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Secondly, I've heard a lot of people say that all you have to do is accept God, or accept Jesus or whatever (depending on denomination) before you die. Of course, there's more to it, but that's the basic jist of what's necessary to be saved. Why? It seems to me that God would care for those who have lived a life of morallity than simply those that believe in him. I mean, it seems kind of arrogant of him.
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Well, I have your answer, and it comes straight from the Bible. Matthew 20 is a parable of a man who owns a vineyard. Throughout the day he goes out and hires men to work in the vineyard, promising the first me a few dollars, and everyone else "what is fair". At the end of the day, he pays the men who have worked only an hour the same few dollars that the men who worked all day got. The men who worked the whole day grumbled at this, but the vineyard owner told them that they got what they were promised, and that it was his right to pay the other men what he so desired. This is just like your problem above. People who accept Jesus as their savior minutes before death have done much less work for him than those who were saved years ago, but God desires them to all have the same reward. I think he does this because he wants to have everyone feel as equals in heaven, after all, satan was an ordinary angel until he began thinking he was better than everyone else, and as a result, he tried to take over heaven, and was condemned to burn for all eternity in hell. Now which would you rather have? Equality or punishment? I guess that is what it all comes down to.
Matthew 20:16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."