Who determines bad?

I was having this argument with a certain friend of mine last night on whether masturbation is a sin or not and while i argued for, he argued against it saying that it is not stated in the Bible that is a sin.

Today i saw the movie "Pelham 123"  {the "h" is silent by the way so the pronunciation is "pelam"} anyways back to my story. John Travolta took a couple of train passengers hostage because according to him, he had been good to the people of New York but they paid him back with wickedness by calling him a terrorist. Now on the other end of the line is a train dispatch guy who was demoted because he was accused of taking a bribe when he went to inspect a train in Japan where they are manufactured who was just doing his job of monitoring the trains on their terminals to ensure that they made a safe and hitch free trip from station to station. This character is played by Denzel Washington who is still cute even as he’s aging.

So while attending to the normal business of the day, he notices on this large computer screen (wonder when Nigeria will get there) that the train headed to Pelham 123 makes a stop and after a while, the two (what’s it called now? I’ll call it carriage) carriages have been disengaged and that one of them is heading backwards. By some stroke of fate, when Denzel tries to call the particular train in question to find out what’s wrong, John Travolta speaks to him. So they get talking and Travolta demands a ransom of $10m cash which should be delivered in an hour. So while Denzel is trying out his negotiation skills, Travolta is trying to get him to think like him so that he can feel betrayed especially since he is been accused of a crime he did not commit. Travolta does not see anything wrong with what he is doing because to him it is “poetic justice” and he says that we all owe God death so either way he is orepared to die if it does not go well for him.

Funny enough Travolta is an ex wall street guy who knows how the stock market works and his plan is to trade the $10m for gold which will earn him about $307m approximately because with his attack on the train station and people calling it a terrorist attack, the dollar will drop therefore, upping the stakes for gold. Talk about an intelligent mind!

But as we all know, the bad guy never gets away with his evil deeds and even if he does, it’s only for a while, Denzel ends up killing him and Travolta dies with his last words “you are my goddamn hero”…his words to Denzel.

Now in Travolta’s mind, he is justified to kill people and hold people hostages just so he could make money and he does not think it bad or sinful. For those that have seen the movie “Saved” where Mandy Moore was cruel to her friends all in the name of “Jesus says”, “Jesus knows” or the other girl who felt she could save her gay boyfriend by offering him her virginity all in the name of "Jesus".

My question is who determines what is bad? Yes someone will say let your conscience guide you but in John Travolta’s warped mind he was doing the right thing and so many of us are guilty of doing "bad'' stuff all in the name of “Jesus” or “Religion”. I mean take the Afghans for example, they will beat up a woman for wearing trousers because they consider it bad and in their mind it is a religious cause not to talk of the killings and all. Yes some are spelt out in the Bible/Quoran as don’t’s but what of those that aren’t? on the question of masturbation, I would really like to know if it is okay because I consider it an act of immorality that is displeasing to God.

‘Be careful of what you let your heart to hear or your eyes to see, from out of your heart comes the issue of life. I do not judge but I do not miss with depraved mind who twist the gospel according to their lifestyle’. The Bible. (someone posted this comment on my facebook page when i said something about Oprah Winfrey and i think it also applies here)

Meanwhile, on a rating of 1-5, Pelham 123 gets a 5. It is a must see.  The roles were well played, the expressions were superb, the language of course was totally American (forgive me, but I can never get used to swear words) and the technology as usual was the bomb. I hear that our very own “Figurine” by Kunle Afolayan is a blast but I am yet to see it. Tickets were totally sold out and at the end of the premiere @ Ozone Cinemas, the audience clapped. What more could a producer/ director want other than knowing that his movie satisfied the audience and glued us to our seats? So stay tuned.