This is a question that could be discussed for days with many different opinions and suggestions.  However, instead of throwing out my assessment of what our generation thinks about God, I simply want to share an experience that I had the other day.  

Saturday morning I ventured out to look at something that someone was selling on segundamano.es.  Segunda mano means “Second hand” and the website is just like Craig’s List, but in Spain.  You can find some great deals on segundamano.es for things that normally cost much more.  

Alvaro was his name and I arrived at his house around 10:30am.  He was very friendly so we talked for a little bit before I inspected the product I wanted to buy.  In his ad, he listed that he was moving so I asked him where he was moving to and he told me Irun.  Irun is in the northern part of Spain in the Basque region.  I told him I knew some people up there and he asked me what they did.  I told him they were pastors of churches and he said, “Interesting.”  So we discussed a little of why he is moving and he told me because the crisis here has killed his business and so he is moving up there to start an American Restaurant named Foster’s Hollywood.  Foster’s Hollywood is an American restaurant that is very popular here in Spain. They serve on average around 5,000 people every week.  The interesting fact is that Foster’s Hollywood wasn’t started in the USA. It was actually started by 3 Americans who lived here in Madrid.  I believe they just recently opened a Foster’s Hollywood in Tampa, the first ever in the USA.  

We continued talking and he asked what I did.  I told him I was starting a church in the southern part of Madrid.  He immediately said, “well that is great, but I am just not a very religious person.”  

As I was getting ready to leave, he told me, “You know, my father was a religious man but I just lost my faith.  I lost my faith in the people and the institutions.”  I explained to him that it is easy to do.  If we keep our eyes on imperfect man, we will eventually be disappointed.  But if we keep our eyes on the perfect Christ, we will see the truth.  The next thing that he said to me is what defines our generation and what our generation thinks about God and spiritual things.  He said, “You know, I just never understood.  I love my girlfriend and I love to sleep with her.  I don’t plan on getting married so what is wrong with sleeping with my girlfriend?”  I basically told him that the real problem isn’t what we can and can’t do.  The real problem is that we are sinners before God, separated from Him and we need His forgiveness.  Some people will accept this and some people won’t.  After that, he just kind of looked at me with a big smile like I was crazy.  :)  

I walked out of there thinking how sad it was that he would rather fulfill his personal desires and satisfactions then to have a relationship with the one true Creator and God.  Unfortunately this is the generation in which we are dealing with.  It is not just the Spaniards, but all over the world.  It is the basic premise of why millions upon millions throughout history have hesitated to come to Christ.  They would rather fulfill there own desires then enter into a relationship with our Holy God.  May we pray for the current generation here and all over the world that they may put their personal desires in check and turn to the one true Savior, Jesus Christ.