"If I lived my whole life as a good man and followed every rule in the Bible, but not for the reason that I believed in God, but rather because I think that that is the right way to treat others, would I still come to heaven? I'm not trying to be a "freeloader", but would he forgive me?"
Nope!!!
Why, because you have set up your own standards of morality, what is right and what is wrong, here's the question, have you always kept and lived up to those standards, never once failed in one tiny, little thing?
Of course you have failed, so you will be judged by your own moral standards and you will be found guilty.
Remember what I said about God being PERFECT, well He is and we are not, we are all guilty, each and every one of us.
Now, you say one thing, but you ask something else, you say you have lived a good life and if you were to do it over again you wouldn't change a thing, ...but you are asking about forgiveness, ...friend by your own words you are telling us you are guilty, you know in your conscience you are guilty.
Marcus, we have all sinned and fall short of what God wants us to be, and the penalty of our sin is death and that is more than our bodies dying and turning into corruption, death in the Biblical sense is to be separated from God, He is the One that is giving you your breath, giving you all that you have, you might think you have worked and earned it, but reality is He is the One that has been blessing you all of your life, also, God is light, so separation from Him will be total darkness, here's something else the Bible tells us,
For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Col 1:16, 17
We were created by Him (Jesus) and for Him, He is the Supreme Being and all things are being held together by Him, it's the last part I want you to see concerning death, Jesus is holding together all of the physical world (like the positive charges in the nucleus of an atom) and He is holding the spiritual-emotional world together too, very simplistically that means it's Jesus that keeps us sane, so in death, after we leave this body behind, without being with Jesus, but rather separated from Him we will go insane, that means we will be in total darkness, all alone and insane for all of eternity.
What I'm telling you is what God has said to be the truth, it's your choice to receive it or reject it, if you will admit in your heart that you need forgiveness, even if that's the only thing you truly believe or understand at this moment, then ask Him if what we are telling you is true, if you are sincere He will answer you, you have to take the first step in faith that you need forgiveness, then He will reveal more of Himself to you and answer more of your questions.
So like I said earlier, why don't join us, we are going to Heaven and we would like you to come with us.
Gene