My post on "Traditional Christianity's Insuperable Problem" has generated a lot of discussion. While all the comments were interesting and provocative, I especially wanted to highlight a few that put a different spin on the interpretation of the verse in question.
Art wrote:
I always think of it as meaning "My teachings are the way, the truth, and the life: no one can really understand God except if it's similar to what I've taught; no one comes to know and understand God unless it's similar to what I've taught."
MarkL:
I just read John 14.6. Where does it say that YOU have to know Jesus? Or believe that he is God? That is pure egotism on your part. Jesus just says "the only way to God is through me." So? The pilot of an airplane can legitimately say that the only way you'll get to your destination is through him, but that doesn't mean that you have to believe in the pilot's ability to fly the plane. It is only necessary that the pilot fly the plane because he believes that you need him.
Patrick:
Jesus' words could be interpreted as follows:
people experience The Father *because* of Jesus, regardless of whether they "know Jesus" in this life or the next (there is no reason to restrict "salvation" to earthly life)
or
people experience The Father by following Jesus' principles (i.e. loving their neighbors as themselves).
Although I don't think the verse traditionally has been interpreted in these ways, I agree that any of these interpretations can make sense of it and that one or more of them may be close to what Jesus actually meant (assuming he ever said it in the first place, and that it isn't simply a personal statement on the part of the author of John's Gospel).