In order to answer the question whether a Science In order to answer the question whether a Science

student can believe, I would like to tell you a story

about one of my tutees.

1

He is called Nicodemus, and he is quite the He is called Nicodemus, and he is quite the

Einstein. Jewish like him, and brilliant, well, almost

like him. Let me introduce him a little bit more.

2

Nicodemus, we usually call him Nico, has been Nicodemus, we usually call him Nico, has been

building things all his life. He had actually

managed to send rockets into space, and was

always willing to talk about that. But recently,

when his parents asked about his projects, he

would just say, ‘oh, nothing special’, and if they

insisted with their interest, he would smile, but

say nothing. So they left him alone.

3

His parents did not use to be ‘devout’ Jews, only His parents did not use to be ‘devout’ Jews, only from a Jewish family – an important Jewish family, yes. But in recent years, they started to go to the synagogue. You could regularly see them talking to the Rabbi, who even came to visit their home a few times. Just before Nico was to start at the AUC, Nico’s father came to him one day, and said ‘Nicodemus, your mother and I have decided to move to Jerusalem. We think we can be more united with our people there. We respect that you have decided to go to college in Amsterdam, but would like to ask you to come with us.’

4

Nico was much surprised by his father’s message and his request. He remained silent for some time, and asked for time to think, He remained silent for some time, and asked for time to think, which his father granted him. In the following nights, Nico would lie in his bed, with thoughts racing through his mind. He thought about what his life would be like in Jerusalem, he would probably also be able to study there. But above all, he wondered if he could really feel united to his Jewish family. His parents had never told him much about the Jewish faith, so he did not feel he had faith. Moreover, he really wanted to get a good scientific education at the AUC. After long thought, he concluded that he would feel very out of place in Jerusalem. He went to his father, and told him: “Dad.” “You look very tired, son.” “So I am, dad. I have been thinking a lot.” “I thought so, Nico. Let’s not beat about the bush. I can see you are uncomfortable, what have you decided.” Nico started to quiver. “Dad, I have decided that… that I would rather stay in Amsterdam.” His father remained silent for a while. “I understand son. This will be tough on your mother.” “I know dad. I don’t want to leave her, it’s just that…” “Leave it, Nico, I completely understand. And she will too. You have my blessing.”

5

After coming to AUC, Nico was assigned to my tutor After coming to AUC, Nico was assigned to my tutor group. Not long ago we were having drinks during a tutor group meeting. Suddenly Nico said, “Sir, you are a believer, right?” I was a bit surprised, and said, “Yes, you could say that, why?” “Well, you are also a biologist, how do these things combine?” At the time I did not know much about his background, so I thought that the best would be to talk a bit about mine, so that he would feel free to talk about his as well. I told him “I am from Laren, a Catholic village in the centre of the Netherlands. We have a very nice basilica in our village, that thanks its existence partly to the yearly procession of St John the Baptist that we have there.”

6

Not long ago, catholic processions in the Netherlands were prohibited. Above the rivers, only ours was Not long ago, catholic processions in the Netherlands were prohibited. Above the rivers, only ours was allowed to continue, because of its ancient tradition. On St John’s day, everyone who has something to do with Laren comes to town. As a child, we watched the procession, but I never participated. Although I was baptized, received my first communion and confirmation, as customary for catholic children, we did not go to church very often. In my adolescence I only went there to sing in a youth choir, because I love singing. But I started to read books by Stephen Hawkins, and thought that I would like to be a scientist. I thought that this could not be combined with faith in God, and since my faith was not very strong, I considered myself an ‘agnostic’. God might be there, who knows?

7

Then, in the year 2000, several people from my choir went to Rome for the World Youth Days that were organized there. This is a three-yearly the World Youth Days that were organized there. This is a three-yearly worldwide event for catholic young people and their friends, started by pope John Paul II. I went along to have a good vacation. I had unconsciously developed a pretty strong prejudice against religious people. I felt they were either quite gloomy and boring people or hypocrites. I remember quite vividly stepping in to the bus that would drive us to Rome, and have the priest say the voyage benediction as soon as we drove away. It struck me as, oh man, what have I got myself into? But on the way we stopped at many interesting places, and I had good conversations with my traveling mates from my own parish and from the other parishes that came with us. Some of the most impressive experiences were the stops at Assisi and La Verna, places where St Francis of Asis lived and died. We were guided around by Franciscans. These people radically give everything away that they have to serve God, the only thing they have is their habit. That made me think: ‘if God does not exist, these people really have a problem.” But they seemed quite happy, St Francis certainly was a very happy person.

