Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

While making the happiness crisis in America even worse, especially for young people,

are our completely wrong diagnoses of what's going on. Look, what's needed to increase happiness

across our population is not more

money. It's not more stuff. It's not more so-called authenticity. And that's because, as Dr. Thaddeus

Williams explains in his excellent book, don't follow your heart, is that at the root of our

problem is terrible advice about what happiness is and how to achieve it. It's advice

that's been repeated across our culture for over a decade now. Here's Dr. Williams to explain.

For years, my children and I played a game together called Spot the Lie. If they can identify

a false idea and whatever we happen to be watching, they earn one dollar.

When she was nine years old, my daughter Holland, or Dutch, for short, came cheerfully bounding

down the stairs saying, Daddy, you owe me another dollar. What'd you find this time, Dutch?

The commercial told me I should follow my heart, she answered. Okay, so

where's the lie? I asked. Her answer, and I recall it verbatim, was, Daddy, I don't want to follow

my own heart. My heart is fallen. I'd way rather follow God's heart. Cue the proud daddy tears.

Let's just say she earned $5 for that one.

Some may think, what a shame he's indoctrinating that poor girl.

But the opposite is true.

I'm trying to make a heretic out of her.

I want her to question and ultimately rebel against the doctrines of our day. According to Barna,

84% of Americans believe the highest goal of life is to enjoy it as much as possible.

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