Thought Experiment: If There Were No Afterlife ...

Here's a thought experiment.  Say God appears to you, in a way that you're completely convinced it's legit.  And He tells you that He loves you and He wants to help you to have the best life possible.  But, sadly, there is no afterlife.  When you die, that's it - you cease to exist.

Does this change the way you live?

On one hand, you've still got God in your corner, and if you're living for Him, surely that will mean some solid perks or a helping hand along the way.  But sometimes that helping hand makes life more difficult, as God seems to be more concerned with building character than with plain old happiness.  Still, surely, there are benefits to living as clean and good of a life as you can.  If you treat your body like a temple, you'll live longer (usually) and stay healthier.  If you're good to the people around you, they'll tend to be good to you.  And so on.

On the other hand, there are a lot of fun things you might be more inclined to try (or continue), if there were no eternal consequences.  Solomon said that all is ephemeral, and if that's true, that life is fleeting and that's all there is, why not live for today?

How much would it matter if God loved you and did stuff for you?  I mean, you've got family and friends who love you and do stuff for you, but you don't always adjust your behavior for them.  Your mom had a hand in your 'creation', but you don't live your life just for her.

I've always thought that my behavior wouldn't be that different if I weren't a Christian.  For example, I don't drink because I don't like the taste or being out of control.  I don't sleep around because I think we're wired for sex to have an effect on us.  I don't lie to people because I believe the golden rule is a good principle to live by and I don't like it when people lie to me.

But if there is no afterlife?  It's hard to say I wouldn't be swayed by that information.