Since Nico still seemed interested, I continued.

8

When we arrived to Rome, we met huge crowds When we arrived to Rome, we met huge crowds

of young people, singing and having a good time. I

was rather wary of the ‘mass effect’, especially

since I could not yet really ‘feel with’ the crowd.

But the message that religious people are not

necessarily sad and boring was well taken. All in

all, this trip did not convinced me to believe, but it

opened the way, because it raised my interest for

the faith. Since I wanted to be a biologist, I now

wanted to know how one could combine faith and

science.

9

I was very lucky that one of the participants in my trip was a person who was very devoutly religious, and knew a lot of people that were involved with these very devoutly religious, and knew a lot of people that were involved with these sorts of questions. He took me to the student residence Leidenhoven, were people lived with a profound faith, and who are also true scientists. I went to a few lectures there, and when I told one of the organizers about my problem: how to combine faith and science, his answer was very simple. He said, “You know what science is, now learn what the faith is, and you will see for yourself whether they can combine.” I thought that was very reasonable, so I took his advice, and I took classes with him about the faith. Little by little, I started understanding more, I started to pray, and I started to understand how it all fitted. That was a great experience for me.

Nico, listened to this story with interest, and afterwards told me about his own background and his problem with his family. I ended up by giving him the same advice that they gave me: learn about the faith, and you will see how the two combine. “But sir, that may be true, but what can I do with such advice now?” Nico asked. “I want to know whether I can be reconciled with my family, and you ask me to undertake a multi-year studying project. Can’t you see that is not an option for me?”I told him that I thought it would be the only way to get a satisfactory answer.“Well,” he said “it is not the answer I was looking for.” And he stood up, and marched off.

10

The next day, however, he was back. “Sir, I am sorry for being a bit abrupt yesterday, but can’t we talk about The next day, however, he was back. “Sir, I am sorry for being a bit abrupt yesterday, but can’t we talk about some concrete problems? What about evolution? Do you think you can believe and think that evolution actually took place?” “ Yes,” I said, “we can talk about that, and I don’t mind telling you about it. But think about the fact that your parents took quite a bit of time about making up their mind about this issue, and so did I. Don’t expect to see a complete answer, you’ll need time.” “Sir,” Nico said, “ We’ll see about that. But could you now tell me whether one can believe and be serious about evolution. I mean, without compromising on the faith. I don’t want to be half-hearted in anything.” So I said, “All right, that’s a theme we can talk about. I think you can be completely serious about your faith and about evolution at the same time. Let me explain.”

11

First, let me tell you that I have a serious problem with First, let me tell you that I have a serious problem with ‘young-earth creationism’, the idea that the earth was literally created in seven days, that the universe is at most 7000 years old. The problem is, that if you look at the universe, the earth, and species, you see something else. Now, I believe that, as Galileo famously said, God wrote two books: the bible and creation. Would He construct creation in such a way that it seems to be millions of years old, but it is actually not? And then write another book to show us that he is actually just joking, and it is really not so old as it seems? That very much contradicts the image of an all-powerful, eternal, loving and faithful God. I do not think that God contradicts himself in this way.

12

Nico asked: but what about Genesis? It SAYS that the earth developed in seven days, doesn’t it? And I answered him: Nico asked: but what about Genesis? It SAYS that the earth developed in seven days, doesn’t it? And I answered him: “Indeed it does. But have you ever read: ‘How to read a book?’” “I can read”, Nico said. “I bet you can” I told him, “but there is a difference between reading and really assimilating what an author is trying to say. One of the basic questions that this book teaches you to ask when reading is, what type of book is this? What kind of question is it trying to answer? And if you think a little bit about who wrote Genesis (probably Moses, inspired by the Holy Spirit – it is the Word of God), and who the audience was: the people of Israel, you will probably figure out that the natural sciences are not what this book is trying to convey. In other words, it was never written to answer the question whether the earth was actually created in six, seven or twenty million days. That is just not relevant.

