Life Sustaining Systems

We recall that God/Jesus are lowly, loving and long suffering, as He helps sort out difficulties. God says He's rich in mercy and hopes all would choose biblical life sustaining behaviours that uphold God endowed purpose or function and the infinite 100% test. ie whether each standard of behaviour ought to be practised by all humanity throughout all generations - to the exclusion of competing standards of behaviour, (eg Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape
1 John 4:8 & 16 "God is love" (agape in Greek )
Some commentators say God is love, then imply love is God.
Upholding "the whole counsel of God" (knowing that a text out of context tends to be a pretext), we know God/Jesus and agape are "also" about discipleship, or disciplines. If society were only philia love without any disciplines how would that function ?
Infinite 100% agape love is occasionally said to be like philia, but agape Godly love is "the highest form of love or charity", and what the statement in 1 John 4:8&16 was saying.
and "the love of God for man and of man for God". This is in contrast to philia, brotherly love, or philautia, self-love, as
agape embraces a profound sacrificial love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstance. In the New Testament, agape refers to the covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God. Referring to the whole counsel of God/Jesus, the term agape necessarily extends to the discipleship/(disciplines) love of one's fellow human beings (neighbours & God - the royal law Matt 22:36-40 (agapao in Greek )
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.")
1 Cor 13:13
"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (agape in Greek )"

Like we don't run amok when driving on our roads, rather having traffic laws/disciplines to sustain harmonious standards of behaviour now and for all generations to come.
1 John 2:5 "But whoever keeps His word, truly the love () of God is perfected in him."

Life's biosphere/ecosphere depend on the infinite to maintain living life sustaining systems.
God/Jesus chart the paths of life, to overcome large scale entropy.

"Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word from the mouth of God" Matt 4:4
Jesus(the incarnate Word of God) is the Way, the Truth, the Life. So, as the Word (Hebrews 1:3 "and upholding all things by the word of His power"), Jesus sustains the biosphere, against large scale entropy. That's why God has to free humanity from sin, because it destroys the earth/humanity (James 1:15 "and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death")
God endowed purpose or function maintain the conditions for earth's life sustaining biosphere.
soul-mate.org/LawAndGrace.html
... many Christians profess the moral law and 10 commandments to be relevant as evidence that we're obeying the law of love (Galatians 5:14-15 ; James 2:8 ; Gal 6:2), for God and our neighbour/s, followed by Jesus and the apostles teachings on noble/godly clean standards of behaviour; that recognise God endowed purpose or function.
Ten Commandments
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall make no idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
Moral ... Laws/Values (And the [biblically consistent] Holy Spirit of the Law)
These topics are completed by Jesus and the Apostles.

Worthless idols have no life sustaining power, and can't resolve crises.

Taking the name of God in vain is practising abusive speech against noble leadership, so destroys humanity.

Keeping the (Saturday) sabbath special to God reminds us that we finite creatures can't live/survive without God's life sustaining Word and biosphere. How long would earth continue if the Sun diminished it's light.

Many honour their "ancestors" but it's the family unit and parents that sustain the family.

Murdering destroys the earth and biosphere.

Committing adultery destroys the family unit and biosphere.

Stealing destroys the family unit and biosphere.

Bearing false witness against our neighbours also destroys the biosphere.

Coveting to obtain that which belongs to another destroys the family unit and biosphere.

Jesus and the apostles expand on not embracing lawlessness of various forms, because it destroys life sustaining behaviour and the biosphere (James 1:15 "and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death").

The infinite God describes ways of life that maintain harmonious behaviours and attitudes, for all generations, now and to come.

We could ask ourselves if our standards/values are fit for *all humanity* and our biosphere, for all generations. It's an infinite test, or in some ways a 100% test, which suffers when lawlessness prevails and society breaks down.(Again James 1:15 "and sin, when it is full grown [~100%], brings forth death" both for it's adherents and increasingly for the biosphere).

Again, like we don't run amok when driving on our roads, rather having laws to sustain harmonious standards of behaviour now and for all generations to come.
As disciples of life sustaining practises / values / behaviour, so we all gently discipline society to do damage control, ie have traffic officers, traffic lights, etc, to limit lawlessness on our roads and in society. Would lawlessness pass the infinite test? 100% of the time for successive generations ? Is discipline needed ? Is that what the Bible is talking about ?

Christianity is about maintaining our biosphere through disciplines, harmonious behaviours and attitudes. It's not just another religion as much as survival for all successive generations (Why Entropy Matters), both life now and to come.
If we destroy infants, like ancients use to practise, then that behaviour fails the infinite 100% test, abandoning life sustaining discipline suited to all generations. Self control is an aspect of that.

Acts 5:32 "and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him". That obedience will be as taught by conservative orthodoxy, confirmed like the noble Bereans who searched the scriptures to see if teaching was correct Acts 17:11, rather than some self proclaimed adhoc 'spiritual' guidance common today. Not legalism though, but scripturally progressively learnt obedience (the fruit) as evidence of authentic faith (the root). As 'a labour of love' (Hebrews 6:10) believers rigorously cooperate with Holy Spirit led and motivated teaching that helps us to incrementally conform to the nature of Jesus Christ. We don't embrace 'lawlessness', and therefore obedience of authentic saving faith go hand in hand. To whom much is given much will be expected. Each case on it's merits, also depending on the significance of lawless acts. We're reminded that God has given humanity a measure of freewill and stands at the door of our hearts knocking to let Him in.

Humanity's propensity leaves us in need of an "infinitely godly" intercessor between us and God, one who paid the price for faultering lawlessness, the lamb of God - Jesus (authenticated by repeatedly raising the dead, etc). More on such topics : Thinking.html

Engineers talk about what is called "context sensitive help", and if a context is fraught with issues then help can be limited; so a utopia or revival isn't achievable. We hear that people can't run until they can walk, and help can't make much headway toward a utopia and revival until a context is amenable.

(& for a more complete review,
LawAndJesus.html
LawAndGrace.html
RootAndFruit.html)