You and your friend are sitting around a campfire and he notices that the ashes that are left after all of the wood has burned seem significantly less than the amount of wood that was originally put into the fire. He indicates that surely the amount of substance after the reaction (the burning of the wood) is less than the amount of substance before the reaction. Explain the misconception in your friend's conclusion and how this situation relates to the law of conservation of matter.

Answer and Explanation:

My friend's conclusion would break the law of conservation of matter, according to which, in any closed system, the mass of the system remains constant. He is right in his observation that the ashes of the wood seem significantly less than the amount of wood put into the fire. What he is not taking into consideration is that mass cannot be destroyed just like that. The rest of the mass of the wood, while burning, became CO2 and H2O. Thus, even though we cannot see it like we can see the ashes, the original mass has been maintained.

11-32. the main character in the parable, the forgiving father, whose character remains constant throughout the story, is a picture of god. in telling the story, jesus identifies himself with god in his loving attitude to the lost. the younger son symbolizes the lost (the tax collectors and sinners of that day, luke 15: 1), and the elder brother represents the self-righteous (the pharisees and teachers of the law of that day, luke 15: 2). the major theme of this parable seems not to be so much the conversion of the sinner, as in the previous two parables of luke 15, but rather the restoration of a believer into fellowship with the father. in the first two parables, the owner went out to look for what was lost (luke 15: 1-10), whereas in this story the father waits and watches eagerly for his son's return. we see a progression through the three parables from the relationship of one in a hundred (luke 15: 1-7), to one in ten (luke 15: 8-10), to one in one (luke 15: 11-32), demonstrating god’s love for each individual and his personal attentiveness towards all humanity. we see in this story the graciousness of the father overshadowing the sinfulness of the son, as it is the memory of the father’s goodness that brings the prodigal son to repentance (romans 2: 4).