Interesting premise. And it's a great start, but I think it could be improved upon.

Premise One. Happiness suffers across the board as a result separation from God secondary to the Cardinal Sin. It's an equal-opportunity phenomenon.

Second point--use of the word "happy" needs a clear operational definition. It's too ephemeral and temporal in nature. I think what you're trying to get at is more long-term. Contentment of the soul--although that's not quite right either.

Second Premise: The best approximation toward (happiness) is through the pursuit of Christ as explained by God's Word. (In other words, the Bible serves as an instruction book towards salvation...but not only that--it's an instruction book as to how best get the most out of this flawed life.)

A perfect example... My ex-chair is tenured, and will be on my tenure committee. She has tried to intimidate me in the past--which is comical; you can't really intimidate a stutterer. But I digress... Earlier this week, she sent me an email threatening to tank my tenure review.

I was able to laugh it off; it didn't affect me one bit. Why? Because my God is much bigger than the influence of a nutty woman. If God is creative enough to use a giant fish or whale to get the job done (despite Jonah's best attempt otherwise), then this is a pre-determined and moot issue. Life hurdles are ultimately up to God; man just thinks they have an important role in all of it.

Now here's an interesting question--is (what I have described above) faith? (I'm currently thinking about the whole concept of faith, and what faith actually is...)