These given accounts may seem a bit over-the-top and unfair from a human perspective. An animal was to be stoned if it got too close to a holy mountain? The fact that God struck a man dead for grabbing the covenant box, may also seem drastic. But God is holy, even though his actions may not always make sense to the human mind.
In order to avoid interjecting my own opinion, here's what the Bible says:
"Turn to the Lord and pray to him, now that he is near. Let the wicked leave their way of life and change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the Lord, our God; he is merciful and quick to forgive.
'My thoughts,' says the Lord, 'are not like yours, and my ways are different from yours. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways and thoughts above yours.'"
-Isaiah 55:6-9
Some people have a hard time accepting God's way of doing things. On different occasions, I've heard people judge God and claim that he is unfair. This is all because they couldn't accept that God's ways are above ours.
That's what happened when Jesus taught the people in his day. When some of his words didn't fit conventional wisdom, they wouldn't tolerate it.
This is what the Bible says:
"Many of his followers heard this and said, 'This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?'
Without being told, Jesus knew that they were grumbling about this, so he said to them, 'Does this make you want to give up? Suppose, then, that you should see the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before? What gives life is God's Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit. Yet some of you do not believe.' (Jesus knew from the very beginning who were the ones that would not believe and which one would betray him.) And he added, 'This is the very reason I told you that no people can come to me unless the Father makes it possible for them to do so.'
Because of this, many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him any more. So he asked the twelve disciples, 'And you -- would you also like to leave?'
Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.'"
-John 6:60-69
Peter's response is priceless to me. It also leads us to Jesus' final observation of the CHT statement.
The CHT statement says that all religions are basically the same and that it doesn't matter which one you follow. However Jesus says that he's the only way to Heaven. Here's what Jesus says:
"Jesus answered him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.'"
-John 14:6
"Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, answered them, 'Leaders of the people and elders: if we are being questioned today about the good deed done to the lame man and how he was healed, then you should all know, and all the people of Israel should know, that this man stands here before you completely well through the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth -- whom you crucified and whom God raised from death. Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says,
'The stone that you the builders despised turned out to be the most important of all.'
Salvation is to be found through him alone; in all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us."
-Acts 4:8-12
"God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence."
-Romans 3:22-23
There's no other way for humans to become acceptable to God. His standards are too high for any of us to earn our way into Heaven through obedience. Instead, we can only escape Hell, and become citizens of Heaven, by trusting Jesus and his way.
A guy once told me that he interprets "Jesus' way" differently than the way I interpret it. He believed that Jesus meant that we get to Heaven by obeying his teachings -- meaning that we are saved by doing good deeds and treating people well.
This sounds a lot like the CHT statement. However, the Bible is clear that Jesus didn't mean that.
So lets read it for ourselves in order to find out what Jesus means:
"There was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees. One night he went to Jesus and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God. No one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him.'
Jesus answered, 'I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.'
'How can a grown man be born again?' Nicodemus asked. 'He certainly cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time!'
'I am telling you the truth,' replied Jesus, 'that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again. The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'
'How can this be?' asked Nicodemus.
Jesus answered, 'You are a great teacher in Israel, and you don't know this? I am telling you the truth: we speak of what we know and report what we have seen, yet none of you is willing to accept our message. You do not believe me when I tell you about the things of this world; how will you ever believe me, then, when I tell you about the things of heaven? And no one has ever gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven.
As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.
Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son. This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up. But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.'
-John 3:1-21
In the above passage, Jesus mentions the account of Moses lifting up a bronze snake in the desert. Here's the account that Jesus was referring to:
"The Israelites left Mount Hor by the road that leads to the Gulf of Aqaba, in order to go around the territory of Edom. But on the way the people lost their patience and spoke against God and Moses. They complained, 'Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We can't stand any more of this miserable food!' Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died. The people came to Moses and said, 'We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Now pray to the Lord to take these snakes away.' So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord told Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.
-Numbers 21:4-9