Actually I thought your example of the Samaritan is more apposite. After all Jesus praised the Samaritan and did not suggest that the Samaritan did not need to convert to Judaism to be good.
Edit: Sorry should make more sense now.
And that was exactly my point. The Good Samaritan is held up as an ideal for Jesus' followers to strive for. Yet, if you go by the story (and if it had been a real event), many modern Christians would say the Samaritan was going to Hell because he didn't convert.
I'd like to try and tackle this issue now if you guys don't mind. First the "Good Samaritan" is a parable, he isn't a real person. Therefor at no point does Jesus say or even refer that he was saved by these acts because it wasn't necessary for the story. To speculate on if he is or isn't going to hell would just be adding something to the story that was never meant to be part of the story.
The parable was actually not in response to the question of how to be saved. Let me explain.
In verse 25 we see
And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and
tempted him, saying, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?Jesus says "...What is written in the law?... "
He responds with "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind;
and thy neighbour as thyself"
Jesus' response "...Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."
Lawyer - "...
willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And
who is my neighbour?"
Now, this is the question Jesus is answering with this parable. He's already answer the question of "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" The "Good Samaritan" is not meant to show how to be saved, but rather to show the Lawyer he wasn't keeping the Law. The Lawyer tried to justify that by saying "well, I love my neighbor but not the Samaritan's. Surely they aren't who we're talking about right?" I saw it posted on the net and I'll try my best at rewording it. The meanings of the "Good Samaritan" parable are we should set aside our prejudice and show love and compassion to everyone. It was also used to show that we cannot keep the Law, and we need a savior (Someone to do it for us). So really, the status of the "Good Samaritan" (or fictional character) doesn't matter, and is never discussed.