13

“But then what is Genesis about?” Nico asked. “Well, you have to see the book in the context of the whole Old Testament” I see the book in the context of the whole Old Testament” I explained. “What is the bible about? It is basically about the relationship of God with his chosen people, which were the Jews to start with. And Genesis is the start of this relationship. God is building a house for His people, and giving them a mission. You see, in the beginning it says, everything was “formless and empty”. In the first three days, God deals with the formlessness, in the second three days with the emptiness. The last day is a resting day, a sign of the covenant he agreed with his people. So Genesis is all about the relation between God and his people, not about cosmology.” “So there is no problem between Genesis and evolution?” Nico asked. “None at all” I concluded. “But why do people make such an issue about the faith and science debate then? You make believing sound rational, but everyone tells me it is not. Who should I believe?” “There is only one way to find out, Nico,” I told him. “You have to study to know, and study takes time, I’m sorry.” “Well thanks, but I don’t want to hear that another time,” Nico replied, and went off again.

14

However, a week later he came back again, However, a week later he came back again,

carrying a copy of ‘the God Delusion’. “Sir”, he

said, “last week you told me a story about Genesis

and all, but look, someone gave me a copy of

Dawkins. I read it this week, and his problem is

not with genesis, it is just that, scientifically

speaking, believers are highly stupid and

unreasonable people.” “Right,” I said, “well, if you

have taken the time to hear his side of the

argument, you might as well take the time to hear

the other side, right?” “I suppose I should”

Nicodemus agreed.

15

So I recommended him to read ‘Answering the new Atheism’ by Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker, which he promised to read. “But” Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker, which he promised to read. “But” he said, “whatever they write, I will agree with Dawkins that God is an unlikable character.” “Really, do you feel he is unlikable? Why?” I asked. “Well, he made me choose between my parents and my science education, and I don’t think that’s a likable thing to do.” “So you feel that God unreasonably made you choose between the two?” “Well, yes, in a sense.” Nico answered “I mean, … of course my parents themselves had a hand in it, and I also could have gone to Israel and study science there.” “So you think that your parents and you yourself had something to do with it as well?” I asked. “Yeah, certainly,” Nico replied, “but… oh it’s all so complicated. Perhaps I shouldn’t blame God directly, it’s probably too easy.” “Look” I said, “I don’t blame you for being confused, just have some patience with yourself all right? I think God is very loving in his providence, but it may take time for you to see that. For now just read the other book, and we’ll talk further another time.”

16

“No wait,” he said, “have you not only told me the faith-side of the story on evolution? Isn’t there a biological side as well? You’re the story on evolution? Isn’t there a biological side as well? You’re a biologist, so you should know about the science.” “There is a biological side,” I told him, “All right, I’ll briefly summarize. We could for instance look at the word evolution. It has several meanings.” One is that living organisms have gone through a development from simple to complex, with more complex forms arising out of simple ones, in several stages of development. The second is meaning is that this development is due to the mechanism of random variation and natural selection, as proposed by Darwin. The third meaning is that human beings came forth from their animal predecessors without any form of divine intervention. I agree completely with the first, I think the second is rather vague and needs further elaboration, and I completely disagree with the third, because I think God intervenes at the conception of every human being, making us His children in a special way. But there is no natural scientist who can either prove or disprove this point using his natural sciences methodology.

17

Nico understood the distinction I made and its importance, but he immediately asked how I could be so sure about my conviction immediately asked how I could be so sure about my conviction that God intervenes with the conception of every human being. There again I had to tell him that this is an article of faith in the Catholic Church, and to understand this faith would require more than even a long discussion could provide. “If you study calculus,” I told him, “you study it for a semester, and if you want to be good at it, even more. Why would you put less effort into understanding a system of life and thought that proposes to give answers to life’s biggest questions?’ “You’ve told me that five times now, and I think I get the message” Nico said. “ But I’m afraid I just don’t have that time.” “Why don’t you spend a little time reading about it each day? With a little patience you can make quite a bit of time available for your studies, and you’ll certainly learn much faster than you think.” I tried. “Yeah right, well I’ll make time all right.” And he marched off, making me feel quite uneasy.

18

In the coming days, I did not see Nicodemus. But more In the coming days, I did not see Nicodemus. But more

worryingly, neither did anyone else at AUC. After the

second week, teachers started sending me emails that

Nico had not shown up for two weeks. I sent him

emails, but he did not reply. From other tutees, I heard

that he had not been seen on campus either. The senior

tutor finally decided to inform the police that he was

missing, and they traced him to his experimentation

shed, although they did not find him there either. All

they found were rather extensive notes on the secret

project that Nico had been working on for some time.

Study of the papers revealed that Nico was working on

… a time machine.

