What is the minimum amount of action required to get in to heaven?

What is the minimum amount of action required to get in to heaven? Follow the Ten Commandments.

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. (2 Jo 1:6 NKJV)

Some friends say that you need to be attending church regularly, praying, repenting, and being seen to "make an effort" to practice the Christian teachings every day, in every decision, etc.

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. (Matthew 6:1 NKJV)

But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. (Matthew 23:5 NKJV)

Whereas others say that all you need to do is accept Christ as your saviour, and believe that the way to heaven is through him, whether or not you choose to then live your life in a "Christian manner" after that. This is a true saying but is not understood. So here it is:

God is breath(John 4:24), and we are his temple. The son of the breath is the word. The breath blew across the waters, and the breath expanded the universe. The breath by itself judges nothing, for authority has been given to the word. Yet their are two types of breath. The breath of truth and the breath of error (1 John 4:6). And the deciding factor is whether ort not a person can hear what the word is saying.

Now each person has their own sea of information. And from that sea comes knowledge and wisdom also many other things. Now if one is truly loving you then they will be immersed into your sea, or baptized into your water, or last, or born again, or have sold all their thoughts and are listening to the beggar. But once you start listening to their sea, no other thing in creation is allowed to be as important as the word that is being sown, for otherwise your mind becomes on the thorny ground, or the stony ground, or the wayside. Only the mind on the good ground can hear what is being said. And can hear the fullness of the waters. "But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”" (Luke 9:62 NKJV)

Once you start to harvest the truth from the one that is next to you, nothing I mean nothing can be more important the word "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26 NKJV). So I say to you Only if you learn to listen will you be saved "so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.’”" (Mark 4:12 NKJV)

For many are guilty of failing in the first commandment. Learn the lesson from the rich man. He came to Jesus and asked what do I need to do for ever lasting life? The response from Jesus "You know the commandments". But what do the people fail at understanding? The first three! Continuously the people loved the things of the world and worshiped the things instead of the word. You must drink from no other sea besides me! Why? Because I am Jealous and will take it out on your whole family! Yet to those that love me I will show mercy to thousands.

Many desire to be the teacher and be the fountain of knowledge, yet his followers have been called to listen and this is why. "And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together." (John 4:36 NKJV). I want this to be clear to you. The one who listens receives the wages of life! "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”" (John 4:14).

Prayers will not be answered if you do not understand faith. It is not a faith that since Jesus died you are saved! He did die. True. You can now be saved because he died. True. Because he taught us how to die. Trust that God will fulfill the Opposite Equal Reaction. The Centurion he had faith and his story has nothing to do with the death of Jesus. No he believed the word. For the Word made all things, why do you think that if the word made all things and you also have the words in you, that now the word can not make things?

If you want to see the word move a cup on the kitchen table, when the need comes say "that cup needs put in the sink" and it will move. Another person will come and pick up the cup and will put it into the sink for you, all by the power of the word. It works, God works many miracles through me.

Are the former being too strict on themselves?

These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:23 NKJV)

Are the latter looking for an "easy way out" in allowing them to lead a life of sin? Yes.

Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:9 NKJV)

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin (1 Peter 4:1 NKJV)

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41 NKJV)

When you are asking the questions your life is hidden.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3 NKJV)

See why their is no more sin? "His seed remains in him" He hears the words.

The basic issue is this:

If you don't share the nature of God, going to heaven will be impossible. But just imagine that it was, and you went to heaven without sharing God's nature, then it would actually be torture: God revealed to you in all His power, Glory and Holiness would be an unbearable terror - seeing eternal realities with clarity would necessitate the greatest of apprehension as you would know that your existence is anti-thetical to the most powerful being in existence whose merest breath could shred you to sub-atomic particles - you would not experience joy in any measure, only the most fearful apprehension possible.

You might say: "But, but... isn't God loving and merciful??" Yes he is, but He is also Holy - so Holy that anything of sin cannot withstand his presence.

So the minimum action required is that you become a partaker of the divine nature. Perhaps if your friends are kind enough to share the gospel with you again, you will realize how it important it is that you listen carefully.

If you don't want to wait that long, perhaps you could avail yourself of resources like this: http://peacewithgod.jesus.net/

Are the former being too strict on themselves? Are the latter looking for an "easy way out" in allowing them to lead a life of sin?

Without knowing specifics, it would not pay to be dogmatic, but in regard to the former - probably not, and the latter - almost certainly.

_{* All Scripture quotations taken from the New English Translation (NET Bible).}

According to the Scriptures, to be saved, a person must:

He said, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!" (Mark 1:15)

That is, a person is justified by faith. (Romans 3:21-4:25):

We are justified, declared righteous, at the moment of our salvation. Justification does not make us righteous, but rather pronounces us righteous. Our righteousness comes from placing our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice covers our sin, allowing God to see us as perfect and unblemished. Because as believers we are in Christ, God sees Christ's own righteousness when He looks at us. This meets God's demands for perfection; thus, He declares us righteous—He justifies us. What is justification? What does it mean to be justified?

However, every true believer should bear fruit (whether little or much):

But these are the ones sown on good soil: They hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, one thirty times as much, one sixty, and one a hundred." (Mark 4:20)

The good works only show that a person has really believed:

So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself. (James 2:17)

but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance. (Acts 26:20)

Regarding your last questions:

Legalists believe in and demand a strict literal adherence to rules and regulations. Doctrinally, it is a position essentially opposed to grace. [...] For example, there are those who feel that to be spiritual one must simply avoid tobacco, alcoholic beverages, dancing, movies, etc. The truth is that avoiding these things is no guarantee of spirituality. What does the Bible say about legalism? How can a Christian avoid falling into the trap of legalism?

The Scriptures says:

²⁰ If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? ²¹ “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” ²² These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings. ²³ Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body—a wisdom with no true value—they in reality result in fleshly indulgence. (Colossians 2:20-23)