I see that you've already received several responses so I'll be brief. Jesus IS the only way to heaven. Your statement is based upon a faulty assumption. Salvation now is on faith, salvation prior to Jesus' crucifixion was also by faith. The bible does address this point, but as I said, I'll spare you the theology lesson.
Thank you for that.
My statement wasn't really based on a faulty assumption because I fully understand the theological argument. And I don't disagree with you, except at the margins.
But they're big margins.
There have been a lot of people born on this planet who never had the opportunity to read the scripture, either before Jesus and even after. So you can't test their faith on something they never had a chance to believe.
You can take a tough approach and say they all go to hell. Or you can say that some were really good people who never even had the opportunity to have faith in the messiah or Jesus.
But that really opens the door theologically. If you can achieve salvation without ever even hearing of the concept of the plan of salvation, what's the point of the plan?
I can't answer these questions, and so far, nobody else has answered them to my satisfaction, either.
In the overall picture, it probably shouldn't matter to me. I know what I know. I believe what I believe. God can figure the rest of the stuff out.