19

For me, these weeks were a time of intense prayer, For me, these weeks were a time of intense prayer, because I was very worried that Nico had taken my words differently than they had been intended. Indeed, it was not my intention to advice him to quit school. If he would have asked, I would certainly have told him that I am convinced that God’s will for a student is to study well, so quitting school was certainly not a part of my proposal. The news about the time machine struck me as curious, but nothing more. Although I did not spend more time than is usual for me on prayer every day, my prayer was certainly very intense in this period, because I was so worried. I often went to the Holy Scripture for support. And it is there that I made a discovery.

20

While reading the Gospel according to John, I encountered the following lines. (…) Now, these struck me greatly. First of all, of course, because I was highly sensitized to the these struck me greatly. First of all, of course, because I was highly sensitized to the name ‘Nicodemus’. But also it struck me who he was, and what he said. First of all, he was a ruler, which must have meant that he was from a good Jewish family. Also, he was someone with a serious wish to find out the meaning of the actions of Jesus, who had then just started to appear in public. He was not about to trust in the reports of others, but went out on his own, by night (which may also refer to his own insecurity), to find out exactly what was going on from the first-hand. This would require a bold person, and one searching for the truth. It exactly fit the person of Nico that I knew.

In what Nicodemus says, it shows that he has seen Jesus doing great ‘signs’, and he is curious. But he is certainly not what we would call a ‘Christian’, because he says that Jesus is a ‘teacher come from God’, but he himself would also have been regarded as such. He also thinks that God is ‘with him’, just as God might have been with earlier prophets to do signs. The Christian notion that Jesus is God himself is clearly not on his mind. So he is a seeking intellectual, not a Christian. Very much like my Nico.

Indeed, what if Nico would have taken my words very seriously, and transported himself back to the year 0? He would have had ample opportunity to familiarize himself with the faith of Israel, and, given his talent and descent, doubtlessly have risen to an important position around the year 30. He would then have taken the opportunity to talk to Jesus directly. Although I could certainly not believe that this had happened, I thought that the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus would help me once my Nico had turned up again. So I decided to get the most out of it. I wanted to study this scene in depth so that with Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus in mind, I could satisfactorily answer any objections scientists could have to the faith.

21

So I continued to read: (…). These sentences again So I continued to read: (…). These sentences again greatly struck me. What a mysterious answer from Our Lord! Unless one is born again, one cannot see. What does this ‘born again’ mean? And then the question from this Nicodemus: How can this be? Again, I found it very striking. Completely in line with my Nico’s mission. And also, is this not just the question that any scientist nowadays would ask? You tell me this, but how could that ever be? There is some openness, but also some skepticism in the question. Isn’t this ‘how’ question the driving force for most of science? I quickly read on:

22

This answer from Jesus is rather different than we might have expected. A biologist may want to study the mechanism by which expected. A biologist may want to study the mechanism by which someone is born, but it is clear that the Spirit that Jesus talks about cannot be caught by any mechanism. He compares it to the wind that blows where it wills. Even with advanced computer simulation, we can still not simulate exactly where a breeze comes from and will go in future. And Jesus says that the Spirit he is talking about ‘wills’, has its own free will. For something to be study-able in a natural science way, it needs to be repeatably measurable. If this Spirit has a free will, even if it were measurable, than it is certainly not repeatably so. So no repeatable mechanisms, I’m afraid, for the Spirit that Jesus is talking about.

But this consideration makes the mystery even greater. If this Spirit is something not “catchable” by natural sciences, then what is it? And what does it then mean that someone is born again of the Spirit? What will a scientist think about this answer?

23

Nicodemus was reading my mind. How can all this be? It is really going outside our normal ‘schemes’ of thinking.thinking.

Again the answer of Jesus is rather surprising. First of all he reprimands Nicodemus for not understanding him. Nicodemus is a ‘teacher of Israel’, which means that he should by now have learnt about the things that God revealed to the Jewish people. And these include spiritual teachings.

Jesus may have had another intention in reprimanding Nicodemus. Because we intellectuals have the tendency to presume much about our intellectual knowledge. It may be hard to accept for us that there are things that we do not know. But then again, as Socrates already discovered, especially knowing that we do not know everything may open a path towards wisdom for us. We are only open if we recognize our own limits.

Jesus goes on to speak about his testimony. Why testimony? Because, indeed, testimony is an important way of knowing things. In our daily lives, we use it continually. When a teacher talks about something, we assume that he knows about the subject he talks about. We receive his testimony. Now often, of course, this testimony can be checked. But we often don’t have time to do so, so we just trust in the teacher.

