"This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (v.3-4)
In the two verses preceding these, Paul urges Timothy to make supplications, intercessions, thanksgivings and prayers for all people, even the governing authorities. Why? Paul tells us the reason in verses three and four:
Because doing so is good and it is pleasing to God because He desires all his people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
Notice that Paul did not say that God desired all people to come to a knowledge of a truth. Rather, He is claiming that Christianity is the only truth. This kind of language is what gets a lot of Christians labeled as "intolerant" in today's postmodern culture. Critics say that, instead of claiming to have a monopoly on the only way to salvation, Christians should just accept other peoples' views as being "true to them." Unfortunately, while this idea smells like roses, it tastes like poison. This kind of logic is fallacious and evil. It's fallacious because it is not logical and it is evil because it does not care about the eternity of its fellow man.
The law of non-contradiction, a first principle of logic, states that x cannot equal y.
For instance a Muslim says that Jesus is a prophet who is not God...the Qu'ran says this. A Christian states that Jesus is God...the Bible says this. So, who is right? Well, we may deduce that either (a) Muslims may be right and Christians may be wrong, (b) Christians may be right and Muslims may be wrong, or (c) Muslims and Christians may both be wrong. However, the option that they both could be right is impossible because both religions make exclusive claims.
So the next time someone tells you that you are being intolerant, tell them in response that you are just trying to be logical and find the truth - of which there can only be one...and pray for them after that. Because doing so is pleasing to God who desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of Him.
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