I have very little interest in soccer and do not belong to the fans of a particular club. Of course, I have noticed that Ajax has had a very successful season. But that sums up how much I know of the state of Dutch soccer. I must admit that I had some admiration for Johan Cruyff, and that is also true for Jan Mulder. Whenever I see his face on tv, I tend to be at least mildly curious for what he has to say.

Mulder is now in his mid-seventies. After a brilliant career as a soccer player (In particular with the Belgian club Anderlecht and Ajax of Amsterdam), Jan Mulder became a popular columnist for a number of publications, and authored more than twenty books. For many years he has made a frequent appearance in various television programs. Currently he presents a series of six programs on Dutch television with the name: Jan Mulder’s eternal life.

The few programs that have already aired leave the viewer in no doubt that Mulder hopes for a very long life. He does not want to die and for six consecutive Friday nights he explores in his program the possibilities of eternal life. I wonder whether in the instalments that are yet to come Mulder will also approach his topic from a religious perspective. I watched with keen interest the interview of Mulder with Dr. Ian Pearson, an English futurologist who predicts that by the year 2050 eternal life should be within our reach. However, it must be noted that the kind of eternal life the professor envisages is not something that excites me. This English expert on future developments believes that within a few decades technological progress  will enable us to connect our brain with the digital world and that we can continue to live ‘in the cloud’ after our physical body has ceased to function adequately. Our digital ‘I’ may then choose a robot as the vehicle that will allow us to participate in this world. It was clear that Mulder was also not convinced this was the kind of eternal life he is looking for.

I have no idea what technological innovations will change our lives in the future. These developments will almost certainly prolong our lives with a number of years and perhaps we are only at the beginning of replacing failing body parts with ever smaller implanted artificial objects and wireless instruments, etc. However, there will always be a limit to what we can do. As a believer I am convinced that creating life and offering perfect eternal life is beyond that limit. His search for eternal life should take Mulder to his Creator rather than to dr. Pearson.

In the meantime I fully understand Jan Mulder’s eagerness to hold on to this life and to push his death as far as possible into the future. The question whether eternal is indeed an option has also occupied my thinking in recent years. It has recently inspired me to write a book about this topic. I have been looking for answers by taking the Bible as my point of departure. Some of my questions have so far remained unanswered, but I have been able to choose a title, based on a firm conviction: I Have a Future, The English edition of the book will come off the press later in this year. But I have now also started work on a Dutch edition. As soon as that appears I will send a copy to Jan Mulder. I will address it as: Jan Mulder, Bellingwolde. I have no doubt that it will reach him in the small village  in the province of Groningen where he was born and where he now lives.