Now of course, there may be situations in which the teacher knows something we cannot check, because it is not public knowledge. What Jesus is saying is that the knowledge he is talking about is of this type. He tells us things that he knows about, but that we cannot check against other sources, we can only see whether he himself is credible. So is Jesus credible?

Nicodemus has already given some motives for which he trusts Jesus: the signs he does. There was also a keen expectation of a messiah in Israel at the time, so if he were the real Teacher come from God, he would certainly come expected and well-announced. Indeed John the Baptist had indicated that Jesus was the Messiah they were expecting. So Jesus had some credibility, but would it convince Nicodemus?

24

I knew from the Holy Scripture that certainly not everyone I knew from the Holy Scripture that certainly not everyone

was prepared to accept Jesus’ testimony. Some time later this

would become crystal clear when Jesus was arrested and led

before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council of religious leaders at

the time, of which Nicodemus was a member. Clearly, this trial

was far from ordinary, and several members of the Sanhedrin

were not present or objected, among them quite possibly

Nicodemus. Let’s have at look how that trial went.

These images clearly show that there were people who were

not going to accept Jesus. Therefore, when Jesus asks

Nicodemus to believe him, he also struggled with a relational

conflict to make the relation between faith and science

difficult for him, just like my Nico. And Jesus knew about this

difficulty, and the difficulties that He himself was going to

face, as becomes clear over the remainder of their

conversation. Let’s read the rest of it.

25

Jesus here gives a direct prophesy of his suffering, that we have just seen a part of, in a language that is a bit cryptic for us, but for Nicodemus must have been of, in a language that is a bit cryptic for us, but for Nicodemus must have been crystal clear. For when the Israelites were traveling through the desert, snakes came upon them, and many perished. To counter the plague, God instructed Moses to lift up a silver serpent upon a pole. Anyone who looked up at the snake would live. Jesus now tells Nicodemus both that he will be put on a pole like the snake, that he will suffer, to heal the people. The snake is an image of his passion, that will heal us. The snake now still is the emblem of pharmacists.

Just as the Israelites that looked at the snake would live, Jesus says that the people that believe in him will also live. But the life that Jesus talks about is not normal ‘life’. Het talks about eternal life. What does that mean?

First of all, we should note a common confusion about the world ‘eternal’. Many people think it means ‘without end’, a time that continues indefinitely. But it does not, it refers to a reality ‘outside’ time. So eternal life is a life outside time, in which no time is present. How can that be? Because if we know anything about biological life, than we must say that it develops in time. Isn’t ‘eternal life’ a ‘contradictio in terminis’ then? Or is the life that we normally talk about only one instance of a class of states, some of which are outside time? If so, what characterizes this eternal life? Maybe Jesus’ next words will give some perspective on that, let’s read on.

26

The following words of Jesus give some perspective on eternal life, but are still rather mysterious. Because he says that God The following words of Jesus give some perspective on eternal life, but are still rather mysterious. Because he says that God gave his only Son, that we may have eternal life. So eternal life is a gift, that comes with the Son of God. The fact that life is a gift is not really surprising. If you talk to young parents, you will notice that they often see their baby, a new life, as a gift. But why do we need the Son?

Jesus continues talking about being ‘condemned’ and being ‘saved’. It seems that this new life has something to do with those concepts. On another occasion, Jesus had said, ‘It is my food to do the Father’s will’, so the new life and its sustenance must have something to do with the way we act. He also says that ‘believing’ has something to do with being saved or condemned, and therefore with this eternal life. Whatever type of Life Jesus is talking about, its generation is certainly not by a mechanism we could study through the natural sciences, even though it has something to do with love. At least that’s something we are familiar with. Now for the final part of the conversation.

27

Jesus now continues on about the judgment, saying that it has to do with what people do, good or evil deeds. Indeed, his words do with what people do, good or evil deeds. Indeed, his words remind me of the ‘near death experiences’ people talk about, where they see a large light. Perhaps we could imagine a light that shines right through our innermost thoughts, of all our lives, because these people often report seeing their whole life flashing by their eyes. I can imagine that that light may be really nasty for people who don’t want to have their inner thoughts exposed. While for people with beautiful thoughts, it may be quite pleasant. But, if we think about this, who could say that he would want all his thoughts to be exposed? Indeed, we would all probably have thoughts that I would like to be ‘saved’ from being exposed. Is that then what this Son will do for me? Save me from the things I do not want others to know about, because I know that they are evil?

