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Jan. 2, 2025 - The David Knight Show

15:48

HAPPY New Year? Study Tries to Determine What Happiness IS

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	We say Happy New Year all the time to people, but what does it take to be happy?
	What is happiness?
	Is it what happens to you?
	You know, we're wishing people the best in the New Year, hoping that nothing happens to them.
	But we don't always have control over what happens to us, do we?
	So now there is a study about...
	What happiness truly is.
	And science, quote-unquote science, is going to give us the answers, as always.
	It always seeks to give us the answers to things in life, but they just don't seem to be able to quite get there.
	Well, it turns out that this guy begins his article.
	He says, well, it's all very well for the Dalai Lama to pronounce that, quote, the purpose of our lives is to be happy, unquote.
	But even he struggles to articulate how that is to happen.
	Is that really the purpose of our life?
	Boy, that's a...
	You know, that's not much of a consolation to people if that is, I don't know, is he Buddhist or something?
	If that's his perspective, that doesn't really offer much consolation, because you don't have control over that.
	The biggest study of its kind is hoping to discover an answer that has eluded holy men, philosophers, and scientists alike.
	The subjects will be asked to take part in a short happiness intervention, which might involve taking exercise or engaging in social interactions.
	Oh, that'll make you happy, won't it?
	Good on social media.
	Boy, that's a really uplifting experience to go argue with people.
	And whether these vary by age, income, and geography.
	Well, you know, we've got the richest man in history, not just in the world now, but in history, Elon Musk has to medicate himself regularly with ketamine because he's depressed.
	Is he unhappy?
	He certainly got unhappy about the H-1B visa stuff, didn't he?
	On social media.
	He should stay off of social media.
	He'd be much happier.
	Maybe he could sell it to somebody.
	But no, he's got his own social media site.
	He's got massive amounts of money, and yet he's depressed.
	He's unhappy.
	Even somebody that has that much money...
	Isn't truly in control of all the circumstances.
	You know, there was, on the Drudge Report, they showed the daughter of one of the Walton brothers and her $300 million yacht.
	And I was talking about all the stuff that was on there, and I thought, you know, I don't think that would make me happy.
	I think I would just have this burden of, you know, sometimes things like that can become like, you know, like a ball and chain encumbering you.
	With cares and worries about what is going to happen with that.
	I don't envy her at all.
	I said volunteers will be asked to perform activities which last no longer than 25 minutes because, you know, happiness is fleeting.
	It isn't going to last.
	And can be conducted in home without specialist equipment.
	It is hoped that the research will shed new light on what, if anything, is guaranteed To provide us with a boost.
	Well, you know, a drug can provide you with a boost, can't it?
	This is one of the reasons why people turn to drugs, because they're looking for fleeting happiness.
	They're looking for some kind of how they feel.
	And, you know, pursuing that all the time.
	But anything that is temporary like that, anything that is dependent on things that you don't control, It isn't going to get you there.
	You know, when Christians talk, they don't talk about happiness, even though we say Happy New Year, you know, things like that.
	What they really wish for people is joy.
	And what is the difference between happiness and joy?
	When we talk about Christian joy, we speak of it as a gift from God, and it is something that's going to take you through the horrible things of life, The heartaches, the despair, the sorrow, the injustices that are there.
	Joy is different.
	All of that destroys happiness.
	All of those things destroy happiness.
	But they don't destroy joy.
	That's what we're looking for.
	That's why we make that distinction between those things.
	Because there is something from God that is a gift, that joy that we call it, that transcends all of those things.
	You know, all of Musk's money can't buy it.
	It's free, but it's a gift from God, and it's not something that he is pursuing.
	And to give you an example of this, in Nigeria, we had 14 Christians, including a one-year-old girl and a pregnant woman, killed after singing Christmas carols at a service in Nigeria.
	Now, this was not something that was really unexpected.
	You know, are these people happy about it?
	I'm sure that they're not.
	Has it cost them their joy?
	That's the difference.
	The people who survive this have got a confident expectation of what eternally is going to happen to their relatives.
	And that's the difference.
	And these people in Nigeria knew this type of thing was likely to happen.
	And they did it anyway.
	Doesn't make them responsible for it.
	They're not at all responsible for it.
	But they are, they understood the consequences of what they're doing.
	They understood that there was a likelihood that somebody would seek them out, and yet they did it anyway.
	Why?
	Because they understood and had confidence in what was going to happen to them even if they were killed.
	At least 14 Christians, including a one-year-old girl and a pregnant woman, killed in Plateau State, Nigeria, following a Christmas carol service.
	The latest in a series of attacks against the Uruguay tribe in the north-central region of the country.
	Yeah.
	So, again, I know that the people that are there are very unhappy.
	But I think these Christians are not without joy.
	They are six and a half times more likely to die than the average person in Nigeria.
	Because there are Muslims that are targeting them for death.
	Community surrounding the church is home to about a thousand Christians.
	A local leader was quoted as saying that he had alerted the military personnel at a nearby checkpoint about unusual activities, but felt that his warnings were dismissed and ignored.
	And this is what we see all the time.
	The Fulani tribesmen, the radical Muslims that are there.
	The government is Muslim as well, and they look the other way.
	They don't do anything to stop them, and they don't do anything to stop the attacks if they're happening.
	They just walk away.
	The attack resulted in the loss of entire families, and a mass burial was held.
	The Irrigui people, a predominantly Christian group, have faced ongoing adversity, including violence and displacement by the Fulani militias, with more than 2,000 Christians killed since 2016, just out of that tribe.
