20th Dies Natalis of the UPH Faculty of Law: Building Legal Professions with the Fear of the Lord

In this event, four renowned practitioners shared their experience as professionals in legal practices, among them were: Prof. Dr. Gayus Lumbuun, SH., the Supreme Court Judge of Indonesia.; Dr. Yosua Makes, SH., LL.M., MA., Legal Practitioners and Lecturer; Fredrik J. Pinakunary, SH., Lawyer; and Patrick Moore Talbot, JD., a lecturer in UPH Faculty of Law.

According to Prof. Gayus, revealing his experience and belief in undergoing a legal profession, while at the same time, having to fear the Lord is not an easy thing to do. But as a believer, he agrees that every profession has to be done in accordance to God?s will, because, our profession is a task for humans, that has been entrusted by God.

?Before the reformation era, Christians thinks that the highest profession is being the servant of the Lord. But after the reformation by Martin Luther and Johannes Calvin, people?s view on the concept of working, job and occupation changed. Working is not out a worldliness thing anymore, but it is holy, therefore all believers should do their job seriously and rightfully. In other words, working is an expression of worship,? He explained.

Dr. Yosua Makes, the creator of Makes & Partners Law Firm, also said this seminar is very important for legal professionals, because it talked about the structural and fundamental aspects. He also explained a number of important points on becoming a Legal Practitioners with the Fear of the Lord. First, he cited Matthew 22: 37 to emphasize the importance of love in every profession, in doing any kind of work. The law of love includes vertical and horizontal relationship. Secondly, he also emphasized that idolatry is really dangerous, for it keeps human away from our profession. Thirdly, legal professionals have to put justice and righteousness in the first place. The most important thing about a profession is personal integrity.

Another Legal Practitioners, Fredrik, also said that a discussion on building a legal profession with the fear of the Lord is a very relevant matter for this era, because, in its practice, there are lots of people who play around with money and other things. This is the actual challenge for us in putting God?s word in practice during our work, but there is no need to worry for the Bible functions as a guide for us to survive.

?Doing a rightful legal practice and not fearing the lack of clients, would make a great market for lawyer. Even now, international clients would search for a ?clean? lawyer, with a clear payment. Thus, be a lawyer who fears the Lord. With that, we could make legal professions as a prideful profession,? Fredrik said.

The last practitioners, Patrick, shared his experiences; he talked about the integration between Christian worldview in Law Education and Curriculum in its relation with justice. A Biblical based Curriculum, such as the vision and mission of UPH, is the proper choice, because education is able to change the mind and heart. In UPH Law School, there are four areas that has to be taught, Christian theory of law in general, integration in specific subject, contemporary legal issues and Christian calling in the legal profession (career).

?To become a successful integrated program, two trainings must be done, lecturers track (a training program for lecturers in delivering integrated curriculum) and students track. In lecturers track, they have to be taught about the general understanding of Law and they have to be trained to learn the integration between the subjects taught. Unlike the Lecturer track, students have to learn about the General Christian Theories from every subject that has been taught,? Patrick said. 

The four key speakers agreed that both Law and the Bible can be learned and applied in legal practices among the world and society today. (rh/mv)