What is the difference between the first and second laws of thermodynamics?
The first law states that nothing is created or destroyed. The second law, described as entropy, states that although nothing is created or destroyed, everything is constantly moving into a less usable state. The second law became operative when sin and the curse entered the picture.
Les explains the first law as there being nothing created nor destroyed. With sin coming in and the curse on the scene, the second law of thermodynamics became operative. Even though nothing is created nor destroyed, yet everything is constantly going into a less usable state. The scientific word for this is entropy. Les illustrates it with a beautiful home left vacant for twelve months: it will not be better but worse, as windstorms knock off shingles, hailstorms break windows, and something always makes it deteriorate. He also uses a tree: it may take a hundred years to grow, and when cut up and burned in a fireplace, it seems destroyed, but every part remains in the universe, including the heat that went up the chimney, because heat is energy.