Nebuchadnezzar had made a statue and he wanted everyone to bow down to it. Many people have felt that this was a statue of him but the Scripture doesn't say that. All it was was a statue and he wanted everyone to worship it. Now in saying that he didn't say they couldn't worship their gods but in a pluralistic society they must not worship their own gods exclusively because if they did then that would lead to intolerance. When the three Hebrews refused to bow down to the image he became furious and had them thrown into a furnace of fire.
The irony of all this is that it was Nebuchadnezzar who was being intolerant. In his desire to have peace and harmony in his kingdom he couldn't allow someone to claim to have an exclusive view of absolute truth. He said, "Don't convert people to your God" but he was trying to convert people to his view of religion. Who was really intolerant?
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