Believe it or not...

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Mark 16:16 Unbelief is a sin and Jesus' atonement does not cover it unless one chooses to transition from unbelief to belief. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. [16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [17] For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. [18] He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:15-18 Webster's 1828 gives a great definition of believe: Believe BELIE'VE, verb transitive To credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of something upon the declaration of another, or upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by other circumstances, than personal knowledge. When we believe upon the authority of another, we always put confidence in his veracity. When we believe upon the authority of reasoning, arguments, or a concurrence of facts and circumstances, we rest our conclusions upon their strength or probability, their agreement with our own experience, etc. 2. To expect or hope with confidence; to trust. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalms 27:13. BELIE'VE, verb intransitive To have a firm persuasion of any thing. In some cases, to have full persuasion, approaching to certainty; in others, more doubt is implied. It is often followed by in or on, especially in the scriptures. To believe in, is to hold as the object of faith. 'Ye believe in God, believe also in me.' John 14:1. To believe on, is to trust, to place full confidence in, to rest upon with faith. 'To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.' John 1:7. Johnson. But there is no ground for much distinction. In theology, to believe sometimes expresses a mere assent of the understanding to the truths of the gospel; as in the case of Simon. Acts 8:37. In others, the word implies, with this assent of the mind, a yielding of the will and affections, accompanied with a humble reliance on Christ for salvation. John 1:12. John 3:15. So you can believe it or not, both have eternal consequences.