What are the moral implications of the existence or non-existence of God or an afterlife?.
In this paper I will argue that Aquinas's view that since God is proved to be the beginning, and the creator of the first being, then there has to be an afterlife as well. My first argument comes from the text " Now everything that is produced through the will of an agent is directed to an end by that agent, because the good and the end are the proper object of the will; and therefore whatever proceeds from a will must needs be directed to an end" (Saint Aquinas pg 78). From that passage I got that If God is the creator of all beings and he is perfect in every way, then all that has a beginning has an end since God is perfect and good. The apparent connection between morality and religion appears to many people to support the claim that moral truths require a religious foundation, or can best be explained by God's existence, or some qualities or actions of God. Aquinas believed that if you had no knowledge of an end then you would live your life as if there was no end. Today I believe that if you believe in God and live your life as if God was the Supreme Being then you will be happier because you have a starting point to knowing true happiness. If God is good and all happiness is good then why not believe in God. The purpose of life is happiness and having your own free will, and Aquinas believed that the strongest faculty of will comes from God. My beliefs on the moral implications on the existence or non-existence of God and an afterlife is this, If I believe that there is someone and somewhere that I go after death than it gives me hope to want something more in life. When a person is in the hospital and the Doctor tells them there is nothing more that they can do, and the person does not believe in God or an afterlife, then that person doesn't have anything to look forward to so they are ignorant to the fact that God exist.
