Belief is not a choice, so what makes believers better than unbelievers?

I think a lot of this hinges on what those words mean when various people use them, and it is definitely not consistent. I think your understanding is perfectly reasonable given the way many people talk about believers and unbelievers and salvation. Your frustrations and perceived contradictions also totally reasonable. However, I think people are generally imprecise with their language, furthermore people tend not to have a lot of unnecessary self-awareness or introspection unless they are insomniacs or philosophers. A lot of times people are just using the language they have heard in their communities. In many times this even makes people more defensive of it, because the language is established and ingrained in communities and shared experiences that are absolutely real, and is difficult to see how that is confusing or contradictory when divorced from them.

Back to belief and salvation, belief in the Bible has nothing to do with the existence of God. This is a modern invention. When the Bible talks about believing in Jesus, when it says whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life, this type of belief cannot happen without first knowing Jesus (like a relationship, or an acquaintance). This type of knowledge is like if you are trying to get into a private party at a club. You can tell the bouncer the host's birthdate or blood type or favorite foods, but all that matters is if the host comes out and says "let them in, they're with me". This belief is saying you know Jesus (personally, as in a relationship) and you trust he is the person he claims to be and will do the things he claims he will do. As you so accurately point out, this is ultimately just a feeling, and furthermore, you don't really have any control or intentionality regarding it. Put differently, people discover that they already believe in Jesus. There are probably many ways to do this, but one way is perhaps looking honestly at one's behaviors, and then considering how consistent those are with what one thinks one believes or claims to believe. Because behavior doesn't lie, it's our claimed beliefs that need to be revised.

This has gotten long. As you point out, one certainly can't (or shouldn't) feel superior about this belief. Rather, one might feel lucky or perhaps a weighty guilt of undeserved privilege. It also springboards into many further questions (like, how is it fair to punish unbelievers, or, is God actually good?) that should be explored as well. But I guess the thing I most want to convey is that if something is true, then it will stand up to investigation and questioning. Christianity is not an exception. But one must also be careful not over-dismiss. Just because you've ruled out one interpretation, doesn't mean there isn't any true interpretation possible.

/r/Christianity Thread