Cedars, January 2019

January 2019 14 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT by Katie Milligan T esla Klinger, a senior English major with a minor in creative writing, in- corporates her faith into her passion for writing as she seeks to help others find healing in Christ. At 17, she strayed from her family to join a traditional Hebrew church. She de- scribes her faith as a blurred line between Judaism and Christianity. Though Klinger’s testimony is similar to that of many of her fellow Cedarville stu- dents, the faith she adheres to today is strik- ingly different. Raised in a traditional Bap- tist family in Indiana, she accepted Christ at the age of 5. “I realized at such a young age that the things that I was doing were sinful, and I did need a Savior, and that Christ was the an- swer,” Klinger said. She attended church with her family regularly, but at her Christian high school, a unit on Jewish history piqued her interest. After attending a Torah reading, she became inspired to investigate the background of her Christian faith. “I’m always interested in where things come from, the roots and the foundations, and why people believe what they believe,” Klinger explains. “When I started looking into faith for myself, that’s when I started to really break away from my family’s ideas.” While Judaism is rooted in the Old Tes- tament and views Jesus as merely a great prophet rather than humanity’s savior, and Christianity focuses on New Testament per- ceptions of Christ in the flesh while believ- ing that Old Testament covenant law is only for the Israelites, Klinger sees her particular brand of faith as a holistic view of the entire Bible: Christ concealed in the Old Testa- ment as the law, and Christ revealed in the New Testament in bodily form. “I believe that some of the old laws are still in place, but not in a constricting way, but in a way that shows God’s love for his people and his creation. It’s very beautiful,” Klinger said. “We see where Christ came from and how He fulfilled all his Old Testa- ment roots. It’s a great middle ground.” In addition to her slightly varied theol- ogy, Klinger also observes Jewish festivals and has stopped celebrating Easter and Christmas. She instead worships the Lord through celebrating three festivals in the spring and three in the fall, including Pass- over (when there is no leavening of bread), Yom Kippur (the most solemn day of the year, during which fasting is required), Feast of Tabernacles and Pentecost. All of these festivals are high sabbaths, meaning no strenuous work should be done. They are also intended to be times of symbolic re- membrance: the custom of staying in a tem- porary home for a week to celebrate Pen- tecost represents God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and the Seven Days of Feasting following Yom Kippur represent Christ’s marriage to the church. “It’s the times that God has set aside in busy seasons of life to take some time off, rest, and remember who you’re doing this for,” Klinger said. “It’s kind of hard to trans- late that into college life, because you still have things due; I’ve had to adjust, but still keep the mindset of it.” Moreover, Klinger keeps a biblical diet as described in Scripture. She eats beef and chicken but consumes no shellfish or pork, because she believes that God did not in- tend these animals to be eaten. “I basically tell people I’m a vegetarian, and that saves a lot of questioning,” Klinger laughed. “It’s just a good way to show God and others how much you care for God’s creation, because you’re respecting it in its purpose and its function.” The early stages of Klinger’s transi- tion away from her family’s faith was diffi- cult and resulted in strained relationships. Her family viewed her new belief system as a cult, but over the years, Klinger has attempted to gently show them her theol- ogy in small doses as they are willing to listen. “Trying to stay true to your convic- tions and having your family say that that’s completely unorthodox — that’s been really hard,” Klinger admitted. “I’m pretty much the black sheep in my family. But it’s been good for me, because it’s where God has been leading me.” But Klinger is not just a minority in her family, but at her university as well. She still has not found a church near Cedarville she can wholeheartedly agree with. “It’s good to know there are people out there who believe the same things, [but] it would be nice to have a support system. [Being the minority] has been the main hardship; that, and trying to find food in Chuck’s,” Klinger joked. “I’ve been able to navigate it in a way to not be angry or upset. Everybody is in their own place, and that’s OK; we’re all on different paths.” Abi Wisser, senior English major, has known Klinger since freshman year. “Despite knowing Tesla for almost four years, I am still surprised by her on almost a daily basis,” Wisser said. “Embracing the differences of the different denominations can be a really good thing. Maybe we dis- agree on certain aspects of theology, but in different practices you can see different parts of God that maybe you wouldn’t other- wise because of your own walk in life. There can be unity in diversity.” Despite her unique beliefs, Klinger re- mains deeply involved at Cedarville. She is currently working at a library internship, is the event coordinator for the creative club C3 and serves as an editor of the Cedarville Review. The literary focus of her education and her passion for writing have led her to an enriched understanding of God. “God is the master author. I love look- ing at the Bible and seeing how he has cre- ated this story that just goes through all of history,” Klinger said. Klinger aspires to be an author and has applied to graduate schools to gain a mas- ter’s of fine arts in fiction. She already has several poems published and is currently submitting prose for publication. “Before I write, I always pray [and] give my piece to God, and I always do it for His glory before anything else, because I want to glorify Him in these works,” Klinger said. “I’m doing what He did in creation. This is the highest form of God-likeness you can get; I don’t want it to be a trifle.” Her goal in writing is not only to work through personal struggles, but to allow others who have gone through trying cir- cumstances to have a literary space to heal. Without overtly Christian themes, she clear- ly communicates the Christian element of hope. “I write hard things for people who have hardships in their lives for them to have hope and have God, because we live in a pretty hopeless time,” Klinger explained. “I create stories that allow people a space to accept themselves and accept aspects of the world that they can’t change, and have something to hold onto.” To all those who might question her beliefs, Klinger says, “The reason I came to these conclusions was because I did my own research; but don’t take my word for it. Look into things for yourself. I kept digging; keep digging and prove me wrong.” Katie Milligan is a freshman English ma- jor. She enjoys taking Polaroid photos, eat- ing pasta, and watching Disney movies. Tesla Klinger: Unity in Diversity Photo by Lauren Jacobs Tesla Klinger plans on writing young adult novels steeped in the supernatural.