Are You Letting the Truth Slip By?

AFTER surviving a forced landing in the Amazon jungle, most passengers would be little inclined to pay much attention to the terrain. But not so one unruffled and ever-observant man! He was a geologist, and he noticed how uncharacteristically bare was the patch upon which the helicopter had made its landing. Rather than allow the opportunity to pass, he took a closer look at this barren spot. In a short time he realized that what to others would seem just another patch of ground was really one of the most promising lodes of mineral wealth in the world​—a massive storehouse of iron ore, bauxite, manganese, copper, and gold that would one day be hailed as the “new El Dorado.”

It is the rare person who takes advantage of opportunities, rather than letting them slip by. Consider, for example, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate back in the first century of our Common Era. A unique opportunity was set before him. The Jewish leaders delivered to him the greatest teacher of truth who had ever lived on earth, Jesus Christ. Think of the questions Pilate could have asked! Think of the rich truths he could have learned! And interestingly, when they first brought Jesus before him, accused of claiming to be “the king of the Jews,” Pilate at least seemed curious:

“Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked.

In responding, Jesus said: “My kingdom is no part of this world . . . For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is on the side of the truth listens to my voice.” Here was Pilate’s golden opportunity. Before him stood a man whose life was a living testimony to the truth of God’s promises, a man willing and able to enlighten him as no other man could. Yet what was Pilate’s reply? “What is truth?” And he abruptly “went out again to the Jews.”​—John 18:33-38.

Yes, Pilate let the truth slip by. And many today make the same mistake. The very journal that you are reading, The Watchtower, is published to enlighten people about the truth. Many, though, decline even to read it. Others read and enjoy the articles but take matters no further than that. Could it be that such ones are, like Pilate, letting the truth slip by?