Examining the limits of materialism and how our deepest intuitions point to God
“Science can tell you how the heavens go, but not how to go to heaven.”
— Sir Robert Jastrow, astrophysicist and founding director of NASA’s Goddard Institute
Introduction: Why You’re Asking Bigger Questions
If you’re reading this, chances are something inside you is stirring—maybe a frustration with shallow answers or an ache for something beyond mere survival.
You’ve been told:
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Everything can be explained by physics and chemistry.
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Morality is evolutionary.
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Meaning is a human invention.
But still, something in you refuses to settle for that.
Despite all the data and discoveries, your soul keeps whispering:
“There’s more.”
This article explores the limits of materialism, how science—powerful though it is—cannot answer life’s deepest questions, and how your soul knows truths your brain cannot dissect.
1. What Science Is—and Isn’t
Science is one of the greatest tools humanity has. It’s allowed us to:
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Cure diseases
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Fly into space
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Manipulate atoms
But science operates under methodological naturalism:
It studies physical things using observable, repeatable experiments.
That means science, by definition:
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Cannot explain non-material realities (e.g. love, justice, beauty)
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Cannot make moral judgments
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Cannot tell you why anything exists at all
Sir Peter Medawar, Nobel Prize-winning biologist:
“There is no quicker route to the corruption of science than to try to extend it beyond its legitimate boundaries.”
2. The Questions Science Can’t Touch
Science can’t explain:
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Why the universe exists instead of nothing
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Why you experience beauty and wonder
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Why you instinctively know murder is wrong
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Why humans seek love, purpose, and transcendence
These are not scientific questions—they are philosophical and theological.
You are not a machine made of meat. You are a soul in a body, searching for what is eternal.
3. The Limits of Materialism
Materialism is the belief that only matter and energy exist. But this worldview breaks down when it faces reality.
Let’s consider:
🔹 Consciousness
How can subjective experience arise from purely objective matter?
Even atheist philosopher Thomas Nagel admits in Mind and Cosmos:
“The materialist Neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false.”
🔹 Morality
If there is no God, then right and wrong are just preferences.
Yet we all know—deep down—that torturing a child is not just “unfavorable” but objectively evil.
🔹 Reason
If your brain is just a collection of atoms governed by blind physics, why trust your thoughts at all?
C.S. Lewis, former atheist:
“Unless human reasoning is valid, no science can be true. But if reasoning is valid, materialism must be false.”
4. What Your Soul Already Knows
Despite all the denials, something inside you testifies:
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That truth exists
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That beauty moves you
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That love is real
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That justice matters
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That you were made for more
“The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.”
— Blaise Pascal, mathematician, physicist, and Catholic philosopher
Pascal wasn’t anti-reason. He simply understood that human experience transcends logic alone.
Your soul longs for eternity because it was made for it.
5. Converted Minds: Thinkers Who Followed the Evidence
Many of today’s most powerful Christian apologists and Catholic converts began as atheists, agnostics, or materialists, until they realized their worldview couldn't account for reality.
🔹 Dr. Francis Collins
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Former atheist
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Director of the Human Genome Project
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Converted to Christianity after examining the moral law and DNA’s complexity
“Science is not the enemy of faith. They can coexist peacefully.”
🔹 Leah Libresco
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Yale-educated statistician and former atheist blogger
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Converted to Catholicism after concluding that atheism could not ground morality
“Catholicism didn’t just have faith, it had reason.”
🔹 Antony Flew
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One of the 20th century’s leading atheist philosophers
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Publicly changed his mind late in life
“I now believe the universe was brought into existence by an Infinite Intelligence.”
6. Catholicism: The Only System That Honors Both Reason and Soul
In Catholicism, you don’t have to choose between logic and longing.
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It affirms the validity of science
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It teaches that the world is ordered by reason (Logos)
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It also acknowledges that man is a body-soul unity
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And that truth is not just a concept—but a Person: Jesus Christ
“The Catholic Church teaches that faith and reason are two wings that lift the soul to truth.”
— Fides et Ratio, Pope St. John Paul II
Final Words: Come Home to What You’ve Always Known
If you’ve dismissed faith because it seemed irrational, emotional, or anti-science—look again.
You don’t have to abandon reason to believe in God.
You have to follow it to its final destination.
Your soul already knows what your intellect may be catching up to:
There is truth. There is love. There is beauty. And all of it points to God.
And not just any god—but the God who:
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Entered time
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Embraced suffering
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Established a Church
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And is calling you—right now
🕊 Next Steps for the Honest Seeker:
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Read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
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Explore The Case for God by Dr. Peter Kreeft
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Watch The Search on Formed.org
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Reflect in silence, and pray:
“God, if You’re real, I want truth—no matter what it costs.”
“Truth is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.”
— St. Augustine
Science shines light on the world.
Faith reveals why it matters.
Come home to both.
