Creationists have long used the second law of thermodynamics in arguments against evolution. The response has been that a system’s entropy can decrease if energy is applied to that system and that the earth is such an open system. The problem is that there seems to be no general principle that shows how applied energy affects entropy. Even the most casual of observations shows that applying energy to a system can either increase or decrease entropy, depending on the nature of the application. This fact is best illustrated by the difference between construction work and a bomb. Despite this, there seems to be no general principle describing this difference. It turns out that statistical analysis of the problem provides this needed general principle. Herein it is shown that when energy is applied to a system, it tends to move the system’s degree of randomness toward that of the applied energy. The result is that energy applied in an organized manner will decrease entropy, while energy applied in a random manner will increase entropy.