Cosby vs Huxtable

Like so many others back in the day, our family watched The Cosby Show every week, as Cliff and Claire successfully navigated raising kids and dealing with busy careers with wit and wisdom. Everybody loved Cliff. And in re-runs until recently, still did.

Over these many years, as Cosby released clean material, criticized young comedians who cursed to get laughs, and asked guys to pull up their saggy pants, we assumed a lot by the words and the image, as we often do with celebrities.

But now with so many allegations coming forth, we have to wonder …

Was Bill never Cliff? At all? Just some? Even a little?

You know they call it acting for a reason. But we have trouble separating the two, don’t we? Reality from the image.

As I’ve often done here with this blog, the point today is not at all about Bill Cosby, but about us. Here’s another headline to learn from, to question ourselves, and check our own behavior as men.

The truth is we are all Cliff Huxtable and we are also Bill Cosby. The guy who can look good, sound good, and do good things, but then the guy who can hurt, manipulate, and get his way at the expense of others. The Huxtable and the Cosby in us are in a constant battle.

As we read the headlines that will soon either escalate because of actual charges or go away because something bigger comes along, let’s just keep reminding ourselves that the more we submit to the Holy Spirit, the more Huxtable we can become—so to speak. But the more we feed the flesh, we just get more Cosby. No matter who we are.

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other … —Galatians 5:16-17a NLT