel's religion came up into God's nostrils as a stench, as in Isaiah chapter 1 starting at verse 11. Mankind can get to that place when they follow their own devices.