Pursuing Happiness?        

Korean-American author Min Jin Lee has interesting views on the Bible

 and the pursuit of happiness. Here are some excerpts from her interview 

with Marvin Olasky in WORLD magazine:

God composes interesting stories 
   I always think about God being a writer because the Word is so important, and ... in this publishing world, I think of God as a writer and a publisher.

   If you are a Christian and believe in God, there's a lot of room for discussion. You can't seal yourself off from everything that you disagree with. 

Should novels leave us feeling happy, so the world make sense? 
   I don't believe in the pursuit of happiness. I always tell students, "I want to be good, to do the right thing. I want you to learn as much as you can. Happiness will come now and then, but the pursuit of it will make you miserable. So try to be decent."

How do students process that?
   They always go "ugh." But I tell them there are seasons in your life when you're not going to be happy. People get sick. People lose jobs. People get injured. They have every right to be grieving, and it may take a long time for them to heal. 

   There's a lot of evidence in the Bible where people aren't enjoying God at the moment. They're throwing things at Him. 

He doesn't zap Abraham some back talk and asking questions.
   I love the story of Job so much because Job gets to do this and Job is constantly saying things like, "Just curse me and let me die," and I think, "Sure. I would say that, too, if I was covered in boils, Sure." 

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