I was at a conservative conference this week and got to meet people from all different walks of life with various ages and backgrounds. One group I spoke with talked about how the young people were moving away from a belief in an “ordered God,” not that there might not be a supreme being God, but one that isn’t involved in day to day life. They felt that since we have more information now, we have move answers to life’s unanswered questions.

The rules our parents and grandparents expect us to live under come from a time and age where information was limited and tradition was important. The number floating around was 40%! That’s the number of young people who don’t believe in God or any God at all. These are also those that believe life is what you make it, life is short and needs to be lived to its fullest.

I refer to them as the “eAge.”

Stop and think for a moment about the amount of data coming at your kids. From TV, Smartphones, Computers, Ipads and more. Information is abbreviated, books are not read as much today as they were 20 years ago. Its information overload.

What’s real, the Kardashians or that old school God? The more outrageous the movie, the better it does. Vampires and Dumb and Dumber do well. Can’t get to the movies? No problem, there is always YouTube. You can get so many clips on any subject you want in minutes. Most marketing companies and online experts say keep them at 5 minutes or less. Wow how deep can you get in 5 minutes?

Twitter has a 140 character maximum! How do you get a message across?

My Christian friends try to pander to this generation by cute little phrases they can send via twitter, snort commercial type videos on YouTube and so on.

Yes, I believe if Jesus was here today he would use the internet, TV and so on, but they would be full messages, not snippets.

Look around you. You see families at restaurants with the blue glow at the table. Smart phones abound, not conversation. Friends and Facebook are shaping your kids thoughts and viewpoints. Family has been replaced by the internet. Are you afraid to speak to your children? We have gone from the center of the family being from our homes outward to the internet outward.

Our kids have so much coming at them about the world from the world that any God conversation usually centers on how he doesn’t exist. Pull the ePlug! Get the youth back! Forty percent is too high a number. Don’t let your kids get swallowed up in the eWorld. If electronics can be used for good, then use it for good! Don’t let evil prevail when God can be glorified through it. Let’s shoot for 0%!

Joe Messina