Yes, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But that also means that God is Truth. We can't deny truths in other religion, because all truth is God's truth. So when other religions teach that God sustains everything in existence, that God is One, that God is omnipotent, et cetera, we have to affirm these truths.
Yes, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. But does that mean that someone has to recognize Jesus explicitly? Certainly someone who "loves his neighbor as himself," without understanding and explicitly acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Savior through no fault of his own, implicitly acknowledges Jesus.
Jesus said that to those who choose to deny Him on earth, he will deny them (not know them) at judgement day. 'Knowing' Him 'implicitly' won't cut it. Being 'saved' (from hell) means an intellectual and physical acknowledgment of Christ as savior ('confession' before men) as well as baptism, which is symbolic of the death and resurection of Christ and the death and rebirth of the 'new' man/woman in Christ. I understand that baptism is questioned by some but I find it clear in New testament scripture and see no reason to avoid it.
Jesus Christ did not suffer and die on the cross so that men could 'implicitly' know Him and be saved. Eternal life requires a bit more effort than that, which should be logical to most thinking people who are sincere in finding salvation.
That concept might be valid for a person who never hears about Christ or sees a bible (the mythical native living deep in a jungle in ancient times) but acknowledges God through His works (creation). God is perfect justice and does not punish one who cannot know the saviour because of a situation that he does not control. This would not apply to modern-day man, as Christ and Christianity are fully known and a bible available to anyone, for free.
One other note regarding the tendency of some on FR to equate Christian fundamentalism with that of the Islamic variety: Christianity may seem strange to the unbeliever and Jerry falwell is a convenient whipping boy but modern-day Christianity will not harm you in any way or attempt to force you to accept it's teachings. Despite what some atheists want us to believe, Christians do not want a theocracy in America; we believe in Free Will. Accept Christ or reject him, it's a choice and the only punishment for rejection is up to God, not man.
. Yes, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. But does that mean that someone has to recognize Jesus explicitly? Certainly someone who "loves his neighbor as himself," without understanding and explicitly acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Savior through no fault of his own, implicitly acknowledges Jesus.
You have been hanging around liberal Catholic theologians too long.:>)
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Philippians9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
As for loving your neighbor as a marker or means of salvation...well Luther put that aside!
Romans 9:32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;Romans 11:6And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Ephesians 2
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
None of this is new to you ...so I hope that you were just generating some discussion
Jesus is Lord and those that refuse to bend their knee to Him are lost..
Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;..