But why does he talk about ‘deeds carried out in God’? Does perhaps this ‘eternal life’ in the Spirit, mean that we are somehow entering ‘into’ God? That would be really strange and mysterious. And how will this Son save us?

28

Thus ends the night-time visit of Nicodemus to Thus ends the night-time visit of Nicodemus to

Jesus. Jesus only said a few things, but it gives us a

lot to think about. He talks about big mysteries,

but asks that we believe in him. What would

Nicodemus have thought about it? Is he satisfied

with the answers to his ‘scientific’ questions? It is

certainly not the scientific answer I was hoping

for. His ‘how’ question has not really been

answered, is my quest over? Perhaps I could see

what the Nicodemus in the bible does, will he or

will he not take Jesus seriously?

29

We don’t see this Nicodemus again in the Gospel We don’t see this Nicodemus again in the Gospel

until some Pharisees want to arrest Jesus. The

soldiers do not want to arrest him, rather bravely.

But the Pharisees clearly presume superior

knowledge, and do not have the intellectual

humility that Jesus was asking from Nicodemus.

30

Nicodemus speaks out for a just process for Jesus. Nicodemus speaks out for a just process for Jesus.

Indeed, hearing him is what he has done himself.

Nicodemus seems to be somewhat sympathetic

towards him. However, he does not talk about the

things Jesus said to him, perhaps that is too much

for him. His colleagues are not convinced, but

leave it at this for now. But for how long?

31

Indeed, Nicodemus’ objection did not have much Indeed, Nicodemus’ objection did not have much

effect on the long term. The Pharisees arrest

Jesus, and lead him to be crucified, the most cruel

and lowly death penalty that the Romans had at

their disposal at that time.

32

Jesus has died, some miracles have occurred: the earth Jesus has died, some miracles have occurred: the earth shook, the Temple curtain was split asunder, people were raised from the dead. But all Jesus’ disciples had fled, except for his mother Mary, the young apostle John, and several women.

So now Nicodemus comes forward together with Joseph of Arimathea, another important Jew, known as “a respected member of the council”. Some have referred to this deed as ‘the first fruits of Jesus' death”, people who have previously been fearful now come out as disciples of Jesus. And indeed, Nicodemus uses valuable spices to prepare Jesus’ body for burial, a sign of esteem and veneration. The nightly visit had obviously had some effect on him.

33

But still, one of the most famous commentators on this But still, one of the most famous commentators on this

gospel, St Thomas Aquinas, remarks that myrrh and

aloes are used to preserve a body, and that this

indicates that Nicodemus did not believe that Jesus was

going to be resurrected, something that Jesus had

himself predicted on several occasions. In that sense,

although Nicodemus’s act was bold and generous, the

two probably did not think it any great threat to their

position among the Jews, since for these Jews the

question of Jesus had already ‘been taken care of’. If St

Thomas was right, they were not really Christians yet,

since a Christian believes in Jesus’ resurrection.

34

The gospel narrates how Jesus is resurrected and The gospel narrates how Jesus is resurrected and shows himself to his disciples. (…) But we do not see the name of Nicodemus mentioned any more. What would he have done when confronted with Jesus' resurrection? Perhaps it is likely that one so bold to come forward at Jesus' burial, would not lack the courage to follow him now. But still, this would have serious repercussions for his standing among the Pharisees, who continued to persecute the disciples of Jesus. And did he really believe him? So the answer is that we don’t know what Nicodemus did. We can only guess.

35

(first points) Listening to Jesus may be a bit (first points) Listening to Jesus may be a bit

difficult for us, since we are not used to hearing

about spiritual realities, and they do not really

have a place in our worldview. But if the teacher is

to be trusted, why would they not be real?

36

37

38

39

Oh, and what happened to Nico? The truth is that I do Oh, and what happened to Nico? The truth is that I do

not know. And there is only one way to find out.

Because Nico, that is each of us. If we want to find an

answer to his question, the only way to find out about

it is to undertake the journey as the Nicodemus of the

Gospel did. It will require all the fortitude and

determination that Nicodemus showed, it will require

dedicated study, it will require openness to a relation

with Jesus, if you are interested in what He has to say.

But it is the road to find out about one of the most

important questions of your life: can I believe in God?

Just please don’t disappear…

40

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