	Between 2019 and 2023, more than 16,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria.
	Not just in that tribe, but in all of Nigeria.
	And again, as I said, six and a half Christian deaths to every non-Christian death in that country.
	Well, there's a lot of evil in the world.
	And again, that is why I say when we talk about...
	We talk about Happy New Year.
	You know, the Christian hymn that I'm sure they might have been singing if it was, I don't know if they speak English or if they had a translation.
	Joy to the world, right?
	Joy to the world, not happiness to the world.
	Joy to the world.
	ACLU and Elliot Page, meanwhile, are telling children that transgenderism will lead you to happiness.
	Talk about breaking baby's legs, talking about tearing them apart.
	You know, if that doesn't happen to them, these people want to tear apart their genitals, mutilate them in the most horrific way.
	You know, I am absolutely certain that in a few years, people are going to look back at all of this mutilation of children in the same way that we look back on these frontal lobotomies that were done.
	And, of course, it was done to one of the Kennedy kids.
	She had that done to her, you know, by her family.
	It was sold by the medical community as something that would be okay, and they didn't realize, I think.
	I don't think anybody would do that to their own child.
	Who knows?
	But I can't imagine anybody doing that to their own child unless they were given some really, really false medical advice about it.
	You know, if you look at One Flew of the Cuckoo's Nest, that's what eventually happens to the protagonist there, because he caused trouble.
	But I think that that horrendous practice is going to pale in comparison to these predatory practices being done on children.
	Elliot Page, who was formerly known as Ellen Page, now promising children happiness.
	Happiness.
	Yeah.
	If they become transgender.
	My message to my younger self would be just like, you know who you are.
	Please embrace that.
	She said in a video that's posted to social media by the ACLU. ACLU that partners all the time with Planned Parenthood.
	Because Planned Parenthood has a new profit center in this.
	It's not just black genocide anymore.
	It's child mutilation.
	Why, Speaker Johnson, are you funding this stuff?
	It's despicable that you would do this.
	Absolutely despicable.
	Trans people know who we are and we should be free to embrace our authentic selves.
	Well, you know, she did this as an adult.
	But she's promoting this to children.
	She said she would tell her younger self to just keep going on the journey of embracing who you truly are and that's what's going to lead you to happiness.
	That's the message of Hollywood, isn't it?
	You know, this actress.
	The message of Hollywood is always to follow your heart, except that your heart, God says, your heart is deceitfully wicked.
	Who can understand how bad that is?
	And this is not the first time that she has promoted transgenderism to children as part of the massive gaslighting.
	Well, before we take a break here, I just want to talk about something that had an anniversary on New Year's Day.
	And that is the song Amazing Grace.
	The first time it was sung was at a service on New Year's Day.
	And John Stone Street has an op-ed piece.
	He said, what better way to start the New Year than to remind ourselves about how God is at work in his world and in our lives.
	That's what John Newton did in 1773.
	At the very end of December 1772, John Newton would preach on the text of 1 Chronicles 17, verses 16 and 17.
	That passage was David's response to God after Nathan had informed him that his descendants would be enthroned forever as kings of Israel.
	David, once the poor shepherd boy, the man who had repented of adultery and murder, He responded to the news by saying, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family that you have brought me thus far?
	Stone Street said those words struck a deep chord in the heart of John Newton.
	In those last days of 1772, he found himself running out of empty pages in his journal, a bound book of 300 pages, holding 16 years' worth of entries.
	His mind was drawn to the pages of his past, the story of his life, from his days as an unregenerate slave trader to becoming a child of God.
	Newton would have remembered when his rebellious spirit got him thrown off of numerous ships, publicly flogged, and ousted from his majesty's navy.
	He would have remembered the shipwrecks and the mutinies and then the transformation of his heart by the power of the gospel.
	As was his habit, Newton set to work composing a hymn to illustrate his New Year's Day sermon.
	In that hymn, he would tell his poor congregation, Composed of lace makers and low-paid artisans, he'd tell them about the dangers and snares that he had faced, and he would reflect on the amazing grace that had saved a wretch like him.
	Those now famous words.
	First song, 1773, New Year's Day.
	They lingered in obscurity for many years, even as Newton counseled the young William Wilberforce and encouraged him to stay the course in his long battle against the slave trade.
	The words to Amazing Grace were rarely sung in England, but the hymn later published by Newton caught on in the Americas.
	The words of Amazing Grace would surface again 80 years later.
	In a book that would change the course of the nation, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
	In it, the slave, Tom, at his lowest point, sings the words.
	He said this verse is rarely sung today.
	It says, And when this mortal life shall fail, and flesh and sense shall cease, I shall possess within the veil a life of joy and peace.
	This is the hope that we have in God.
	Even when we face deep injustice, this is the hope that the people in Nigeria had that the scientists and that Elon Musk will never understand.
	Hello, it's me, Volodymyr Zelensky.
	I'm so tired of wearing these same t-shirts everywhere for years.
	You'd think with all the billions I've skimmed off America, I could dress better.
	And I could, if only David Knight would send me one of his beautiful grey MacGuffin hoodies or a new black t-shirt with the MacGuffin logo in blue.
	But he told me to get lost.
	Maybe one of you American suckers can buy me some at thedavidknightshow.com.
	And David is giving a 10% discount to listeners from now until 2025. At that price, you should be able to buy me several hundred.
	Those amazing sand-colored microphone hoodies are so beautiful.
	I'd wear something other than green military cosplay to my various galas and social events.

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