That's largely a belief of fundamentalists and some evangelical Christians, but depending upon who you ask, "accepting Jesus" could mean one of about a billion different things.
-J
Yes. But leaving aside for a moment the issue of what it means to "accept Jesus," I really like this quote:
My personal belief is that God decides who gets into heaven and not me. I'm not going to try and guess who he'll let in and who he won't.
Exactly right. But as far as what God has said on the issue, from Jesus' own lips: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) There are other passages that similarly state unequivocally that Jesus is the
only way to salvation. And the reason being, all have sinned, and the penalty for that is eternal death. (Rom 3:23, 6:23) The only way to escape that is to have those sins paid for or taken away. Jesus is the only one who lays claim to being able to accomplish that.
That being said, I still come back to the quote above. There are a few select passages that imply that those who have never specifically had the opportunity to hear about God and the specifics of what he requires will be judged by their consciences. The passages are not very explicit as to how that works, and I can only guess. God has mercy on whom he will have mercy. But I don't think I would want to bank my eternal destiny on poosibly falling under an exception that might or might not apply, when I should be banking it on the rule, since I do indeed have the ability and opportunity (as most do) to find out what I need to do and to do it.