Do good people make religion, or does religion make good people?

My mom, being from the Philippines, was raised Catholic. Of course the same was for my brother and I, although I’m not sure how strong his beliefs really are. The Catholic Church, like many other religions, is full of contradictions. This isn’t an atheist blog or anything like that; it’s just a simple analysis. Basically my mom and I got into a talk about it and it lead to her pretty much saying that if you don’t accept Jesus into your heart you won’t get into heaven. This actually sounds insane to me. So Jews and Muslims, along with Christianity, all have their roots from the Old Testament. In other words, they all believe in the same god. Now church has taught me that god is all loving and he’s all about forgiveness and junk, so why would this be the case? Sounds like to me if you live a descent, honest life God wouldn’t just cast you in to the eternal lake of fire. Here’s a little scenario I thought about: it starts with two people. The first person, having never heard of the Bible or Jesus for that matter, chooses to live a good life because it’s the right thing to do. He treats others like he wants to be treated and is always fair, maybe even generous at times. The second person lies and cheats to get what he wants. He has not yet heard about Jesus either, and he doesn’t care how he treats people to get what he wants. Then someone tells him about the Bible; how there’s an all-knowing God watching us all. He learns how there are one of two afterlife’s we will be sent, depending on how we choose to live, so he wises up. He decides to live a good life and truly lets Jesus into his heart. So when they both pass away does the second go to Heaven while the first, having never heard of Jesus or God while still living a good life, go to Hell?