Is Jesus the Only way to Heaven?

I was getting my taxes done last year and a lady at the tax office asked me what I did. At the time I was a youth pastor, so I explained a little about what it involved. I told her that I got paid to have fun with teenagers and teach the Bible. She seemed pretty intrigued and told me that she went to church. She proceeded to tell me something to the effect that church was important to her, but it aggravated her when people where close-minded. When I probed a little about what she was referring to she said that she just didn't think that anyone could say that they had the only answer when it comes to faith. She said that maybe God dealt with different people groups in different ways, and maybe He revealed Himself to one group of people in the form of Jesus and revealed Himself to another people group in the form of Ali, or Buddha etc. I probably didn't respond in the best way possible, but since she claimed to be a Christian I asked her what sin she thought seemed to anger God the most in the Bible. She said she wasn't sure, so I said, "What about Idolatry?"
I tell this story because it is disturbingly common for professed Christians to think that Jesus is simply one of many ways and not THE ONLY way. In fact, one of the leading "Evangelicals" of our day commented on Larry King Live that he just couldn't say that people of other faiths won't be in Heaven. What's wrong with this picture? Are we really being closed minded, fundamentalist, haters if we say that Jesus is the only way of salvation and all people are condemned without Him? Well, that depends on what the truth is. If it's not true that Jesus is the only way, then yes...we are being closed minded, fundamentalist, haters to say that He is the only way. But if Jesus is in fact the only way, then we are doing the most open minded, loving thing to tell the world this truth.
So the question is: Is it true that Jesus is the Only way to Heaven? The Bible clearly leaves no room for discussion on this issue. Verse after verse declare that confession and belief in Jesus Christ are necessary for forgiveness and redemption.
But the question I want to ask is: Why? Why does the Bible say that Jesus is the only way, and why should people who claim to be Christians be absolutely unswayed when defending this truth? I believe the answer is very simple, but Americanized Christianity has left us with a distorted understanding of Salvation and Jesus. Regular church attenders have been conditioned to see Jesus as a ticket to get to the destination (Heaven). Since Heaven is the destination and Jesus has been taught primarily as a means to get there, many "Christians" have begun to allow for other possible "tickets." But this way of thinking is completely wrong. What we need to see is that Jesus IS the DESTINATION, not merely a means to get there. Heaven is Heaven because Jesus is there. Yes, He is the means, but He is also the end, the goal, the prize, the treasure. We need to let that soak in. If Jesus really is the destination, does it even make sense to claim that there could be another way?