see and believe.’” (Mark 15:29-32) What was the reason for this bad attitude?

The people had permitted their opinion of Jesus to be shaped by the religious leaders who hated him because he had exposed them as false teachers whose actions were not in harmony with their claims of being representatives of the true God. With frankness, Jesus had said to them: “Why is it you also overstep the commandment of God because of your tradition? You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you, when he said, ‘This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.’”​—Matthew 15:3, 7-9.

So intensely did the religious leaders hate Jesus and the truths he taught that they conspired to kill him and made every effort to turn the people against him. Today, many religious leaders oppose Jehovah’s Witnesses with the same intensity. And as was the case with the early Christians, the Witnesses are “spoken against” everywhere. But is it wise to permit this popular opposition to shape your thinking?

The same Scriptural truths about God’s Kingdom that Jesus and his apostles preached are being proclaimed today by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world are accepting this good news notwithstanding intense opposition by friends, relatives, and religious leaders. Those accepting the Kingdom message have proved to their satisfaction that it is the truth, and they are determined to hold on to it.

So why be like those of the first century who permitted others to turn them away from the life-giving Scriptural truths that came to them through the unpopular followers of Jesus Christ? Instead, continue studying the Bible with the Witnesses, using the written Word of God to prove to your own satisfaction that what you are learning is indeed the truth. (John 8:32) And with God’s help cling to the truth.

Questions From Readers

◼ What is meant at 2 Samuel 18:8, which says: “The forest did more in eating up the people than the sword did”?

King David’s handsome son Absalom usurped the throne and forced his father to flee Jerusalem. Thereafter, in the forest of Ephraim (perhaps east of the Jordan River) a battle took place between Absalom’s forces and those loyal to Jehovah’s anointed king, David. The account at 2 Samuel 18:6, 7 reports that in the fierce battle David’s men slaughtered 20,000 rebels. In part, the next verse 2Sa 18:8 adds: “Furthermore, the forest did more in eating up the people than the sword did in eating them up on that day.”

Some have suggested that this refers to rebel soldiers’ being devoured by wild beasts dwelling in the woods. (1 Samuel 17:36; 2 Kings 2:24) But such literal eating by animals need not be meant, any more than that “the sword” literally ate those slain in battle. Actually, the battle “got to be spread out over all the land that was in sight.” So a more likely explanation is that Absalom’s routed men, who were fleeing in panic through the rocky forest, perhaps fell into pits and hidden ravines, and became entangled in dense underbrush. Interestingly, the account goes on to relate that Absalom himself became a victim of the forest. Apparently because of his abundant hair, his head got caught in a big tree, leaving him helplessly exposed to a fatal attack by Joab and his men. Absalom’s corpse was ‘pitched in the forest into a big hollow, and a very big pile of stones was raised up over him.’​—2 Samuel 18:9-17.