All human righteousness...
I'm really saddened by what's happened regarding Bill Cosby, and Rolf Harris here in Australia. If the allegations are not true, and it's a huge diabolic deception, then it's shocking that such a thing can happen in the modern age. If the allegations are true, it's really rotten and sad that people whose work I loved as entertainers have turned out to have such evil hidden sides. When the accusations first began I didn't know whether they were honest or whether some pathetic parasite had tried to get a life by claiming victimhood and hoping to get their hands on some money. Unless the judicial systems and investigative mechanisms in two advanced countries are a disgrace, the accusations of sexual assault and indecent interference must have some substance. All I can say is, I hate that it should be true and find it drives me away from belief in human goodness.
The first time I saw Bill Cosby, on a T.V. variety show in the 1960s, he was doing Junior Barnes and the snowball. It was a delight. I rolled around on the floor laughing. Clean humour, laughing at the human condition and human behaviour. Pure gold in a world which relies on smut or laughing at hurt and calamity, it seemed to me. Rolf Harris likewise. He presented songs like Jake the Peg, with comic antics accompanying, or daft comic songs like "Tie Me Kangaroo Down", and it was just innocent fun. I'm thinking, we need more like this; or is the world too cynical and mentally toxified for it? There was hope for our society while it could appreciate this sort of entertainment. So then it comes to light, unless we're being horribly deceived, that both these people have an evil hidden nature.
So I'm reminded, again: never put complete faith in a human being and treat them as larger than life, and talk about 'role models'. Mere human beings are not all as seriously evil as some cases, but we all fail some test at some time. I knew about myself, very early in life, that I could fail. I'd make careless mistakes that could have caused calamity. The problem was compounded by the fact that I was told other people could do everything right, which just made me feel like an even bigger waste of space. Then with time and maturity I could see that no-one's perfect; but some people are held up as examples to others, or at least as what we all should be if we could be. Then it happens, again and again. The celebrity crashes and burns. The idol has feet of clay - or soft mud, even. So I can't ever assume that any mere human person can be completely relied on.
SO I need Jesus Christ. I'm confirmed in my belief that the Bible gets it right when it says, all human goodness is sadly short of true rightness.
If some spiteful left winger or social justice warrior was glad to see the two people I've mentioned fall, then I say to them: don't think that makes you look any better to me. You too are only human. You too would cringe if The Truman Show was real and a record of your life was shown to the world. That's a scary thought for anyone, now I think of it. The only way a person would not be bitterly ashamed of some things that could be known about them is if they are psychopathic, and have no conscience or sense of wrong doing.
I need to be forgiven. We all do. Bill Cosby does. Rolf Harris does. And while we're on that subject, keep going, and list every human that every lived.
Thank you for being my Redeemer, Lord Jesus. I pray millions more turn to you, admitting their need.
To anyone who reads this, my best wishes for the year 2017 A.D.
1 comment:
It was coincidental when I first read this post a few days ago, having had the song, "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" pop into my head for some unknown reason (as songs have a way of doing) just the day before.
I, too, was a fan of Cosby. He indeed seemed like a good role model and his acknowledgement of personal responsibility with regard to the American black culture was refreshing in an age when every struggle of the black man is blamed on "white privilege" and racism. As kids, we listened to his comedy albums to the extent that we could recite them ourselves. So to hear of him being accused as he is brings great disappointment that one more beloved entertainer has been exposed as just another fallen human being. In this case, it's the numbers of those accusing him that suggest the truth of the charges against him.
I'm not familiar with the Rolf Harris situation at all. I can only surmise that it is a similar situation. Such people as he and Cosby, should they be proven guilty as charged, make us more appreciate those who have proven themselves truly worthy of our adulation. It's similar to hearing about a Hollywood couple whose marriage lasts. In the case of Cosby, it seemed as if he was truly one of the good ones and after all these years, this news is what makes the disappointment so crushing.
But contrary to your beliefs, I do not view human beings as having anything more than the potential to be good. I view them as the sinful beings Scripture teaches us we are. I don't expect anyone to be righteous as if they are that way by nature, but as it is everyone's duty to strive toward righteousness. While it is easier for a few, it is not natural for anyone. Yet still it is depressing when that base nature manifests in anyone held in high regard.
The punch line is as you say: We need Christ, and we need Him because we are all Bill Cosby and Rolf Harris to one extent or other.
I join you in your final prayer.
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