Post by: Nathan Moelker
My name is Nathan Moelker. I am a 1L here at Regent Law, and this past semester was my first semester with the Center for Global Justice. I engaged in a project for International Justice Mission Uganda, working to fight Sexual Violence against Children in Uganda. Needless to say, this is not work that shows you humanity at its very best. This task has entailed spending a lot of time with some very sad cases. Although this work can be challenging, it has proved a constant reminder to me in the midst of this Coronavirus isolation of why I am in Law School in the first place. In that way it has been an invaluable conclusion to the first year of law school, placing firmly before my eyes the motivation for the work.
There a variety of reasons that motivate people to come to Law School and enter the legal profession, financial, sociological, and personal. I would not wish to dismiss any of these reasons or motivations, but for me, it is the passion for justice that has most profoundly driven me in this direction. I have been blessed with a host of privileges, most of which I tend to unduly take for granted. I have felt an urgent call from the Lord to use these gifts in order to fight for justice and righteousness.
Zeal for knowledge is something that has deeply shaped my life. I was the 12 year old whose parents had to take his flashlight away because he was up late reading, I was the College Student who got upset when a snow day cancelled class, I played Jeopardy with the contestants. My principle has always been that I need to get the most I can out of life, and I felt a need to know as much as I could. However, there is always a danger that such pursuit for understanding descends into a pursuit for disconnected factoids. It is easy to descend into a pursuit for knowledge for its own sake, which is not how we are designed. The Calling of the Law is a calling to a knowledge that is dedicated and disciplined to the pursuit of justice, rather than knowledge for knowledge’s sake. I don’t research the laws of Torts or the rules for criminal procedure for the sake of the knowledge alone, but in order to help and benefit people, to fight for real justice in their lives. God has called me to take my love for learning and steward it towards fighting for the good and benefit of others, to strive to fight the injustices that are constant features of our lives.
Samuel Johnson famously spoke of the task of the Christian Lawyer to be “to attain such knowledge as may qualify to direct the doubtful, and instruct the ignorant; to prevent wrongs, and terminate contentions; and grant that I may use that knowledge which I shall attain, to thy glory and my own salvation, for Jesus Christ’s sake.” (Boswell, The Life of Johnson, 386) This quote has deeply resonated with me as truth that shapes the purpose of the legal profession. The calling God has set before us to fight to prevent wrongs. There are a host of wrongs, in almost every area of law, and until Christ returns, there will be a constant need for lawyers to continue to fight for this Justice.
This post was written by a Center for Global Justice student staff member. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.