At the risk of diverting this thread into theology, I do want to state that not all Christians believe as you do about who goes to Heaven or Hell.
My reading of Scripture indicates at least 3 paths to Heaven.
The Jews are justified by their keeping the Law they were given. At the last Judgment, the 12 Tribes of Isreal are judged by the 12 Apostles under the direction of Yeshua the Christ.
Believers who die in their belief in Christ do not wait until Judgment Day, but go directly from death to Heaven. They do not taste of death. Also there are those of the Tribulation who turned to God in the End and stand before the throne.
All others sleep in death until Judgment Day, until the Resurrection of the Dead. Then Christ separates the wheat from the chaff, and his criteria are stated. "When I was hungry, you fed me; When I was naked, you clothed me; when I was in prison you visited me." And "What you did to these the least of these my brethren, you did it also unto me."
So, those who did good works but did not believe in Christ during their lives are given a chance to accept Him at the Resurrection of the Dead.
This is the way I understand the Scripture. This is what the Holy Spirit has guided me to believe.
And my point is not that you are wrong, it is that you are not Christ, and only He will make the final calls.
No, you're greatly mistaken. The Bible is clear that there is only one way to heaven, and that is through accepting Jesus Christ as one's savior (John 14:6, Acts 4:12).
The Jews are justified by their keeping the Law they were given. At the last Judgment, the 12 Tribes of Isreal are judged by the 12 Apostles under the direction of Yeshua the Christ.
The Jews were given the Law by God in the time of Moses, 1400 years before Christ. However, even during that time, the Law was never meant to be the means of salvation for anybody. The reason: no one could keep the Law. The Law cannot save anybody; it only serves to expose a man's sins. The X-Ray machine does not cure a person of cancer; it only exposes its presence. The Law serves the same purpose: it exposes the presence of sin in the human heart. Paul makes this clear in Romans 10 and other places in the New Testament. Any Jew living since the time of Christ is under the same obligation to acknowledge/accept Jesus as his own personal savior, just as is any non-Jew. The Law has no power to save, only to condemn. No one can live up to the perfect Law of God.
Believers who die in their belief in Christ do not wait until Judgment Day, but go directly from death to Heaven. They do not taste of death. Also there are those of the Tribulation who turned to God in the End and stand before the throne.
It is true that believers in Christ enter immediately into heaven upon their physical death. Later, at some point when the rapture occurs, they will receive their resurrected (glorified) bodies. However, at some point beyond that, all believers must stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ (the Bema Seat). This is not to evaluate whether they get to stay in heaven - that issue has already been settled through the cross and the fact of their belief in Christ while they were on earth - but rather, to evaluate the quality of their works and service to Christ, for the purpose of determining their heavenly rewards, privileges, positions. Some will rule and reign with Christ, while others will be established in far lesser capacities. All believers go to heaven, but there are degrees of eternal rewards in heaven, just as there are degrees of eternal punishment in hell for the damned.
Tribulation believers (who will very likely suffer a great deal for their faith, unto death) likewise enter immediately into heaven upon death.
Those believers who are alive when Christ comes to the clouds in the air above the earth to "rapture" (catch up, take away) the Church (all believers in Christ) will actually not experience physical death, but will instead by "translated" or transformed, receiving their resurrection bodies immediately and thus be with Christ.
So, those who did good works but did not believe in Christ during their lives are given a chance to accept Him at the Resurrection of the Dead.
When Christ returns to the earth following the 7 years of tribulation, the Judgement of Gentiles (Nations) and the Judgement of Jews will occur. This is a different set of judgements altogether from the judgement of believers at the Bema Seat. The believers in Christ are separated from the non-believers. Their works are the basis, these works giving evidence of who is a true believer and who is not. This is not to say that anyone is saved by their works, because no one is saved that way (Eph 2:8-9). Faith in Christ, God's provided Redeemer, is still the one and only means of salvation. But this is a select people group that has survived the horrendous Great Tribulation under the reign of the Antichrist. The polarization between those who performed good works and those who performed evil works will be both extreme and obvious. In this future time, one can only be a Christian literally on pain of death. Those who take the mark of the beast (and that will be the majority of people alive then) show themselves to be on the side of Satan. Those who refuse the mark, and somehow manage to still survive (for many Christians will be martyred during this time) show themselves to be the true servants of Christ. Jesus will indeed separate the two groups, and deport the servants of Satan to hell.
There is no second chance to accept Christ at death, for anybody. That decision is made during one's earthly life.
Thank you for that interpretation.
My brother died of cancer last year at the age of 48, and he was not a believer.
He was a good man and a loving husband and father.
I hope I'll see him in Heaven.