Good Friday
Savenaca Vakaliwaliwa, Delta, BC, Canada
As the world enjoys the long Easter break, beginning today; why is it that in the Christian tradition, it is called Good Friday?
In a nutshell, on a Friday over 2000 years ago, the Lamb of God, the One typified by all the animal sacrifices for the remission of sin, died a sacrificial death on a cross at Calvary to redeem humanity from the curse of eternal death that hangs over our heads.
Fijians will remember the power of Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston for a long time but it is nothing compared to the power of all the demonic forces combined as they worked on Jesus to give up His mission on behalf of His created beings.
Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ” had Satan himself moving among the crowd, orchestrating Christ’s torture which spilled a lot of blood, but Jesus did not throw in the towel.
There was silence in Heaven as His angels looked on, ready to come to the rescue of their Heavenly Commander at the whisper of His voice.
By the time He was forced to carry His cross to Calvary, Jesus had lost a lot of blood and had no strength to carry it, and a bystander had to carry it for Him.
On that Friday afternoon as Jesus hung on the cross, He prayed to His Father to forgive all those who had a hand in His suffering and death.
Darkness covered the area as the Father could not watch His Son’s death when all the sins of humanity are laid on Him.
Abraham’s call to sacrifice his son Isaac typified the ultimate sacrifice God the Father would do to save fallen human beings through His Son Jesus Christ.
Good Friday is synonymous with John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Sin separates and as Christ became sin for us and become our sin bearer, He felt for the first time the separation from His Father, which broke His heart after crying out, “Father, why have you forsaken me?”
As we enjoy Good Friday, pause for a moment to remember what Christ did on our behalf, not giving up on us, and as beautifully expressed in the song, “When He was on the cross, I was on His mind.”
Paul’s response should be ours also when he reasoned that we should all have died, but Christ died so that we should live and that because of this fact, we should live for Him who died for us (2 Cor. 5: 15)
Have a blessed Good Friday and Easter break, Fiji.
Cyclone homes
Christopher Jackson Mar, Nadi
Both Government and structural engineers have expressed the need to build homes that can withstand Category five cyclones.
To ensure that home owners and the nation do not sustain the level of damage experienced during Cyclone Winston and the enormous costs of reinstatement, practical steps need to be taken now before too much reinstatement and rebuilding takes place.
Revised structural details in various languages need to be widely distributed and Government officials/village elders need to provide advice/supervision to builders/home owners to ensure that the higher standards are enforced during the various stages of construction.
In addition, the thickness of roofing iron has been very thin compared to those in the 1960s. Government should set minimum thickness standards for manufacturers and importers. The price of roofing screws are expensive and should be investigated.
Government should seek funding for the difference in costs to achieve the higher standard from the global funds to compensate small nations for negative effects of climate change.
Opinion leaders
Amenatave Yaconisau , Suva
I’m glad we have ‘me too’ opinion leaders amongst our columnist.
Whatever your reporters/journalist say they also agree and acknowledge. No criticism but praise.
Such positive thinking will be a good source of virtue and they don’t criticise anything but full of praise that shape positively anything.
But criticism is an old value of democracy inculcated by the education system where one is free to criticise as long as there are reasons to support it. A university education sharpens this critical ability but can also be deviant.
One of the great US Presidents, Thomas Jefferson, said that “We must not be afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate an error as long as there are reasons to combat it”. I entirely agree.
But there is a difference between the above and those who criticise merely with the intension of being destructive and mischievous.
The difference is obvious and we are glad this newspaper upholds proper freedom of the press and will not tolerate those who breach it.
On violence against young girls and women I’m surprised that the Minister for Women, Rosy Akbar, seems to be putting the blame for lack of monitoring by parents. This is nothing short of ignoring social problems pervading the country now making people furious for lack of action.
There is widespread emotion about the poor girl as reported by this newspaper and other similar cases in the past that should compel the ministry to recommend stiffer penalties.
Yet she looks for other reasons. If they can’t measure peoples’ opinion on this, take a public opinion poll. No one feels their women are secure. Ecclesiates 8:11 says that when a crime is not quickly punished, others are encouraged to break the law.
I hope it does not reach that level.
Frontline ‘A team’
Tukai Lagonilakeba, Nadi.
They are the best, highly qualified Permanent Secretaries chosen after going through an interview process from a panel of judges, thus the tag “A Team”.
Great to see a mixture of expatriates and locals working together to implement our Government’s reform policies and I believe every Fijian will benefit from their appointments.
I would like to encourage all right-thinking Fijians to assist and support them in their endeavour to rid off corruption by reporting any public servant with a corrupt nature.
We are all equally responsible for making sure we achieve our Government’s ultimatum in making our country a safe, better, modern and economically sound Fiji.
It is our hope that we the current generation can guarantee that for all our future Fijians.
It’s a positive indicator on their appointment and I am equally confident that it will result in good delivery of government services at the expected standard of excellence to all citizens of this beautiful nation.
Vinaka vakalevu to Government for setting a standard of good accountable and transparent governance and leadership.
Walking the talk, if it is about Fiji then every Fijian must be held accountable for our nation’s progress, and why not? That’s our responsibility.