Question:

This question is more on the scientific side but it has to do with fine-tuning. A favorite claim that online atheists like to make is that the complexity we see in the universe is the result of matter self organizing itself into a complex system through unguided processes.  They use the example of how a snowflake is formed, and how systems in nature naturally move towards a stable state through processes like positive and negative feedback. So because of that they say there is no reason to invoke God for why the universe is the way it is because natural process can explain it all.

Answer:

Right, and this idea is self-refuted.  Nature creates order, but it NEVER self-organizes into complex systems.  No author has an example of this to offer, because it does not happen.  This is simply a false claim.  The second Law of thermodynamics refutes this self-refuting idea.

Snowflakes are VERY simple objects.  They are beautiful in their symmetry, but the whole point is their symmetry, which is caused by simple law, and is absolutely NOT evidence of a self-organizing complex system.  The person using this example is either unaware of the definition of a self-organizing complex system, or simply does not understand the science of snowflake formation.

To use nature, which includes created intelligently designed life as an example is to use circular reasoning to prove the point.  It is like saying, “I can prove that spontaneously-created complex systems are spontaneously produced by showing you a complex system exists.  This is not a sophisticated argument at all.  Using fancy terms like positive and negative feedback does nothing to solve the problem, which is that nature does not produce information-containing, complex systems.  Ever.  Feedback loops do not do the job!
John Oakes