It's not that the quest of happiness will fail. It's just that you're missing out on a deeper, qualitatively richer version of happiness if you try and do it in your own strength. And so that's where we talk about, I think, point to Scripture where the Bible actually doesn't say that much about happiness. It's not actually that interested in our happiness. What it says a lot about is joy. And here's where we talk about the one thing that you could say, for almost every ideal and pursuit of the modern mind, and kind of the modern, intelligent, educated person is that what the Bible offers is not something that's just quantitatively different. So, it's not saying: Come to Jesus and you'll be more happy. It's saying: Come to Jesus, and you'll have something that's qualitatively better than happiness. Christian joy just holds. It holds kind of above the storms, regardless of what's happening. So, there is a level of lasting certainty and majesty to what the Bible offers, and joy is one good example as opposed to human generated happiness.

Listen to Max Jeganathan, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity and Adjunct Speaker for the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics being interviewed by seasoned journalist Lorna Dueck. Max talk abouts how happiness comes and goes but Christian joy holds regardless of what's happening. He describes the Bible as a theological document/declaration, not a political one. "It's the way God communicates to us about who He is and who we are, and how He wants us to relate to Him and to one another." he says. Max also talks about sin being something that we are, that it's not based on performance. "Sin is actually an intrinsic brokenness, that explains a break in relationship with God, a relationship that we were all made for."

Max Jeganathan is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX) and an Adjunct Speaker for the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA). He has spoken in businesses, universities and legal and political institutions, including the University of Oxford, Imperial College, advisers in Canada’s National Parliament, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Samsung, Lego, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Amazon.

Born in Sri Lanka, Max’s family moved to Australia as refugees in the mid 1980s. He has worked as a lawyer (civil litigation) and a political & policy adviser in the Australian National Parliament. Max was educated at the Australian National University and the University of Oxford, and is currently undertaking a PhD in Law. He speaks on the intersection between ethics, faith, culture, economics, law, finance and technology. Max lives in Sydney with his wife Fiona and their three young children.